2021 National Community Survey Results
September 2021
When it comes to planning to be the City of the Future, Gilbert values the input of its residents. The National Community Survey gathers opinions about community livability and government services and helps guide decision-making for our future.
The following summary is a brief synopsis of the data presented in the National Community Survey (NCS) report, completed in spring 2021 by the National Research Center (NRC) and Polco. The margin of error around any reported percentage is 5% for all respondents and the level of confidence is 95%.
97% of residents rated the quality of life in Gilbert as excellent or good, which is higher than the national benchmark.
Gilbert ranks highly compared to national and peer benchmarks.
Even during unprecedented times (survey administered from March through May 2021), Gilbert received ratings higher than the national and custom benchmarks in categories such as quality of life, the economy, and safety.
The overall image or reputation of Gilbert also received exceptional marks from 91% of community members.
Residents praise Gilbert’s economy.
Gilbert’s economic health was an important and positively rated (93%) facet of the community.
Two categories related to the economy scored much higher than the national benchmarks: the vibrancy of downtown (Heritage district) scored 90% positively and shopping opportunities scored 85% positively.
Community members feel safe in Gilbert.
Over 90% of community members positively rated the overall feelings of safety in Gilbert.
Three categories related to safety and services scored much higher than the national benchmarks: feeling safe from fire, flood, or other natural disaster scored 98% positively, services in crime prevention scored 84% positively, and services in animal control scored 82% positively.
99% of residents rated the quality of life as the top reason to live in Gilbert.
The top three rated reasons residents rated for living in Gilbert were quality of life in general (99%), housing options (93%), and feeling safe (93%) in Gilbert.
The top three rated reasons residents said they would relocate from Gilbert were cost of living, quality of life in general, and better housing options.
Areas of opportunity in Gilbert include public transportation and the natural environment.
While most facets of mobility perform exceptionally in Gilbert, public transportation is an area of opportunity in the community.
About two-thirds of residents positively evaluated the overall quality of the transportation system in Gilbert, traffic flow on major streets, ease of travel by bicycle, and traffic signal timing; all items were on par with ratings from previous survey years.
However, less than one-quarter of respondents positively rated the ease of public transportation in Gilbert, a score that was lower than the national benchmark and decreased from the 2019 survey.
Residents rated the natural environment of high importance, but low quality in Gilbert.
The natural environment was the only community facet rated high importance and low quality.
Services were classified as “more important” if they were rated as essential or very important by 78% or more of respondents. Services receiving quality ratings lower than 82% were considered to be of “lower quality.”
The statistically valid results from the National Community Survey serve as a consumer report card for the town by providing residents the opportunity to rate the quality of life in Gilbert and their satisfaction with community amenities and local government. As we look forward to the future, the results help us create the City of the Future.
We sincerely thank all who participated in the survey!
Interested in learning more about the National Citizen Survey results? View the full report or watch the presentation below.