The National Community Survey (NCS) is a questionnaire that measures a community's livability. The questionnaire asks Grand Rapidians about their experience living in Grand Rapids.
The results of this survey are benchmarked against more than 600 communities nationally and 38 communities of similar size to Grand Rapids.
Livability is defined as: The sum of the factors that add up to a community's quality of life. NCS has eight livability factors:
- Safety
- Mobility
- Natural environment
- Built environment
- Economy
- Recreation and wellness
- Education and enrichment
- Community engagement
2022 National Community Survey
The National Community Survey was carried out by Polco/National Research Council during the spring of 2022 in two phases.
- Phase one was a statistically validated random sample of residents. Residents received surveys in English and Spanish by mail starting in February 2022. They were asked to complete the NCS either online or by return mail. Responses received resulted in a margin of error of +/-4 percent.
- Phase two was open to the public. The survey was available online from March 18 through April 1, 2022.
Key Findings
Results were briefed to City Commission on July 12, 2022. The overview presentation provided to the City Commission is available for download below.
2022 NCS Key Findings(PDF, 1MB)
Full Report
You can read the full report and explore data for both phases in the PDF below and online on Tableau.
PDF Report(PDF, 2MB)
View Online Report
Demographic Subgroups
To tell the story of who responded to this survey, NCS provided a breakdown of responses by demographic subgroups.
You can use the comparisons tab in Tableau to sort the data into different demographic subgroups including housing type, age, race, length of residency, presence of children, ward, and more.
Go to the Comparisons Tab
We're providing the two most requested demographic subgroup comparisons – race and ward – in PDF format below.
NCS Results by Race(PDF, 57KB)
NCS Results by Ward(PDF, 55KB)
2022 Commission Night Out Engagement Feedback
City Staff used the quantitative results from the NCS as the basis for further qualitative conversations with residents and community members. These sessions happened in conjunction with regularly scheduled Commission Nights Out. The reports are provided here broken out by each Ward.
And explanation of the format is available in a presentation format.