Erin Caldwell, Survey Research Principal, Polco

Council will receive an overview of the 2025 Community Survey results. (Jenna Goad, Strategic Planning & Organizational Performance Manager)

The results of this study offer one of many sources that could be used to help guide future budget decisions.

The city of Goodyear regularly conducts a survey to gauge residents’ satisfaction with city services and better understand the perception of our community. The results of the survey provide the city with valuable insight about which services Goodyear residents consider the highest quality, which could be improved, and the overall level of satisfaction. In years past, City Council and management have utilized the results to make improvements to city services and/or consider new programs and strategic priorities.

The city previously contracted with the National Research Center/Polco to administer citizen surveys in 2014, 2015, 2018, 2021, and 2023.

The National Research Center, Inc. (NRC) at Polco conducts the confidential survey on the city’s behalf, using the National Community Survey (NCS) instrument which is specific to local governments, allowing Goodyear to benchmark results against over 500 communities across the country. The NCS captures residents’ opinions considering ten central facets of a community: Economy, Mobility, Community Design, Utilities, Safety, Natural Environment, Parks and Recreation, Health and Wellness, Education, Arts, and Culture, and Inclusivity and Engagement. It also allows for a limited number of custom questions.

Responses to the survey were down compared to previous years. It is unclear what might have impacted the response rate.
 

	2025	2023	2021	2018	2015
Surveys mailed	4,000	3,200	3,500	3,200	3,000
Surveys delivered	3,861	3,080	3,428	3,093	2,810
Responses received	415	404	606	751	657
Response rate	11%	13%	18%	24%	23%
Open participation (opt-in) online responses*	328	362	693	456	N/A

*Online open participation responses were weighted to reflect the demographics of the Goodyear community but are kept separate from the results of the probability sample.

The 2025 community survey results are attached (Attachment A). These results focus on the statistical sample group and were weighted to reflect the demographic profile of adults in Goodyear. With the sample size of 415 responses, the survey data has a margin of error of +/- 4.8% with a 95% level of confidence. Differences of more than 7% between the 2025 and 2023 survey results are considered statistically significant. The report provides comparisons to national benchmarks based on survey results from over 500 communities across the country. Being rated as “higher” or “lower” than the benchmark means that Goodyear's average rating for a particular item was more than 10 points different than the benchmark. If a rating was “much higher” or “much lower,” then Goodyear's average rating was more than 20 points different compared to the benchmark.
 

	2025	2023	2021	2018	2015
Rated Goodyear as an excellent or good place to live (rating similar to benchmark)	89%	85%	94%	94%	93%
Rated Goodyear as an excellent or good place to raise kids (rating similar to benchmark)	87%	86%	92%	88%	85%
Rated Goodyear as an excellent or good place to retire (rating above benchmark)	86%	76%	84%	87%	84%
Rated overall economic health as excellent or good (rating similar to benchmark)	78%	82%	92%	76%	67%
Rated overall feeling of safety as excellent or good (rating similar to benchmark)	81%	82%	84%	89%	89%

When asked how important it was for Goodyear to focus on each of the 10 central facets of a community in the coming two years, safety (93%), utilities (93%), economy (91%), natural environment (88%), and community design (87%) were identified as essential or very important the most frequently.

The monthly InFocus magazine (86%) continues to be a primary source of information for residents, followed by direct mailings (82%) and the city website (80%). Residents were also asked which resources the community should prioritize. The top three included additional sidewalks and pedestrian facilities (67% extremely or very important), improvements to existing sidewalks and pedestrian facilities (65%), and upgrades to existing multi-use paths (57%).

Key Findings of the report as identified by Polco include:

Highest-performing areas:

• Quality of life continues to be a strength in Goodyear, with about 9 in 10 residents giving high marks to the City as a place to live and the overall quality of life. Community members also indicated they are very or somewhat likely to recommend living in Goodyear to someone who asks (89%) and to remain in the City for the next five years (88%).
• Amid a national declining trend related to governance, Goodyear saw a statistically significant upward trend in the overall confidence in the City government (from 60% in 2023 to 70% in 2025), as well as in perceptions that the city generally acts in the best interest of the community (from 58% to 71%). Ratings for treating residents with respect (79% excellent or good), treating all residents fairly (78%), and the overall confidence in the City government all exceeded the national average.
• The economy remains a standout strength, with several items showing upward trends since 2023, including:
  • Overall quality of business and service establishments (from 65% to 71%)
  • Goodyear as a place to visit (from 59% to 65%)
  • Variety of business and service establishments (from 50% to 60%)
  • Vibrancy of downtown/commercial area (40% to 58%)
• Community enrichment continues to improve with residents applauding Goodyear as a place to retire (86% excellent or good) and raise children (87%). Attracting people from diverse backgrounds (75%) and valuing/respecting residents from diverse backgrounds (83%) both scored above the national benchmarks with, the latter item seeing an upward trend from the previous survey. Taking care of vulnerable residents (67%) also saw an upward trend and outperformed comparison communities.

Focus areas:

• Community design showed several declining trends. Positive ratings dropped for well-planned residential growth (from 56% in 2023 to 48% in 2025), the variety of housing options (from 68% to 58%), and land use, planning, and zoning (from 52% to 45%). Additionally, only about half of respondents gave favorable ratings to the preservation of the community’s historical or cultural character, which fell below the national average.
• The overall opportunities for education, culture, and the arts received less-than-positive ratings from about half of community members. Education-related items saw a steep decline from the 2023 iteration in K-12 education (from 70% to 62%) and adult educational opportunities (from 65% to 49%).
• While a few items exceeded the national benchmark, mobility had the largest gap between quality (43% excellent or good) and importance (80% essential or very important). About half of residents gave less favorable ratings to traffic flow on major streets (45%), ease of travel by bicycle (46%), and traffic signal timing (47%). Ratings for ease of travel by public transportation (26%) and bus or transit services (41%) also received low ratings but showed improvement from 2023.

Complete survey results can be found online and will be added to the city's website following the Council meeting.