Durham Satisfaction Survey: Schools, Pedestrian and Bike Amenities Need Work

Durham residents are least impressed with the city’s public and charter schools, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and our public transit system.

That’s according to the 2023 Durham City Resident Survey, conducted by the ETC Institute on behalf of the city. The survey ranks responses in three tiers based on “very satisfied” or “satisfied.” The lowest tier included:

• Overall quality of pedestrian facilities: 31%.
• Overall quality of charter schools: 30%.
• Overall quality of bicycle facilities: 29%.
• Overall quality of public schools: 29%.
• Overall quality of the public transit system: 28%.

Our residents seemed most satisfied with:

• Overall quality of library services and programs: 88%.
• Overall quality of fire and life safety programming: 69%.
• Overall quality of service received from city employees: 68%.
• Overall quality of water and sewer: 68%.
• Response time for fire services: 67%.
• Overall quality of EMS: 66%.
• Overall quality of service received from county employees: 66%.
• Overall quality of parks and recreation programs: 62%.
• Response time for EMS: 62%.

Residents maintained their top preferences for areas that need city and county attention during the next two years:

• Quality of police protection.
• Quality of public schools.
• Maintenance of city streets.

“This underscores a consensus between public expectations and the empirical assessment of service importance and satisfaction,” the survey executive summary states. “Acknowledging and acting upon this will likely lead to more impactful and resonant decisions, fostering a shared commitment to address the community’s most pressing needs.”

Maintenance services that residents think need the most attention during the next two years:

• Condition of public school facilities.
• Condition of neighborhood streets.
• Condition of neighborhood sidewalks.

More than 80% of residents surveyed in 2023 indicated that their children attend or have graduated from Durham Public Schools. Respondents seem divided about the quality of education available from DPS, but the district scored lowest when it came to managing its budget and transparent decision-making.

When it comes to public safety, 82% of residents surveyed indicated that they feel safe walking neighborhood streets during the day. But only 42% said they felt safe in Durham in general.

In a news release, city officials noted that 75% of respondents feel Durham is a decent place to live and that 74% seem happy to work here.

“I’m proud of our staff for their hard work and dedication to our community, and this survey shows that our residents recognize and appreciate what their local government employees do every day for our city,” said City Manager Wanda Page in the release. “This year’s survey also gave us important data as to where our residents believe we should focus our efforts over the next two years. The overall results provide a picture of, not only resident satisfaction, but also how we should view community-wide priorities since this data is used by the City Council and City administration to help direct day-to-day decisions as well as overall long-term planning and funding allocations.”

The survey, conducted in December 2023, gathered data from 622 Durham households.

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