1 March 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The results of a Wichita community survey are out. The survey asked residents about the city’s livability, what they like about it and what needs to be improved.
The National Research Center at Polco developed the survey. Thousands of surveys were sent to randomly selected homes between Oct. 14-Nov. 25, 2022. Polco said that with the responses it got, there is a +/- 4% margin of error.
The survey report is 99 pages long. You can read it by clicking here. Or you can visit Wichita.gov and delve into each of the survey segments and compare them to previous survey results.
On Tuesday morning, Polco gave the Wichita City Council its key findings.
The first one is that survey respondents feel safe overall in Wichita but are concerned about police services.
84% of respondents said they feel safe in their neighborhoods during the day
72% feel safe from fire, flood or other natural disasters
Those responses are comparable to communities nationwide. But some other ratings are lower than other communities:
47% have an overall feeling of safety in Wichita
68% rated fire prevention as good or excellent
55% rated police services as good or excellent
The second key finding is that respondents say Wichita’s affordability is key, and they value a healthy economy.
62% rated Wichita’s cost of living as good or excellent, which is better than the 2020 survey
Ratings for quality food, quality housing, and quality child care all stayed close to the 2020 survey results
Only 45% said the affordability of quality health care is good or excellent, a drop from 2020
Only 32% said the affordability of quality mental health care is good or excellent, another decline from two years ago
The third key finding is that while ratings for utilities are strong overall, residents point to recycling and utility billing as areas of opportunity.
54% said the City’s utility infrastructure is good or excellent
67% said sewer services are good to excellent
62% said drinking water is good to excellent
Those ratings are similar to 2020 and to other communities around the nation.
The final key finding is that Wichita’s cultural opportunities are a valued aspect of community livability.
This is the percent rated excellent or good for:
Public library services – 84%
Opportunities to attend cultural/arts/music activities – 66%
Community support for the arts – 66%
Opportunities to attend special events and festivals – 63%
Overall opportunities for education, culture, and the arts – 63%
Ultimately, 76% of respondents rated the overall quality of life in Wichita as excellent or good.
The survey also asked people to indicate which five services should be the highest priority in Wichita. These are the results:
Crime prevention – 51%
Street repair – 44%
Drinking water – 42%
Police services – 35%
Economic development – 35%
Finally, respondents were given the chance to write, in their own words, the single most important thing the City of Wichita could do to improve the quality of life. Safety was the most common response.
Safety – 15%
Street, sidewalk, and walking/biking path improvement – 12%
Government transparency, welcoming to diversity, and resident involvement – 11%
Economic, business and downtown development – 10%
Other – 10%
Cost of living and community affordability – 9%
Homelessness and mental health services – 9%
Utilities (water, recycling, trash, and internet) and utility cost – 7%
Public transportation and traffic enforcement – 6%
Crime prevention – 4%
Change in City staff – 4%
City funding, senior services, and property taxes – 4%
Wichita had Polco ask some custom questions in addition to the usual livability questions. The City wanted to know how often people access different resources for City information.
About four in 10 said local television news, word-of-mouth, and social media. The numbers dropped when it came to the newspaper and the City’s website.
As for which sources the respondents consider to be the most important for getting information about the City:
51% said local television news
47% said social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Nextdoor, etc.)
42% said the City’s website, Wichita.gov
18% said the Wichita Eagle newspaper
17% said word-of-mouth
14% said City of Wichita emails
4% said Wichita City Council meetings, other public meetings
3% said City 7, the local government cable %V
3% said Meeting with City officials or employees