The results of the 2022 National Citizen Survey (NCS) are posted to the City of Twin Falls' website. The survey captures residents’ opinions about community characteristics, governance, and participation in the areas of safety, mobility, natural environment, built environment, economy, recreation and wellness, education and enrichment, and community engagement.
The NCS is conducted nationwide by POLCO and the survey is standardized to ensure accurate research methods and comparable results for communities across the United States. The reports provided by NRC discuss trends over time, comparisons to similar communities, as well as improvements and declines in overall ratings. This is the seventh NCS survey the City of Twin Falls has participated in – 2009, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022.
The 2022 survey was mailed in waves – a pre-notification postcard and the actual survey. The postcards were mailed the week of August 3, and then the surveys were mailed the week of August 10. The online portal opened Aug. 3 as well. In addition, an open participation survey was launched online on Sept. 7. Of the 2,800 households selected to participate, 495 surveys were completed, providing an overall response rate of 18% – a decrease from the previous surveys that generated on average a 30% response rate.
General themes that were demonstrated in the 2022 survey include:
- While residents are optimistic about economic progress in Twin Falls, the overall confidence in the economy is wavering due to the continued increase in the cost of living that is not commensurate to income.
- Mobility and walkability are seeing some improvement, which suggests City Council's focus on sidewalk construction and repair is beginning to have an impact. However, lack of public transportation and safe bike routes both score well below national benchmarks and below previous surveys.
- Quality of park facilities and access both saw a large improvement (66% to 76%), but responses reflect a lack of a community recreation facility.
- Residents’ sense of community pride, and connection and engagement with their community both saw an increase of fifteen percent since 2020, receiving positive ratings from 62% and 54% of residents, respectively.
- 67% of respondents rate the overall feeling of safety in Twin Falls as Good or Excellent, with specific aspects of safety scoring even higher.
- Overall, confidence in government at all levels is low, including local government. It is unclear if this is directly tied to the work we are doing, or if we are being associated with other levels of government. Either way, there is a downward trend in this area that we will need to work to understand and address.