2020 Alexandria Resident Survey: Affordability Rated Poorly

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Alexandria is rated high by city residents as a good place to live, but affordability and traffic flow are a few areas rated poorly. That's according to the 2020 Resident Survey, which measures residents' satisfaction with city services and other indicators.

Of the 3,000 randomly-selected households that received the survey, 634 responded in January and February 2020. Developed with the National Research Center and the International City/County Management Association, it included Alexandria-specific questions and standardized questions to compare Alexandria to national benchmarks. The survey was also done in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The survey found 91 percent of respondents rated Alexandria positively as a place to live and visit. A total of 86 percent rated the quality of life positively, and 82 percent rated their neighborhoods positively. There were 80 percent who are likely to remain in Alexandria for the next five years, but just 46 percent see it as a place to retire.

Affordability continues to be one of the lower-rated aspects in the survey. Just 18 percent rated the cost of living positively, compared to 23 percent in 2018. A total of 18 percent say there is availability of quality affordability housing. The quality of businesses gets more positive feedback; 88 percent rated dining opportunities positively, 77 percent rated shopping opportunities positively and 76 percent rated businesses and service establishments positively.

Another aspect with poor ratings relates to transportation. While 77 percent rate the ease of walking positively, 48 percent rate the ease of travel by car positively. Just 34 percent rate traffic flow on major streets positively and 31 rate ease of public parking positively. The overall ease of traveling to places they usually go is rated positively by 68 percent.

City of Alexandria government receives a 77 percent positive rating compared to a 51 percent rating for the federal government. However, 59 percent of respondents have confidence in Alexandria government, 56 percent positively rate services for taxes paid and 55 percent say all residents are treated fairly.

K-12 education, rated positively by 50 percent, and availability of affordable, quality child care, rated positively by 40 percent, were below national benchmarks. From 2018 to 2020, positive ratings also went down for museums (70 percent), out-of-school activities for youth (61 percent) and adult educational opportunities (59 percent).

Safety maintains an overall high rating in the city. There was an 85 percent overall positive rating of feeling safe in Alexandria and 86 percent in Old Town at night. A total of 87 percent rated police services positively, and 95 rated fire department services positively.

Among other factors, the survey provided insight into what Alexandria should focus on in the next two years. The top responses were: safety (90 percent), economic health (88 percent), ease of getting around (86 percent), quality of natural environment (84 percent) and "built environment" (83 percent).

According to a city news release, survey results are used to guide the city's budget process, track progress of the city's strategic plan and provide data for performance dashboards. New this year is an interactive dashboard of survey results, including comparison to other years. There is also a breakdown of responses by demographic groups, which the city uses to identify and work to reduce causes of gaps.

See the full survey results from 2020 and past years here.