City Survey Highlights Alignment with Calgarians’ Top Priorities
CALGARY – The City has completed its Fall Survey of Calgarians, and the 2025 Fall Research Results are now available to the public before the presentation to City Council on November 10, 2025. The results show modest improvements in quality of life and service satisfaction, while reaffirming Calgarians’ top priorities: infrastructure, safety, housing and transit.
“Our priorities are Calgarian priorities, and this feedback helps ensure we continue investing in what matters most to the people we are here to serve,” says David Duckworth, Chief Administrative Officer. “Calgary has long been a place where people want to be, which is evident by the ongoing growth our community continues to experience. While Calgary has evolved throughout history — meeting each moment, each challenge and opportunity — one thing has remained constant: we have strived to be a great place to make a living and a great place to make a life.”
Modest Improvements in Quality of Life
While challenges persist, the fall 2025 results show incremental progress in several areas that shape daily life in Calgary.
· 71 per cent of Calgarians rate their overall quality of life as “good”, an improvement over this time last year (66 per cent).
- 73 per cent agree Calgary is a great place to make a life, on par with fall 2024 (70 per cent), and 68 per cent say it’s a great place to make a living, an increase from fall 2024 (63 per cent).
This gradual rebound from a low in spring 2024 may reflect growing confidence in The City’s direction.
The fall 2025 Municipal Benchmarking results reinforce Calgary’s reputation as a livable city, when compared to the municipal average of five major Canadian municipalities: Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal and Calgary.
· Compared to other major cities, Calgarians report a notably higher quality of life — by a margin of seven per cent.
When examining quality of life measures, short-term optimism is stronger than long-term confidence, suggesting that while Calgarians feel good about today, their outlook for the future remains uncertain.
· 69 per cent agree Calgary is on the right track to be a better city in 10 years, which rose significantly from 61 per cent in fall 2024.
· 42 per cent believe The City is ensuring a high quality of life for future generations, which saw a modest increase from 38 per cent in fall 2024.
“We’re seeing signs of progress, and it’s encouraging to see key indicators of quality of life improve,” says Duckworth. “Calgarians feel good about many aspects of life in our city, but their confidence in the future — and in the sustainability of that progress — remains fragile. There’s room for growth, but we’re on the right track.”
Trust is strengthening
After a few years of volatility, trust appears to be settling at levels similar to the years leading up to 2023, with 47 per cent of Calgarians trusting The City ‘a great deal’ or ‘a little.’ This suggests trust in government remains a delicate issue for many residents.
While only 24 per cent actively distrust The City, a notable 30 per cent remain neutral, suggesting some residents are uncertain or simply disengaged. This middle ground represents an opportunity to rebuild trust through targeted improvements in transparency, responsiveness and public engagement.
· 59 per cent of Calgarians are satisfied with how The City — including Council and Administration — is running our City, a slight increase from fall 2024 (53 per cent), while satisfaction with how Council is running our city lags behind at 50 per cent, with a modest increase from fall 2024 (46 per cent).
· A new measure in this year’s survey found that close to three-fifths (59 per cent) of residents feel The City is focused on their needs and 55 per cent believe input from Calgarians is used in decision-making about City projects and services, which showed a slight increase from fall 2024 (50 per cent).
Focusing on What Matters Most: Infrastructure, Safety, Housing, Transit
When asked to identify the single most important issue in our community for local leaders to prioritize, Calgarians continue to name infrastructure, safety, housing and transit. These priorities are reflected in recent investments and initiatives.
· Infrastructure, traffic and roads remain the most frequently mentioned issue, with 39 per cent of Calgarians identifying it as a top concern up from fall 2024 (35 per cent).
· Crime, safety and policing have risen to be the second most cited issue of concern for Calgarians at 23 per cent, an increase from fall 2024 (16 per cent).
· Roughly one in five (19 per cent) Calgarians continue to prioritize homelessness, poverty and affordable housing, which is on par with fall 2024 (17 per cent).
· 16 per cent prioritized growth and planning, increased from fall 2024 (12 per cent).
· Transit remains a steady concern, with just over one in ten (13 per cent) Calgarians identifying it as a priority.
“This alignment between resident priorities and our work is essential,” says Duckworth. “We remain committed to a responsive and data-driven approach — delivering results where they matter most.”
Satisfaction with Services Is Up; Value for Taxes Holds Steady
The perception of value for taxes remains consistent with this time last year, and satisfaction with City services has improved.
Calgarians’ satisfaction with the overall level and quality of City services has rebounded from a low of 61 per cent in spring 2025 to 67 per cent in fall 2025 and up four per cent from last fall (63 per cent). This suggests that service delivery improvements and stabilization are being recognized.
Calgarians’ perception of the value they receive for their tax dollar has stayed consistent at 42 per cent from this time last year (43 per cent) and there is a modest increase in preference for maintaining or expanding services.
· While two-thirds (67 per cent) of Calgarians are satisfied with services, fewer than half (46 per cent) believe The City manages tax dollar spending responsibly.
· Half (50 per cent) of Calgarians favour increasing taxes to maintain or expand services — up four per cent from fall 2024 — versus 42 per cent of Calgarians that would prefer to cut services to maintain or reduce taxes — down three per cent from fall 2024.
City research provides accountability & transparency
The City’s bi-annual survey is a key tool for understanding Calgarians’ expectations, concerns and real needs. It informs decision-making, tracks performance and ensures transparency and accountability.
“Our research is an essential element of evidence-based decision making and helps us stay connected to the people we serve,” says Krista Ring, Manager, Web, Research & Projects, Customer Service & Communications. “By sharing these results, we demonstrate our commitment to accountability and transparency.”
· The Fall 2025 Survey of Calgarians was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs from July 30 to August 28, 2025, consulting 2,500 Calgarians via telephone.
· The survey was conducted using numbers from both cell phones (60 per cent) and landlines (40 per cent) to obtain a random and statistically representative sample of Calgarians with a margin of error ± 2.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
· Responses were weighted to be representative of Calgary’s population, ensuring equitable distribution of responses according to age, gender and quadrant.
Results will be presented to Calgary City Council on November 10, 2025, and are available at calgary.ca/insights.
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