Fall survey of Calgarians shows satisfaction with City

CALGARY – The majority of Calgarians say the city remains a great place to live and work and rate the overall quality of life as good, according to the 2023 Fall Survey of Calgarians.

Three-in-four Calgarians say the quality of life in Calgary is good – higher than the national big-city average by almost 10% – while seven-in-ten say Calgary is a great place to make a living.

Community pride is particularly strong with 81% of Calgarians saying they are proud to live in their neighbourhood and 76% saying they feel safe walking around their neighbourhood at night.

Satisfaction with City services and programs was also high at 69%.

“We know Calgarians have an immense sense of pride in our city and we work hard to keep that quality of life and satisfaction in City services high,” said City of Calgary Chief Administrative Officer David Duckworth. “We know Calgarians are concerned about affordability, housing and addressing safety concerns, and we will continue our work to make progress on these important issues to ensure Calgary is a vibrant and inclusive city.”

The survey found the top issues among Calgarians were homelessness, poverty and affordable housing (31%), infrastructure, traffic and roads (28%) and crime, safety and policing (27%).

In terms of future prospects, seven-in-ten Calgarians believe Calgary is on the right trajectory to be a better city a decade from now, but there's a dip in this optimism compared with surveys in spring 2023 and fall 2022.

Calgarians feel as safe in our city as residents of other major Canadian cities, with 56% agreeing that Calgary is safe for residents and visitors, on par with other major cities in Canada. Nine-in-ten Calgarians would like to see more investment in transit safety, and 94% believe The City should be doing more to address safety issues downtown.

Trust in The City of Calgary remains steady at around 50% of Calgarians while seven-in-ten say they are satisfied with the performance of City Administration.

The vast majority of Calgarians agree housing is too expensive. Consequently, a large majority of Calgarians favour the exploration of affordable home ownership options and increased investment in affordable housing, prioritizing low-income residents and Indigenous people. Just three-in-ten believe ‘all Calgarians have access to adequate housing.’

The Fall Survey of Calgarians was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs from Aug. 2 to Sept. 4, 2023 with 2,500 Calgarians, via telephone survey. The survey was conducted using numbers from both landlines (60%) and cell phones (40%) to obtain a random and statistically-representative sample of Calgarians. The margin of error for the total sample is plus/minus 2%, 19 times out-of-20.

More details on the Fall Survey of Calgarians can be found at calgary.ca/citizensatisfaction

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