Goodyear residents rate quality of life high; mobility and housing flagged in 2025 community survey

Erin Caldwell, a survey research principal with Polco, presented the City of Goodyear’s 2025 National Citizen Survey results at the June 16 work session, reporting that about nine in 10 respondents rated Goodyear as an excellent or good place to live. "I am happy to be here, to present a summary of the findings from your Goodyear National Community Survey," Caldwell said.

Caldwell said the probability (random) sample produced 415 completed surveys, an 11% response rate and a margin of error of about ±5 percentage points; an open-participation survey also produced 328 responses but was not used for the benchmarking analysis. "All households were eligible," she said, and Polco applied standard weighting to rebalance respondent demographics against Goodyear’s adult population.

The survey groups 121 evaluative items into 10 "facets of livability." Caldwell told council that Goodyear scored above benchmark on items such as parks and recreation, street lighting and recreation facilities, while two items—air quality and preservation of historical or cultural character—were rated lower than the benchmark. "Eighteen items received higher ratings, 101 were similar and two were lower," she said.

Council members asked how to interpret the ratings. Council member Hampton asked whether "importance" on the survey meant what people want versus what they think they’re getting; Caldwell said the two measures can differ and that high importance does not always mean the city is failing but may indicate residents want the issue maintained or prioritized.

Mobility produced the largest gap between importance and perceived quality: while roughly seven in 10 rated ease of travel by car as excellent or good, traffic flow on major streets and non‑car travel modes received lower marks. Caldwell noted ease of travel by public transportation and by walking or bicycling scored lower than travel by car but were similar to benchmark communities.

Housing and community design showed mixed results: variety of housing options was rated positively by about six in 10 respondents but declined since 2023; roughly half rated well‑planned residential growth and land use planning and zoning as excellent or good. Caldwell cautioned the survey identifies what residents rate but not always why, and she urged council and staff to "dig deeper" into the data or use focused outreach to learn the reasons behind those ratings.

City staff told council the survey will inform the annual strategic plan update in the fall and departments will use facet‑level data to guide program and budget decisions. "If there's any particular topic that council would like to dig deeper into, please let us know and we're happy to explore that," Jenna Goad, Goodyear’s strategic planning and organizational performance manager, told council.

The presenters noted Polco’s benchmarking database includes about 1,300 communities historically, with roughly 500 surveyed in the past five years used for comparisons.

Council members praised the overall results, cited mobility and housing as areas to explore further and asked staff to use the survey findings during the strategic plan update this fall. The staff presentation and full dataset remain available to departments for deeper analysis and targeted outreach.