Survey shows high local confidence in Arlington Heights government; housing affordability flagged as concern

Polco presented Arlington Heights’ 2025 National Community Survey results to the Village Board on June 2, reporting strong resident confidence in local government and safety services but continued concerns about affordability and some community design measures.

Jason Neumeier of Polco reviewed results from a random sample mail survey of 3,000 households (468 completed responses), a 16% response rate with a margin of error of ±5 percentage points. "Weighting is a survey research best practice," Neumeier said, explaining the sampling and weighting methods used to make the data representative of village demographics. An additional open participation poll collected 497 responses and was supplied separately in the full report.

Key findings highlighted by Polco included: high confidence in local government and value of services for taxes paid; strong feelings of safety with roughly 9 in 10 residents reporting safety from violent crime and high praise for fire and emergency medical services; above‑average ratings for economy and downtown vibrancy; continued high ratings for education, arts and culture (K–12 education rated notably higher than national benchmark); and signs of declining sentiment on affordability measures, such as cost of living and availability of affordable, quality housing. "About one third of residents gave positive ratings for overall cost of living in the village," Neumeier said, noting a seven point decline from 2023.

Polco also reported higher-than-average usage of public transportation and walking, with about half of respondents reporting public transit use in the last 12 months and roughly 7 in 10 reporting walking rather than driving. Local services such as snow removal and street cleaning received above‑benchmark satisfaction ratings. The survey included custom questions; one asked about composting program participation and found about 10% using the village Groot program and 40% open to using a program in the future.

Board members asked clarifying questions about sample composition and benchmarking. Trustee Bertucci asked whether the national benchmark compared to similarly sized communities; Neumeier said the results presented compared to the entire national database of about 500 jurisdictions and offered to provide a tailored subset comparison on request. Trustee Zipp asked how staff will use the findings; Village Manager Rick Haas said staff will brief department directors and use the data to inform strategic planning and budgeting.

Neumeier noted national trends in declining affordability and availability measures and cautioned those trends reflect a broad national pattern. "This isn't to say that something should or shouldn't be done. That's your decision to make," he said, while offering the data for board planning. The report and full benchmarking tables are available to staff and trustees and staff said follow-up engagement through Polco is possible with the village’s subscription.