York County residents rate quality of life high but flag housing and transportation in Polco survey

York County supervisors heard results of a Polco/National Research Center community survey on Sept. 2, with presenters reporting that 440 completed responses from a probability mail sample produced a 15% response rate and a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The survey, carried out by Polco/NRC for York County, asked residents to rate 10 facets of community livability and how important those facets should be as county priorities over the next two years. Jason, a Polco/NRC representative, told the board that the county opted to receive both national benchmarks and a custom comparison to other Virginia jurisdictions.

"One of the major advantages of local governments participating in our community surveys is this opportunity to compare your ratings to those from communities across the nation," Jason said. The presentation emphasized benchmarking and trend monitoring as uses for the results.

Why it matters: County staff and supervisors said the results will inform long-range planning and budget priorities. The survey’s headline findings — high overall satisfaction with quality of life, strong ratings for safety and K–12 education, and weaker ratings for housing affordability and alternative transportation — were cited as material input for the county’s comprehensive plan and capital priorities.

Key findings and details

- Sample and methodology: Polco/NRC purchased an address list, removed addresses outside York County using county GIS boundary files, randomly selected 3,000 households and mailed invitations beginning April 17. The mailed probability sample yielded 440 completed surveys (15% response). An open, publicized online survey collected an additional 140 volunteer responses; the main report and presentation were based on the 440 randomly sampled responses.

- Overall ratings: About 9 in 10 respondents rated York County positively as a place to live, a place to raise children and a place to retire. The overall quality-of-life rating and the county’s image scored above both national and Virginia comparison communities.

- Safety and public services: Roughly 9 in 10 respondents rated fire and EMS services positively; more than eight in 10 rated police or sheriff services and crime prevention positively. Those public-safety service ratings were similar to or above benchmarks.

- Education and libraries: Library services and K–12 education received high marks; K–12 education scored above both national and custom Virginia benchmarks.

- Economy and affordability: The county scored well on measures tied to tourism and business vibrancy, but affordability measures performed poorly relative to need. Less than half of respondents rated the cost of living, availability of affordable quality childcare, mental health services and affordable housing positively.

- Transportation and mobility: Ratings for walking, bicycling and public transportation were substantially below benchmarks. Only about one in five residents rated ease of travel by bicycle positively and 13% gave a positive rating for travel by public transportation; traffic flow and parking had mixed results.

- Local questions: The county included custom questions on change over the past 5–10 years and future priorities. Preservation of open space and roadway/traffic improvements ranked among top priorities. About three in four respondents supported encouraging traditional neighborhood development; the survey did not provide a project-level definition and Polco staff said the item was left to respondents’ interpretation.

County reaction and next steps

Supervisor Knoll said the summary conclusions should guide retreats and comprehensive-plan work. Tim Wyatt, county planning staff and the project lead for the survey, was acknowledged by Jason as the primary county contact who helped develop and implement the survey.

Polco/NRC staff noted dashboards and a full report with demographic cross-tabs are available for staff use. Jason said the custom Virginia benchmark set included 15 other Virginia jurisdictions that completed comparable surveys within the past three years.

The presentation prompted follow-up interest from supervisors in drilling into mobility and affordability topics and in using the results for budgeting and capital planning. No formal action was required on the survey itself; supervisors asked staff to keep the results available for upcoming planning and retreat discussions.

Ending

Polco/NRC staff and county staff recommended the board use the survey findings for trend monitoring, budgeting and targeted follow-up. The board indicated it will reference the results in future comprehensive-plan and capital-prioritization work, and staff noted additional analysis is available in the full report and dashboards.