Lynnwood survey finds residents broadly positive on city services; affordability and housing remain top concerns

Polco presented results of the National Community Survey for Lynnwood at the City Council work session on July 21, 2025, telling the council the random-sample mail survey produced 323 completed responses (an 11% response rate) with a margin of error of about ±5.5 percentage points. Julie Moore, assistant city administrator, and Jason Neumeier, director of survey products at Polco, said the results are intended to inform strategic planning, budgeting and community engagement.

The report showed residents gave high ratings for several city services: 85% said they feel safe in their neighborhood during the day; drinking water was rated excellent or good by 86% of respondents; fire services received a 93% positive rating; and 75% said the city treats residents with respect. Polco also reported declines since the 2018 survey on several affordability measures, including affordable housing, cost of living and affordable quality health care.

Why it matters: the National Community Survey (NCS) is a standardized community benchmark used by local governments to track resident opinion over time and compare performance against a national database. The NCS report will feed council and staff deliberations on budgeting, service priorities and outreach.

Method and scope: Neumeier told the council that the city purchased an address list and mailed surveys to a randomly selected sample of 3,000 households; the mailed, probability sample produced 323 completed questionnaires and the analysis reported to council is based on that sample. "Every single demographic question that was asked on the survey, results can be shown by that demographic question," Neumeier said, explaining that responses can be cross-tabulated by age, gender, race/ethnicity, housing tenure, length of residency, presence of children or older adults and income.

Polco also ran an open participation online version publicized by the city; that non‑probability sample produced roughly 266 additional responses and is reported separately from the probability sample. Moore told council a press release was planned and the interactive dashboard and full reports had been posted to the city website: "The information and the interactive dashboard is now posted to our city website," she said.

Key findings cited to council included: residents value government performance (most items scored in line with national benchmarks and several items improved since 2018); a high sense of safety overall but gaps on violent crime and property crime ratings; utility and mobility services generally fared well; and affordability (especially housing and cost of living) emerged as a lingering concern.

Council questions focused on detail and outreach: members asked whether Polco could provide cross-tabulations by demographic groups and whether translated materials were available. Neumeier said detailed cross-tabs and an interactive Tableau dashboard would be provided and that the online survey was available in Spanish and could be translated further if needed.

Where to find the data: city staff and Polco said the report, verbatim open-ended responses and an embedded interactive dashboard are on the City of Lynnwood website and that staff would distribute direct links to council members for deeper exploration.