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County presentation: 2024 city–county resident survey shows high satisfaction with customer service, top priorities remain schools and affordable housing
Summary
Durham County presented results of its 2024 city–county resident satisfaction survey on March 10; the statistically valid sample of 810 residents showed strong ratings for county customer service and identified public schools and affordable housing as top community priorities.
Durham County officials presented the results of the 2024 city–county resident satisfaction survey at the Board of Commissioners’ March 10 meeting, reporting 810 completed questionnaires and a margin of error of ±3.4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
Josh Edwards, Durham County Director of Strategy and Performance, and Jason Marado of ETC Institute summarized key findings. “We found that residents have a positive perception of Durham County,” Edwards said, noting that 70.6% of respondents rated Durham as an excellent or good place to live. The survey used a combined county-and-city approach and included questions repeated from prior years to track trends.
ETC Institute’s Marado highlighted areas where Durham rated above regional and national averages and where it lagged. Durham outperformed peers on customer service provided by county employees and on parks and recreation programs; lower-rated areas included management of development and growth, maintenance of city streets, some measures of police protection, and certain education-related questions.
Top priorities identified by respondents were public schools, affordable housing, police protection and street maintenance. An important-satisfaction analysis — which weighs how important residents consider a service against their satisfaction with it — flagged public schools and street maintenance as the county’s highest-priority gaps.
Commissioners used the presentation to probe further. Commissioner Alison Burton asked whether the survey included more granular school-related questions; Marado said the survey asked about multiple facets of schools including budget management, transparency and overall quality and that the full report breaks those out. Commissioner Jacobs raised representativeness concerns, noting the sample skewed toward homeowners (about 60% homeowners in the sample) even though Durham’s population is roughly split between owners and renters; staff said they can run cross-tabulations and consider weighting or additional outreach in future surveys.
Other commissioner questions asked for more detailed trend and operational data: timing and trend data for EMS response times, breakdowns by homeowner versus renter status, and whether results differ for households with children or by school type. Edwards and Marado said the raw data allow for many of those cross-tabulations and that staff would provide follow-up analyses and copies of the detailed report.
Why it matters: The survey is designed to inform county priorities, budgeting and service delivery. Officials said they will use the results in department briefings and to identify service areas that require additional attention or resources.
What happened next: Staff committed to providing commissioners with additional cross-tabulations (including homeowners versus renters and households with children), trend data for EMS response times and a full copy of the survey report for departmental use and follow-up.
