However, significantly fewer residents (44%) say they think the city is headed in the right direction. About one in three people don’t know if Dayton’s on the right path, and one in five say it’s not.
Dayton officials say the survey is one of the ways the city measures the impact of its public improvements and investments, and that in general, things are looking up.
Some survey results “strongly suggest that residents are recognizing and appreciating the city’s efforts and initiatives,” said Jennifer Custer, a management analyst II with Dayton who managed the survey.
A citywide survey that was conducted in September and November of last year received more than 1,300 responses from residents.
Dayton has surveyed residents about their attitudes and views of the city and its services for more than 30 years.
The survey found that six in 10 respondents said they were satisfied or very satisfied with Dayton as a place to live.
That compared to about 15% of survey-takers who said they were dissatisfied and 25% who said they were neutral or didn’t know how they felt about this question.
Satisfaction with Dayton in this respect is much higher than in the late 2010s, when less than half of residents said they felt the city is a good place to live.
Satisfaction peaked at 63% in 2023. Dissatisfaction with Dayton as a place to live last year fell to a new low of 14.5%, down from nearly 26% in 2019.
Another survey question asked about the quality of life in the city. Slightly more than half of respondents (52%) said they were content with the quality of life, while 18% said they unhappy in this regard.
These satisfaction and dissatisfaction levels have fluctuated only slightly in the last couple of years.
City officials said Dayton has made many community investments and city services improvements using funding sources like the 0.25% additional income tax levy and the Dayton Recovery Plan.
The Dayton Recovery Plan, the city’s spending blueprint for its federal COVID relief money, was approved at the end of 2021, and projects got underway late in the third quarter of 2022, said City Manager Shelley Dickstein.
Dayton is using a large chunk of its COVID relief money to improve housing, infrastructure, city facilities and community amenities.
Jeanette Ghand, Dayton’s division manager of management and budget, said the annual survey is a useful tool to track public sentiment over time.
She said the city wants to know if its long-term investments and strategies are improving outcomes for residents.
“In totality, the goal is that all improvements lead to higher satisfaction and more positive responses in the survey,” she said.
Direction of Dayton
Last year, about 44% of residents said they think the city is headed in the right direction. That’s up from 41.5% of community members in 2023.
In comparison, roughly one in five residents (21%) said Dayton is not headed in the right direction. Also, more than a third of survey-takers (35%) said they don’t know or aren’t sure about the direction the city is headed.
The share of residents who believe Dayton is on the right track declined in both 2022 and 2023, falling from a recent peak of 53% in 2021.
Interestingly, the share of Daytonians who think the city is not on the right path also has declined, for five consecutive surveys. That’s because more people have answered that they don’t know if the city is on the right track.
Dayton residents most likely to think the city is going in the right direction are younger, white and have higher earnings. Residents who are Black, older and who have lower incomes had lower levels of positive responses to this measure.
About the Author
