City of Collegedale

Highlights

Residents experience a high quality of life in the city.

About 9 in 10 residents gave positive ratings to the overall quality of life in Collegedale and to Collegedale as a place to live. A

similar proportion considered the city an excellent or good place to both retire (86%) and raise children (93%). Of these ratings,

Collegedale as a place to live was similar to the national comparisons, while the others were all higher than the benchmarks.

Most residents also gave positive marks to the overall image of the city (86% excellent or good), would recommend living in

Collegedale (91% somewhat or very likely), and planned to remain in the city for the next 5 years (85% somewhat or very likely).

These were all on par with ratings given in other communities across the nation.

Collegedale residents feel safe in their community.

Strong feelings of safety contribute to the overall quality of life in Collegedale. The overall feeling of safety in Collegedale was

rated positively by 95% of residents, which was higher than the national average. Virtually all residents reported feeling very or

somewhat safe in both their neighborhood (98%) and Collegedale’s downtown during the day (97%), as well as from violent

crime (93%). Additionally, many of the safety-related services in Collegedale received a high level of support from the

community. About 9 in 10 positively reviewed the city’s ambulance/EMS, fire services, as well as crime prevention, and at least 8

in 10 gave high marks to animal control and police/sheriff services. Crime prevention and animal control were rated higher than

the national benchmarks, while all others were similar to comparison communities.

Residents praise mobility-related services but identify room for growth in alternate modes of

transportation.

Many city services relating to mobility received higher-than-average marks from respondents. About 8 in 10 offered favorable

evaluations for Collegedale’s street cleaning, sidewalk maintenance, traffic signal timing, and traffic enforcement, all of which

surpassed comparison communities nationwide. Street repair ratings were also higher than the benchmark, with 63% excellent

or good reviews. In addition, about 8 in 10 residents gave positive (and above-average) scores to the ease of travel by car in

Collegedale The ease of public parking also garnered positive reviews, with 70% giving high marks, and just under 6 in 10

residents approved of traffic flow on major streets.

In contrast, ratings for alternate modes of transportation tended to be less positive. Half of respondents gave excellent or good

scores to the ease of walking and the ease of travel by bicycle in Collegedale. Only about 1 in 10 gave favorable ratings to the

ease of travel by public transportation, which was much lower than the benchmark. Bus or transit services received positive

reviews from 18% of respondents, also much lower than in comparison communities. Additionally, residents reported a low

utilization of alternate forms of transportation. When asked about types of transportation used in the past year, one-third of

residents said they had walked, biked, or carpooled instead of driving, and only 1% had used public transportation.

Economy is a priority for Collegedale residents.

When asked about which aspects of the community the City should focus on in the next two years, nearly 9 in 10 residents

identified the overall economic health as an area of priority. A similar proportion of residents gave positive ratings to the quality

of Collegedale’s overall economic health (86% excellent or good), which was higher than the national average. Other items

relating to the economy received mixed ratings but were all similar to the national benchmarks.

The highest-rated items in this facet were the overall quality of business and service establishments in Collegedale (79%

excellent or good), followed by economic development (67%). About 6 in 10 respondents had positive views toward Collegedale

as both a place to visit and work, as well as the variety of business and service establishments in the city. Nearly half approved of

the cost of living in Collegedale, the vibrancy of downtown/commercial area, and employment opportunities in the city. Only

about one-third of residents gave positive marks to Collegedale’s shopping opportunities (37%), and fewer than one-quarter felt

the economy would have a positive impact on their family income in the next 6 months.

Utility infrastructure is a bright spot for Collegedale.

Survey items relating to the city’s utility infrastructure garnered almost universally favorable ratings from the community. Most

residents gave high marks to affordable high-speed internet access (93% excellent or good), which was much higher than the

benchmark, as well as to garbage collection (93%) and drinking water (86%); both of which were also higher than the national

averages. A strong majority, around 8 in 10, gave positive ratings to stormwater management, sewer services, and the overall

quality of the utility infrastructure in Collegedale.

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