Survey Reveals Around 90 Percent of Residents Recommend Tampa as a Place to Work, Open a Business
Source: HCP Associates
City of Tampa residents for the third straight year expressed overwhelming enthusiasm for their city as a place to live, work, raise a family, and open a business, according to a survey of 1,300 residents.
And for the second year in a row, more 90 percent of Tampa residents surveyed said they trust their city government when it comes to handling issues in the city. Nationally, only 66 percent of residents say they trust their local government, according to a 2021 Gallup Poll.
“We are on a roll, and I believe very few in Tampa will be surprised by our community’s great civic pride, and I am especially pleased to see residents have come to trust their city government more over the past three years. We used to aspire to be the next great American city, and now we’ve arrived,” Mayor Jane Castor said. “As positive as these survey results are, they remind us how much work there is to do to keep our momentum going and ensure we don’t lose what makes this community so special.”
The survey found 93 percent of Tampa residents would recommend Tampa to a friend of family member as a place to live. Ninety two percent would recommend it as a place to work, 89 percent as a place to raise children, 86 percent as a place to retire, 90 percent as a place to vacation, and 89 percent to open a business.
View the Community Values Survey Results
HCP Associates surveyed 1,300 Tampa residents who reflect Tampa’s diverse population. The April 14 – May 26 survey was conducted by HCP Associates and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percent.
Affordable housing in 2022 emerged as the number one issue where residents see the need for improvement, edging out smooth traffic flow, which had been the top issue in 2021 and 2020.
“There is nothing more important than listening to our residents about their needs, concerns, and ideas for improving our quality of life. Surveys like this give us a statistically meaningful way to measure community sentiment,” Mayor Castor said.
The City of Tampa is also partnering with Zencity, a community input platform used by hundreds of cities across the country, to reach more voices in the community, better understand local neighborhood issues to enhance the city’s responsiveness. Zencity’s public survey tool will enable residents to give meaningful feedback regularly on topics such as affordable housing, public safety, parks and recreation, the economy, and jobs, and more.
The surveys, in English and Spanish, will appear to residents through digital ads on social media platforms, and can be completed on mobile devices and personal computers. All survey responses are completely confidential, and neither Zencity nor the City of Tampa collect personal information or share individual-level responses.