Agda Pkt 2026.01.26 Joint SA PFA

Browse Search

About The NCS™ The National Community Survey™ (The NCS™) report is about the “livability” of Redwood City. A livable community is a place that is not simply habitable, but that is desirable. It is not only where people do live, but where they want to live. The NCS was developed by the experts from National Research Center at Polco in partnership with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and has been administered in hundreds of communities across the United States. Great communities are partnerships of the government, private sector, community-based organizations and residents, all geographically connected. The NCS focuses on the livability of Redwood City by categorizing survey questions into the ten main “facets” of community livability shown below, in addition to ratings for quality of life and local governance. These facets have been identified through years of extensive survey research as those that are most impactful to residents’ quality of life. • Economy • Mobility • Community Design • Utilities • Safety • Natural Environment • Parks and Recreation • Health and Wellness • Education, Arts, and Culture .. The report provides the opinions of a representative sample of 280 residents of Redwood City collected from September 4, 2025 to November 20, 2025. The margin of error around any reported percentage is 5.9% for all respondents. Survey results were weighted so that the demographic profile of respondents was representative of the demographic profile of adults in Redwood City. Reporting Results For the most part, the percentages presented in this report represent the “percent positive.” Most commonly, the percent positive is the combination of the top two most positive response options (excellent/good, very safe/somewhat safe, etc.). On many of the questions in the survey, respondents may answer “don’t know.” The proportion of respondents giving a "don't know" response is shown in the full set of responses included in the “Complete Data” section; however, these responses have been removed from the analyses presented in the main body of the report. Therefore, the tables and graphs display the responses from respondents who had an opinion about a specific item. Benchmark Comparisons Polco’s database of comparative resident opinion is comprised of resident perspectives gathered in surveys from over 400 communities whose residents evaluated the same kinds of topics on The NCS. The comparison evaluations include surveys from the past five years. If a jurisdiction has conducted multiple efforts in the past five years, only the most recent survey is included in the benchmark database. Polco adds the latest results quickly upon survey completion, keeping the benchmark data fresh and relevant. The communities in the database represent a wide geographic and population range. In each tab, Redwood City's results are noted as being “higher” than the benchmark, “lower” than the benchmark, or “similar” to the benchmark, meaning that the average rating given by Redwood City residents. Being rated as “higher” or “lower” than the benchmark means that Redwood City's average rating for a particular item was more than 10 points different than the benchmark. If a rating was “much higher” or “much lower,” then Redwood City's average rating was more than 20 points different when compared to the benchmark. In addition to these national benchmarks, comparisons were also made to a smaller cohort of communities that align more closely to the demographics in Redwood City. This cohort included Arcadia, Beaumont, Clovis, Corona, Elk Grove, Lake Forest, Livermore, Marin County, Palo Alto, Rocklin, Roseville, San Jose, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Sunnyvale, and Tracy. Comparisons to these communities can be found throughout the report and in the Custom Benchmarks tab. Trends over time Trend data for Redwood City represent important comparison data and should be examined for improvements or declines.¹Deviations from stable trends over time represent opportunities for understanding how local policies, programs, or public information may have affected residents' opinions. Changes between survey years have been noted with an arrow and the percent difference. If the difference is greater than 7.75 percentage points between the 2024 and 2025 surveys, the change is statistically significant. 1.In 2020, The NCS survey was updated to include new and refreshed items. Consequently, some of the trends may be impacted due to wording modifications that could have potentially altered the meaning of the item for the respondent. 1 11.A. - Page 10 of 43 144