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News Release

City Releases 2022 Portland Insights Survey Results, More Than 5,000 Portlanders Share Thoughts On City Services, Policy And Budget - 07/31/23

The City of Portland has released findings from the 2022 Portland Insights Survey, a new approach aimed at ensuring that all Portlanders—including communities who have been historically underserved—are represented and heard in government.

The findings, released today, summarize feedback from 5,290 Portland residents. 

2022 Portland Insights Survey Executive Summary

Conducted in collaboration with Portland State University’s Regional Research Institute, the Portland Insights Survey assessed Portlanders’ perception of their city government and its services. Following a pilot conducted by the City Budget Office in 2019, the 2022 survey introduced new questions and a sampling methodology to ensure representation of diverse communities. The new approach to gathering data will be carried out biennially with alternating years including focus groups to complement the survey with qualitative data.

The Insights Survey supersedes the annual Community Survey, previously conducted by the Auditor’s Office. Its results will play a crucial role in helping City leaders understand Portlanders’ priorities, evaluate programs and services, and inform budget development and policy making to better serve all of Portland’s communities.

The survey was distributed through mail to 20,000 randomly selected households as well as through an outreach-based model to communities commonly underrepresented in surveys, with the help of community-based organizations. The successful outreach efforts enabled the 2022 Insights Survey to reflect the diverse communities in Portland, allowing for generalization of the survey results to Portland as a whole.

The key takeaways from the survey spanned overall challenges and priorities, livability, community safety, housing and homelessness, economic recovery and government effectiveness.

Overall Challenges & Priorities

  • Top challenges identified by Portland residents include homelessness, cost of living, and community safety. Community safety was seen as more of a challenge for East Portlanders. Cost of living was the top concern for Black/African Americans, American Indian/Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, while homelessness was identified as the top concern for the other racial/ethnic groups.
  • Affordable housing/homeless services and safety services were the most prioritized City services for funding within the limited budget. More East Portlanders saw safety as the most important service to fund compared with the rest of the city.

Livability

  • Nearly half of Portlanders reported being satisfied or very satisfied with Portland as a place to live, while about a third expressed dissatisfaction. A larger proportion of East Portlanders were more dissatisfied than those in the rest of the city.
  • Residents expressed a desire to increase their use of public transportation and biking.
  • Residents were more satisfied with parks and natural areas, and trash, recycling, and composting services. They were less satisfied with the cleanliness of public areas, the quality of roads, streetlights, and sidewalks.

Community Safety

  • East Portlanders were less likely to feel safe walking in their own neighborhood or in the Central City, defined as downtown and the inner eastside, compared to the rest of the city. Among all racial/ethnic groups, residents who identify as Asian were the least likely to feel safe.
  • Support for armed police officers responding to 911 calls differed depending on the situation. More residents supported armed police responses to “someone damaging property” and “someone on private property and won’t leave.” Fewer supported armed police responses for “mental health crisis” or “someone sleeping on the sidewalk.”

Housing and Homelessness

  • Most residents supported Substance Abuse and Mental Health Clinics and Subsidized Apartment Complexes as important solutions in their own neighborhoods to address homelessness.
  • About 18% of residents said they needed the rental and housing assistance and the water, sewer, and stormwater bill payment assistance programs. Among those who indicated they needed the programs, a little under half didn’t know about these programs.

Economic Recovery

  • Residents’ confidence in finding a job that pays enough to support themselves or their family was divided. About 48% said they were able to, while 27% said they were not.
  • About 12% of residents indicated they need job training or business support. About half of them didn’t know about these programs.

Government Effectiveness

  • Residents identified challenges in contacting city government, with information accessibility and responsiveness to community input highlighted as areas for improvement.
  • About half of residents reported being aware of 311 at the time of the survey.

For detailed survey results and analysis, refer to the full report on the City's website.

2022 Portland Insights Survey Full Report

"It’s clear that Portlanders want to see increased action on top issues facing the City today and we are continuing to make progress in addressing these concerns," said Mayor Ted Wheeler. "This survey helps us gain valuable insight into how these issues impact communities in Portland differently. This data will inform our budget, unified City Council priorities, and comes at a critical time for Portland as we implement changes to the City's charter."

The survey represents the initial implementation of this survey approach, gaining insights that will help shape future research efforts and underscoring the City's commitment to using the data to foster more inclusive, responsive and equitable decision-making.

Next steps

A summary of findings will be presented to City Council on Aug. 2 by the City Budget Office.

An interactive report with the 2022 Portland Insight Survey results will be available on Portland.gov in the coming weeks.

While the short survey cannot fully capture the nuance of respondents’ lived experiences, in-person conversations through focus groups in Fall 2023 will complement the survey, providing richer qualitative data. The City of Portland aims to conduct the Insights Survey biannually, amplifying the voices of commonly underrepresented communities throughout Portland.

City Releases 2022 Portland Insights Survey Results, More Than 5,000 Portlanders Share Thoughts On City Services, Policy And Budget - 07/31/23

The City of Portland has released findings from the 2022 Portland Insights Survey, a new approach aimed at ensuring that all Portlanders—including communities who have been historically underserved—are represented and heard in government.

The findings, released today, summarize feedback from 5,290 Portland residents. 

2022 Portland Insights Survey Executive Summary

Conducted in collaboration with Portland State University’s Regional Research Institute, the Portland Insights Survey assessed Portlanders’ perception of their city government and its services. Following a pilot conducted by the City Budget Office in 2019, the 2022 survey introduced new questions and a sampling methodology to ensure representation of diverse communities. The new approach to gathering data will be carried out biennially with alternating years including focus groups to complement the survey with qualitative data.

The Insights Survey supersedes the annual Community Survey, previously conducted by the Auditor’s Office. Its results will play a crucial role in helping City leaders understand Portlanders’ priorities, evaluate programs and services, and inform budget development and policy making to better serve all of Portland’s communities.

The survey was distributed through mail to 20,000 randomly selected households as well as through an outreach-based model to communities commonly underrepresented in surveys, with the help of community-based organizations. The successful outreach efforts enabled the 2022 Insights Survey to reflect the diverse communities in Portland, allowing for generalization of the survey results to Portland as a whole.

The key takeaways from the survey spanned overall challenges and priorities, livability, community safety, housing and homelessness, economic recovery and government effectiveness.

Overall Challenges & Priorities

  • Top challenges identified by Portland residents include homelessness, cost of living, and community safety. Community safety was seen as more of a challenge for East Portlanders. Cost of living was the top concern for Black/African Americans, American Indian/Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, while homelessness was identified as the top concern for the other racial/ethnic groups.
  • Affordable housing/homeless services and safety services were the most prioritized City services for funding within the limited budget. More East Portlanders saw safety as the most important service to fund compared with the rest of the city.

Livability

  • Nearly half of Portlanders reported being satisfied or very satisfied with Portland as a place to live, while about a third expressed dissatisfaction. A larger proportion of East Portlanders were more dissatisfied than those in the rest of the city.
  • Residents expressed a desire to increase their use of public transportation and biking.
  • Residents were more satisfied with parks and natural areas, and trash, recycling, and composting services. They were less satisfied with the cleanliness of public areas, the quality of roads, streetlights, and sidewalks.

Community Safety

  • East Portlanders were less likely to feel safe walking in their own neighborhood or in the Central City, defined as downtown and the inner eastside, compared to the rest of the city. Among all racial/ethnic groups, residents who identify as Asian were the least likely to feel safe.
  • Support for armed police officers responding to 911 calls differed depending on the situation. More residents supported armed police responses to “someone damaging property” and “someone on private property and won’t leave.” Fewer supported armed police responses for “mental health crisis” or “someone sleeping on the sidewalk.”

Housing and Homelessness

  • Most residents supported Substance Abuse and Mental Health Clinics and Subsidized Apartment Complexes as important solutions in their own neighborhoods to address homelessness.
  • About 18% of residents said they needed the rental and housing assistance and the water, sewer, and stormwater bill payment assistance programs. Among those who indicated they needed the programs, a little under half didn’t know about these programs.

Economic Recovery

  • Residents’ confidence in finding a job that pays enough to support themselves or their family was divided. About 48% said they were able to, while 27% said they were not.
  • About 12% of residents indicated they need job training or business support. About half of them didn’t know about these programs.

Government Effectiveness

  • Residents identified challenges in contacting city government, with information accessibility and responsiveness to community input highlighted as areas for improvement.
  • About half of residents reported being aware of 311 at the time of the survey.

For detailed survey results and analysis, refer to the full report on the City's website.

2022 Portland Insights Survey Full Report

"It’s clear that Portlanders want to see increased action on top issues facing the City today and we are continuing to make progress in addressing these concerns," said Mayor Ted Wheeler. "This survey helps us gain valuable insight into how these issues impact communities in Portland differently. This data will inform our budget, unified City Council priorities, and comes at a critical time for Portland as we implement changes to the City's charter."

The survey represents the initial implementation of this survey approach, gaining insights that will help shape future research efforts and underscoring the City's commitment to using the data to foster more inclusive, responsive and equitable decision-making.

Next steps

A summary of findings will be presented to City Council on Aug. 2 by the City Budget Office.

An interactive report with the 2022 Portland Insight Survey results will be available on Portland.gov in the coming weeks.

While the short survey cannot fully capture the nuance of respondents’ lived experiences, in-person conversations through focus groups in Fall 2023 will complement the survey, providing richer qualitative data. The City of Portland aims to conduct the Insights Survey biannually, amplifying the voices of commonly underrepresented communities throughout Portland.