In December 2023 - January 2024, the City of Albemarle conducted a community survey featuring 14 questions to:

•    Guide Albemarle's short & long-term priorities
•    Gain feedback on current city services
•    Get perspectives on the city's overall quality of life

The survey received 2,200 total respondents – 13% of the population. Participation in the 2023 Community Survey represented a 70% increase over 2020 Community Survey response rate.

Response Overview

70% of the 2023 Community Survey respondents were Albemarle residents. More than 50% have lived in Albemarle 20 years or less. 75% of respondents were white. Response by age group represented a balanced distribution (see chart below).

 Quality of Life

Highlights

• 63% rated Albemarle as a good or excellent place to live, a 10% improvement from the 2020 survey (30% of 2023 respondents selected fair)

• 57% rated Albemarle as a good or excellent place to raise, a family a 9% improvement from the 2020 survey (29% of 2023 respondents rated fair).

• 54% rated Albemarle as a good or excellent place to retire, 9% improvement from the 2020 survey  (27% of 2023 respondents rated fair).
  

Opportunity Areas

• 33% rated Albemarle as a fair place to work

• 33% rated Albemarle as a fair place to own a business

• Employment opportunities continues to be rated as the top characteristic to improve upon

Overall Quality of Life Characteristics

Highlights

• The excellent to good rating of Albemarle's diversity of business and services improved by 100% compared to 2020. In 2023 34% rated Albemarle's diversity of business and services as excellent or good. In 2020, 17% rated Albemarle's diversity of business and services as excellent or good. 41% rated as fair.

• 54% rated feeling of safety as excellent or good, an 8% improvement from the 2020 survey (32% of 2023 respondents rated fair)

• 60% rated Albemarle's parks and open space as good or excellent (29% of 2023 respondents rated fair).

Quality of Life Characteristics to Improve Upon

Survey respondents were asked to choose the top three quality of life characteristics they would like to see improved upon. Please note: results shown in the table below include a comparison to 2020 Community Survey results.

City Governance

Highlights

• 49% are very satisfied or satisfied with overall customer service (27% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied)

• 45% are very satisfied or satisfied with overall quality of service (28% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied)

• 41% are very satisfied or satisfied with effectiveness of City communication with the public (29% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied)

Opportunity Areas

• 37% are not confident that the government acting in the best interest of Albemarle

• 50% were neutral or dissatisfied with the overall value of services for taxes paid

City Services Satisfaction

Highlights

• 0% of services were rated unsatisfactory

• All services were rated either satisfactory (75%) or neutral (25%)

Improvement between 2020 and 2023 in:

• Main Street Program and Downtown Development

• Special Events

• Stormwater

Top 5 Opportunities for Service Improvement

• Street maintenance and cleaning
• Economic development
• Police
• Residential trash and recycling collection
• Main Street program and downtown development

Areas of focus that have produced positive change since 2020

Survey respondents ranked the four (4) areas of city focus where they’ve seen the most positive change since 2020. The results were:

• Downtown Vitality - examples: New Brewery, Social District, Residences at Albemarle Hotel, Apartments at First and Main, Signage & Lighting

• Arts and Culture – examples: Albemarle Neighborhood Theater, Food Truck Fridays, Fall Festival, Downtown Christmas Events

• Recreation – examples: New features such as Wampus Cats Baseball, Walking Routes, Indoor & Outdoor Pickleball, Yoga, Kayak Rentals, Playground Equipment

• Safety and Security – examples: New police headquarters, new fire engine, additional firefighters, police K-9 unit

Partnership Focus

Survey respondents ranked who they believe to be most important groups for the City to partner with in the future. The results were: