Resident Survey
The City of Alexandria is conducting the Resident Survey with ETC Institute. This survey is a part of ongoing efforts to use data to drive decision-making in the City. Results from past surveys have helped improve services and understand the needs of our community. Previous survey reports are available here.
What is this mailing I received? Is it actually from the City of Alexandria?
Alexandria is conducting its biannual resident survey, and if you received a mailed survey, you have been randomly selected as one of our participants. Completing this survey will help Alexandria improve its services for all residents, so your participation is critical.
Why is the return address outside of Alexandria?
Surveys will be returned to and processed by our external partner, ETC Institute, a public policy market research firm. The City of Alexandria will only receive anonymized data.
I want to fill it out online rather than mail it back. How do I do that?
Please follow the link printed on the cover page of your survey packet for an online version of the survey.
Why should I fill out the survey?
While participation is completely optional, your feedback is critical to helping Alexandria continuously improve its services for residents. Results from this survey will be used by city leaders in their decision-making. If survey participation does not reflect Alexandria’s diverse community, then the results won’t represent the full range of opinions in the City.
How are you going to use my response?
Alexandria has used similar surveys in the past to improve existing services and to help determine future needs for the City and the community. Aggregated results help City leaders prioritize investments and opportunities in the City. All data will be anonymized before it is sent to the City of Alexandria.
Why did I not receive a survey?
To ensure that results are representative of our community, the City and ETC created a sampling plan that randomly selected residents across the City. This approach ensures statistical significance of results and limits the margins of error to +/- 4%. We always welcome community feedback though. Please visit https://www.alexandriava.gov/occe/community-engagement for current community engagement opportunities.
When was the survey last conducted and where can I find previous results?
The last resident survey was conducted in early 2020. Previous survey reports are available here. Results are available for Resident Surveys dating back to 2016.
When will the results be released?
The survey will continue to collect results through the Spring and into early Summer. The City is working with the vendor to have all results tabulated and reported to the public by the Summer of 2024.