Discover Your City’s Quality of Life Performance

by Jessie O'Brien on May 17, 2024

the community livability snapshot for quality of life performance for strategic improvement

Polco’s new Community Livability Snapshot gives you a comprehensive look at your government’s performance for strategic improvement.

When we understand our performance, we know where to improve. This information is critical for government decision-making when there are many competing priorities vying for attention and resources. Now your local government can access a big-picture report of your community’s quality of life data with Polco’s Community Livability Snapshot (CLS).

The CLS is a visual that shows ten different areas of livability, such as the economy, health, arts and culture, and more, mapped out on a graph based on their quality and importance.

“The idea with the Community Livability Snapshot is governments should pay attention to items with higher importance but lower quality,” said Polco’s Survey Research Principal Erin Caldwell.

Any jurisdiction in the United States can access its snapshot for free by signing up for a Polco account.

The Quality of Life Performance Data Behind The Community Livability Snapshot

One line of the graph shows the importance of each livability domain, which was determined entirely by resident opinion.

To get this information, Polco data scientists analyzed The National Community Survey (The NCS) database. The NCS is an assessment that asks residents to rate the quality of life in their city and government services. Looking at the data, Polco experts identified the top community needs and included them in the CLS.

The other line shows the quality of each domain. This information is specific to your municipality.

The quality-based information comes from Polco’s Government Performance Action & Learning (GPAL) database, which is nationwide public data curated by data scientists. Polco experts narrowed down what data points best demonstrate a community’s livability.

For instance, if a city is performing well in a low-importance area, decision-makers can feel comfortable redirecting resources towards areas of lower quality but higher importance.

“The Community Livability Snapshot is not just a tool for performance evaluation,” Caldwell said. “Governments can put the data to use for strategic planning, budgeting, policy development, and even for grant applications.”

See Your Quality of Life Performance Data. Get the CLS!

Get instant government performance metrics for your city with the Community Livability Snapshot by singing up for a free Polco account.

The account also includes limited access to Polco’s new AI Analyst, Polly, plus more!