The City of Portland released findings today from the 2024 Portland Insights Survey, an effort to assess community experiences, priorities and perceptions of City services – and ultimately inform policy and budget decisions to better serve all communities.
The survey, launched last summer, gathered perspectives from more than 4,000 residents on Portland’s top challenges, affordability, City services, safety and more.
Findings show Portlanders are most satisfied with local parks, natural areas, restaurants, shopping, arts and culture, and garbage and recycling services. Top concerns include homelessness, the cost of living and community safety.
Residents had a lot to say about how they engage with the City, preferring email, mail and by visiting Portland.gov. Awareness of the City’s 311 non-emergency line, PDX 311, also increased significantly since 2022.
2024 Portland Insights Survey Executive Summary
About the Portland Insights Survey
The City of Portland conducts the Insights Survey every two years in collaboration with Portland State University’s Regional Research Institute for Human Services.
Translated in six languages, the survey was initially sent to 20,000 randomized Portland households. Additional outreach was done in partnership with community-based organizations to capture feedback from communities historically underrepresented in City decision-making.
More about the 2024 Portland Insights Survey
Key highlights from the 2024 Portland Insights Survey
Portlanders are largely satisfied with outdoor and natural areas – 87% rate City parks as good to excellent. Portlanders are least satisfied with job opportunities, Portland as a place to raise children and the state of downtown.
- With ratings of fair to poor, perceptions of street maintenance are low compared with other City services rated in the survey, including parks and natural areas; garbage, recycling and composting; water service; stormwater drainage; and permitting services.
- Portlanders are largely satisfied with fire and paramedic services – most rating them as good to excellent. Portlanders are less satisfied with police services, rating them as fair to poor. Ratings vary by district and race/ethnic group, but the differences are slight.
Portlanders believe the most important city services to fund are affordable housing and homeless services, followed by city streets, sidewalks, transportation and safety services.
- As in the previous survey, homelessness, cost of living and community safety are top of mind for Portland residents. The greatest challenge to our city varies based on the racial/ethnic groups that people identify with though. Nearly half of those who identify as Black or African American and 40% of those who identify as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander believe discrimination is our city’s greatest challenge.
- Most Portlanders are not satisfied with the cost of living in the City; only a very small proportion of respondents are extremely satisfied. This feeling is consistent among districts, race/ethnic group, age, housing situation, level of income and education level.
Portlanders believe contacting City government on important issues is not particularly easy. Similarly, Portlanders are not particularly satisfied with how the City currently informs them of issues facing the community. More people have heard about PDX 311 as an option to help with local government service needs, but a large proportion of Portlanders are still unaware of this communication tool.
- Portlanders are divided about whether the City is moving in the right direction; about half of Portlanders agree (extremely, moderately, and somewhat), and the other half disagree (slightly agree to do not degree at all). Whether Portlanders believe everyone can succeed and thrive here is wide-ranging, too. About the same proportion of Portlanders either extremely agree or do not agree at all, and the rest are somewhere in between. Most former Portlanders move away for more affordable homes.
Most Portlanders feel safe walking in their neighborhoods (both day and night) and in the central city (day only), although District 1 respondents feel less safe than other district respondents. Portlanders don’t feel safe walking in the central city at night, however, and again, District 1 respondents feel the least safe.
District 1 respondents feel police officers are the most appropriate type of responders for more situations than other district respondents. For example, although most Portlanders feel a behavioral health specialist is the most appropriate type of responder for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis, more respondents from District 1 believe paramedics/EMT and armed police officers are the most appropriate responder than other districts.
The racial/ethnic groups respondents identify with also impact how strongly respondents feel about the type of responder in these situations.
Looking ahead
Key results from the 2024 Portland Insights Survey will be included in Performance Portland, a pilot project that will track trends about City services and their impacts, as well as broader trends affecting Portlanders. Dashboards will show key indicators like housing cost burden and crime rates, alongside performance measures on how the City is serving residents, such as people served at shelters, emergency response times, and water quality.