The results of the 2022 National Community Survey for Sedona have been released, revealing that the city’s population is both predominantly senior and increasingly dissatisfied with the way their community is being run.

The National Community Survey is a standardized survey used by more than 350 jurisdictions to evaluate resident sentiment and assess how desirable or liveable a community is in comparison to other communities nationwide. Sedonans previously completed the survey in 2016, 2018 and 2020.

Demographics

The survey period ran from Sept. 5 through Nov. 3, 2022. The city of Sedona sent out questionnaires to 2,800 households and received 652 responses for a response rate of 25%, excluding those surveys that were returned due to being mailed to vacant addresses or postal error.

About 66% of survey respondents were age 55 or over, with 49% being 65 or over and 19% being 75 or over. Only 10% were between the ages of 18 and 34. Three out of four owned their own homes and 89% had no children under age 17. More than half reported an annual income of $75,000 or greater, with 24% estimating their annual income at $150,000 or more. Roughly 70% of respondents had lived in Sedona more than five years and 26% had been here for more than 20 years.

Results

By most measures, survey respondents, who were overwhelmingly over age 55 with many able to afford Sedona’s million-dollar median home price, expressed declining satisfaction with the quality of life in Sedona.

Although 76% of respondents reported experiencing good or excellent quality of life in Sedona, this represented a decline from 85% in 2016. During that period, positive ratings of Sedona as a place to retire dropped from 79% to 69%, and positive ratings of Sedona as a place to raise children from 50% to 28%.

From 2020 to 2022 alone, the number of respondents who felt Sedona did a good or excellent job of making residents feel welcome fell from 61% to 52%, while those who thought the city was taking care of vulnerable residents dropped from 49% to 33%.

While there was no change in the percentage of residents who intended to remain in Sedona for the next five years, only 63% said they would recommend living in Sedona to someone else, compared to 80% in 2016. About 44% of respondents described residents’ connection to their community as being good or excellent, compared to 51% six years ago.

The number of residents who rated the city’s design and layout as good or excellent declined from 55% in 2016 to 46% in 2022. Only 44% of respondents had positive feelings about the availability of public places to spend time, down from 67%. Good or excellent ratings for city parks dropped from 77% to 70%, for recreation facilities from 62% to 49% and for preservation of natural areas from 63% to 53%.

Although 32% of Sedonans formerly felt that the city warranted a good or excellent rating for well-planned residential growth, that number has now fallen to 21%. Those who would give the quality of new development high marks have also declined from 39% to 27%.

Survey respondents were especially concerned with their physical wellbeing. Good or excellent responses to the question of how safe Sedona generally feels dropped from 97% to 88% in the 2016-2022 interval. More specifically, those who said they felt very or somewhat safe from fire or natural disasters declined from 72% to 59%.

Ratings of good or excellent for ambulance and EMS services fell from 90% to 77% while ratings for most other emergency services remained fairly consistent. Positive ratings of health and wellness opportunities declined from 59% to 51%, of health services from 46% to 21% and of cleanliness from 95% to 82%. Meanwhile, only 37% of residents surveyed felt Sedona had good or excellent availability of affordable quality food, down from 55% in 2016, and only 14% felt the same way about the availability of quality health care, down from 36%.

Sedonans also indicated their lack of trust in city government. Just 47% of respondents thought that they got excellent or good value for their tax dollars, and only 41% gave the city government a positive rating for honesty, with 34% expressing overall confidence in the government and 28% approving of the overall direction Sedona is taking.

Positive ratings of the services provided by the city government dropped to 55% from 68% in 2016.

In addition, 57% of those surveyed reported not attending any Parks and Recreation events in the last 12 months, and 84% did not use the Sedona Hub during that time.

At the same time, public engagement among surveyed residents has increased substantially. The percentage of respondents who had contacted city officials to express their opinion rose to 42% from 30% in 2016. Those who had attended a public meeting rose to 47% from 38% and those who had watched a public meeting rose to 39% from 18%. These numbers are, according to the survey benchmarks, substantially higher than the national average. Only 25% of Sedonans reported sharing their opinions online, down from 32% in 2020.

Respondent rating of Sedona’s economic health as good or excellent rose from 57% in 2016 to 67% in 2022, apparently without regard to local economic declines or the likelihood of a national recession in 2023. Positive evaluations of the quality of businesses also rose from 51% six years ago to 59%, and positive ratings of the vibrancy of Uptown from 47% to 66%. Respondents made it clear that they felt employment opportunities abound in Sedona, with the rate of those who described them as good or excellent doubling from 18% to 35% in six years. Only 3% of respondents indicated that they would like to see tourism play more of a role in Sedona’s economy, compared to 35% who thought it should stay the same and 62% who wanted to see tourism reduced.

Residents also expressed increased approval of the quality of the transportation system, with the number of positive responses climbing from 26% to 36% since 2016, and for the availability of artistic and cultural opportunities, which grew from 42% to 54%. Positive ratings of the ease of travel by public transport increased significantly, while positive ratings of traffic flow on major streets declined. Some 79% of respondents supported a transit system for both locals and visitors.

Few Sedonans — 37% in 2016, 29% in 2022 — would rank Sedona’s K-12 education system as good or excellent, but 47% would do so for the city’s adult educational opportunities, up from 39%. Fully 72% of respondents gave positive responses regarding the opportunity to attend special events in Sedona.

Overall, Sedonans rated their city much more highly as a place to visit, and much more poorly as a place to raise children, than the average American rated their community. They also expressed much less confidence in the quality of local housing, health care and government performance while ranking much higher on civic participation.

The full results of the survey are available on the city of Sedona’s website or below: