CC 01-22-2025 Item No. 12. Attachment F - Community Survey Results Informational MemorandumCITY COUNCIL INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM
Date: January 22, 2025
To: Cupertino City Council
From: Tina Kapoor, Deputy City Manager
Re: 2024 Community Survey Results
Background
Since 1990, the City engaged with a professional consulting firm, Godbe Research to conduct 19
periodic community surveys to gauge resident satisfaction with city services and inform decision-
making. The last survey was conducted in 2017. However, the pandemic disrupted this regular
cycle, resulting in a significant gap. To address this, the City reengaged with Godbe Research to
conduct the 2024 community survey to assess a wide variety of resident needs. The 2024
Community Survey aimed to capture updated insights into residents' satisfaction with essential
city services and priorities for the future. Comparative data from the previous survey (2017) is
included throughout the report wherever the data is available. A detailed report with the full
results and additional data and analysis is included in Attachment A.
The following areas of inquiry were included in the 2024 survey:
•Living in Cupertino
•Cupertino City services
•Parks and Recreation services
•Transportation choices
•Environmental sustainability
•Community & economic development
•Public safety
•Ethnic diversity
•Information sources
Methodology
A random sampling method was used to ensure broad representation across all neighborhoods
and demographic groups within the City. Telephone interviews were conducted with an option
to complete the questionnaire online, to maximize accessibility and participation. A total of 718
Cupertino residents, including non-voter and voter adults over 18 years participated in the
survey from November 12 through November 23. This provided a statistically significant sample
with a margin of error of +/-3.63 percent.
ATTACHMENT F
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Overall Satisfaction
Survey results indicate that Cupertino residents continue to have very positive perceptions about
living in the City. A significant majority of the residents (87.2%) are satisfied with their quality of
life in the City. For other California cities, the overall satisfaction rate is on average 76.5%.
Key Findings
1.Living in Cupertino
The first section of the survey addressed living in Cupertino, including an assessment of
the quality of life, the reasons for living in Cupertino and the top issues in the
community.
As stated above, a significant majority of the residents (87.2%) are satisfied with their
quality of life in the City (“very satisfied” 32.4% and “somewhat satisfied” 54.8%). The
total is slightly lower than in 2017 (88.3%).
As in previous years, the “school system” emerged as the top reason why residents
choose to live in Cupertino. Specifically, 28.4 percent of the residents mentioned “school
system” as the main reason for living in Cupertino, which is lower than the 35.3 percent
mentions in 2017 survey. This response was more common among the residents ages 40
to 49.
When asked what the top two issues in the community were, affordable housing was
identified by 35.5 percent of the respondents as one of the two most important issues
facing Cupertino. Following affordable housing, education and school overcrowding
were seen as the second most important issue (15.2%) followed by traffic (15.0%). It is
notable that those indicating traffic had declined by 41.8 percent from a high in 2017 of
56.8 percent.
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2. Cupertino City Services
The second section of the survey focused on city services. A substantial majority of
Cupertino residents continue to be satisfied with the overall job the City is doing to
provide services to its residents.
Specifically, 72.5 percent of the residents are satisfied with the job the City is doing to
provide services, with 25.5 percent “very satisfied” and 47.0 percent “somewhat
satisfied” with the job the City is doing. This is a slight decrease from 2017’s finding
(76.5% satisfied) but is not statistically significant. Only 20.3 percent were dissatisfied
with the City’s overall job performance, and 7.2 percent did not have an opinion.
For our other California city clients they have averaged about 66.0% satisfied since 2020.
In addition to a high-level view of city services, respondents were also asked about the
“importance” of specific list of services and their “satisfaction” with the same list of
services. When looking at specific services, respondents indicated that the most
important services were:
• Maintaining City streets and roads and preventing potholes
• Maintaining parks
• Safe pedestrian sidewalks and crosswalks
• Keeping residents informed
• Traffic on City streets
• Neighborhood police patrols
When asked how satisfied they were with the specific services, respondents indicated
they were most satisfied with the following services:
• Blackberry Farms facilities
• City events and festivals like Earth Day and the Cherry Blossom Festival
• Maintaining parks
• Senior Center programs
• Quinlan Community Center programs
• Protecting the environment
• Youth and Teen programs
Of course, it is useful to compare the importance and satisfaction to determine what areas
might yield the most improvement in the overall quality of life. When ranked by
importance, the services that showed the least satisfaction relatively speaking were
“balancing growth and development in Cupertino”, “traffic on City streets” and
“neighborhood watch programs”. However, again the rankings are relative and are all
positive.
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For our other California city clients, it is not uncommon to see growth and traffic receive
negative satisfaction rankings.
3. Parks & Recreation Services
After the questions about city services, respondents were next questioned about a variety
of other issues in the City. Beginning with recreation and community services, 77.3
percent of respondents indicated they visit Cupertino parks at least once a month, a
slight increase from 74.3 percent in 2017. Additionally, 26.1 percent of respondents
indicated that they participate in a Recreation Department activity at least once a month,
a slight increase when compared with 22.3 percent in 2017.
4. Transportation Choices
The next section of the survey addressed transportation issues. To start, and not
surprisingly, an overwhelming majority of the Cupertino residents continue to rely on
personal vehicles for their daily commute. Specifically, 90.4 percent of the residents
reported they “drive alone”. Another 26.4 percent indicated they “walk” to work, school
or other places”, and 22.4 percent use “carpool, vanpool, or ride with others,” to go to
work, school or other places they visit frequently.
Totaling the non-drive alone responses, 73.8 percent of the residents reported they walk,
carpool / vanpool / ride with others, bicycle, take the bus, Silicon Valley Hopper, train or
light rail for some of their trips. Currently, 29.4 percent of residents use alternative
transportation at least once a week.
When asked respondents reasons for not using alternative transportation, 33.0 percent of
respondents indicated that inconvenient public transit routes and 31.0 percent indicated
inconvenient schedules were the reasons they did not use alternative transportation.
5. Environmental Sustainability
Another section of the survey addressed a few specific environmental practices. When
asked what sustainable household practices they have done, respondents’ top responses
were:
• Placed my food waste in the compost bin (55.8%)
• Wash vehicles at a commercial car wash or on landscaping (49.6%)
• Reduced or eliminated use of fertilizers or pesticides on lawn (35.1%)
• Repaired a water leak or upgraded to a water efficient appliance (30.8%)
• Converted grass lawn to water efficient landscaping (26.2%)
6. Community and Economic Development:
The Community & Economic Development section asked respondents’ satisfaction with
the shopping environment and what businesses they would like to see in Cupertino. A
solid majority of 60.7 percent of the residents indicated they were satisfied with the
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shopping environment in Cupertino when compared to the neighboring cities in the Bay
Area. Conversely, 36.7 percent indicated their dissatisfaction with the shopping
environment in Cupertino. In the 2017 Cupertino survey, 52.9 percent were satisfied, and
45.6 percent were dissatisfied.
In terms of businesses they would like to see more of in Cupertino, 32.0 percent of
respondents wanted to see more “shopping / retail” in Cupertino, 28.8 percent wanted
more “Mom and Pop stores”, 28.5 percent wanted more “Ethnic food restaurants /
Diversity of foods”, 28.4 percent wanted “Discount stores / Walmart / Costco”, 28.4
percent wanted more “book stores”, and 28.0 percent wanted more “Restaurants / High
end”.
While satisfaction with economic development efforts was high, some respondents
expressed concerns about affordability and housing availability, emphasizing the need
for balanced growth.
7. Public Safety
The survey indicated that 44.6 percent of respondents feel that “crime has stayed about
the same”. While 4.7 percent feel that “crime has decreased”, and 34.7 percent felt it has
increased. Comparatively, the 2017 survey indicates that 38.6 percent of respondents feel
that “crime has stayed about the same”, 9.2 percent feel that “crime has decreased”, and
41.4 percent felt it has increased.
8. Ethnic Diversity
In terms of ethnic diversity, 56.5 percent of the residents indicated they felt that City’s
efforts to ensure that members of all ethnic groups feel welcome in the City was “about
right” while 10.4 percent feel that the City is not doing enough. Comparatively in 2017,
63.0 percent of the residents indicated they felt that City’s efforts to ensure that members
of all ethnic groups feel welcome in the City was “about right”, whereas 14.6 percent feel
that the City was not doing enough.
Next Steps
The insights from this survey provide a valuable roadmap for prioritizing city initiatives and
resource allocation. This memo and the full report (Attachment A) will be made available to the
public on the City’s website1. These results will be used to inform strategic planning efforts for the
City moving forward.
We thank all residents who participated in this survey for sharing their valuable feedback and
helping shape the future of our city.
1 https://www.cupertino.gov/Your-City/About-Cupertino/Community-Survey
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Sustainability Impact
There are no sustainability impacts associated with this update.
Fiscal Impact
Although there will be fiscal impacts with the final selection of the CWP, there are no impacts
associated with this update.
California Environmental Quality Act
Not applicable.
Prepared by: Tina Kapoor, Deputy City Manager
Approved for submission by: Pamela Wu, City Manager
Attachments:
A – 2024 Community Survey Results
ATTACHMENT F
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Page 1
January 2025
City of Cupertino
2024 Community Survey
January 2025
ATTACHMENT F
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Page 2
January 2025
Overview and Research Objectives
The City of Cupertino commissioned Godbe Research to conduct a survey of
its residents with the following research objectives:
¾Learn their overall perceptions of the quality of life;
¾Gather resident feedback on several local issues including:
•Living in Cupertino;
•Cupertino City Services;
•Parks & Recreation services;
•Transportation choices;
•Environmental sustainability;
•Community & economic development;
•Public safety;
•Ethnic diversity; and
•Information sources;
¾Identify any differences in responses due to demographic characteristics.
ATTACHMENT F
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Page 3
January 2025
Executive Summary
ATTACHMENT F
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January 2025
Living in Cupertino
¾The survey results indicate that Cupertino residents continue to have very
positive perceptions about living in the City.
A significant majority of the residents are satisfied with their quality of life
in the City (87.2%), with the “very satisfied” (32.4%) lower than the
“somewhat satisfied” (54.8%). The total is just slightly lower than in 2017
(88.3%).
For our other California city clients, they have averaged about 76.5%
satisfied with the quality of the life.
¾As in previous years, the “school system” emerged as the top reason why
residents choose to live in Cupertino.
28.4 percent of the residents mentioned “school system” as the main
reason for living in Cupertino, which is lower than the 35.3 percent
mentions in 2017 survey. This response was more common among the
residents ages 40 to 49.
ATTACHMENT F
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January 2025
Living in Cupertino II
¾Affordable housing was identified by 35.5 percent of the respondents as one
of the two most important issues facing Cupertino. Education and school
overcrowding were seen as the second most important issue (15.2%)
followed by traffic (15.0%). It is notable that those indicating traffic had
declined by 41.8 percent from a high in 2017 of 56.8 percent.
ATTACHMENT F
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January 2025
Cupertino City Services
¾A substantial majority of Cupertino residents continue to be satisfied with the
overall job the City is doing to provide services to its residents.
72.5 percent of the residents are satisfied with the job the City is doing to
provide services, with 25.5 percent “very satisfied” and 47.0 percent
“somewhat satisfied” ratings. This is a slight decrease from 2017 finding
(76.5%) but is not statistically significant.
Only 20.3 percent were dissatisfied with the City’s overall job
performance, and 7.2 percent did not have an opinion.
For our other California city clients, they have averaged about 66.0%
satisfied since 2020.
¾When looking at specific services, respondents indicated that the most
important services were:
Maintaining City street and roads and preventing potholes
Maintaining parks
Safe pedestrian sidewalks and crosswalks
Keeping residents informed
Traffic on City streets
Neighborhood police patrols.
ATTACHMENT F
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Page 7
January 2025
Cupertino City Services II
¾When looking at specific services, respondents indicated they were most
satisfied with the following services:
Blackberry Farms facilities
City events and festivals like Earth Day and the Cherry Blossom Festival
Maintaining parks
Senior Center programs
Quinlan Community Center programs
Protecting the environment
Youth and Teen programs
ATTACHMENT F
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Page 8
January 2025
Cupertino City Services III
¾When ranked by importance, the services that showed the least satisfaction
are “balancing growth and development in Cupertino”, “traffic on City streets”
and “neighborhood watch programs”.
ATTACHMENT F
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January 2025
Parks & Recreation Services
¾77.3 percent of respondents indicated they visit Cupertino parks at least
once a month, a slight increase from 74.3 percent in 2017.
¾26.1 percent participate in a Parks & Recreation Department activity at least
once a month, compared with 22.3 percent in 2017.
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January 2025
Transportation Choices
¾An overwhelming majority of the Cupertino residents continue to rely on
personal vehicles for their daily commute.
90.4 percent of the residents reported they “drive alone”.
26.4 percent indicate they “walk” to work, school or other places”
22.4 percent use “carpool, vanpool, or ride with others,” to go to work,
school or other places they visit frequently.
At the same time, a combined total of 73.8 percent of the residents
reported walk, carpool / vanpool / ride with others, bicycle, bus, Silicon
Valley Hopper, train or lightrail for some of these trips.
¾Currently, 29.4 percent of the residents use alternative transportation at least
once a week.
¾33.0 percent of respondents indicated that inconvenient public transit routes
and 31.0 percent inconvenient schedules were the reason they did not use
alternative transportation.
ATTACHMENT F
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January 2025
Environmental Sustainability
¾When asked what sustainable household practices they have done,
respondents' top responses were:
Placed my food waste in the compost bin (55.8%)
Wash vehicles at a commercial car wash or on landscaping (49.6%)
Reduced or eliminated use of fertilizers or pesticides on lawn (35.1%)
Repaired a water leak or upgraded to a water efficient appliance (30.8%)
Converted grass lawn to water efficient landscaping (26.2%)
ATTACHMENT F
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January 2025
Community & Economic Development
¾60.7 percent of the residents are satisfied with the shopping environment in
Cupertino when compared to the neighboring cities in the Bay Area.
Conversely, 36.7 percent indicated their dissatisfaction. In 2017, 52.9
percent were satisfied, and 45.6 percent were dissatisfied.
¾32.0 percent of respondents wanted to see more “shopping / retail” in
Cupertino, 28.8 percent want more “Mom and Pop stores”, 28.5 percent
want more “Ethnic food restaurants / Diversity of foods”, 28.4 percent want
“Discount stores / Walmart / Costco”, 28.4 percent want more “book stores”,
and 28.0 percent want more “Restaurants / High end”.
ATTACHMENT F
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January 2025
Public Safety
¾The 2024 survey indicates that 44.6 percent of respondents feel that “crime
has stayed about the same”. 4.7 percent feel that “crime has decreased”,
and 34.7 percent felt it has increased. Comparatively, the 2017 survey
indicates that 38.6 percent of respondents feel that “crime has stayed about
the same”, 9.2 percent feel that “crime has decreased”, and 41.4 percent felt
it has increased.
ATTACHMENT F
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January 2025
Ethnic Diversity
¾56.5 percent of the residents indicated they felt that City’s efforts to ensure
that members of all ethnic groups feel welcome in the City was “about right”
while 10.4 percent feel that the City could do more. Comparatively in 2017,
63.0 percent of the residents indicated they felt that City’s efforts to ensure
that members of all ethnic groups feel welcome in the City was “about right”,
whereas 14.6 percent feel that the City could do more.
ATTACHMENT F
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January 2025
Information Sources
¾56.1 percent of the respondents prefer to be informed of City projects,
meetings, events and updates by email, 30.4 percent prefer the City
Website, 16.9 percent chose text messaging, and 16.2 percent prefer social
media. In 2017, 44.0 percent of respondents indicated that direct mail was
the most preferred way of being informed about city projects, meetings,
events and updates. Another 33.8 percent indicated email and 20 percent
indicated the city website was the best source.
¾In terms of frequency of City news, 39.9 percent want information a few
times a month or more, while 45.8 percent want information once a month or
a few times a year. 4.8 percent indicated “Never” and 9.5 percent did not
have an opinion.
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January 2025
Methodology Overview
¾Data Collection Landline, cell phone, and online
interviewing from text and email invitation
¾Sample Pool 45,320 adult (18 years or older) residents
in the City of Cupertino
¾Fielding Dates November 12 to 23, 2024
¾Interview Length 26 minutes
¾Sample Size n=718
(landline n=12; cell n=160; text n=505;
email=41)
¾Margin of Error ± 3.63% Adults 18+
Note: The data have been weighted to reflect the actual population , characteristics of the adult residents in the City of Cupertino
based on the 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) in terms of gender, age and ethnicity.
Some questions have comparative data from the 2017 survey while others do not.
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