The city of McKinney has set the bar high in terms of quality-of-life standards not only in Texas but the rest of the nation, according to a recent survey conducted among residents.
At a city council work session on June 20, the results of the 2023 National Community Survey conducted by the National Research Center and Polco among McKinney residents were revealed.
The survey aims to measure citizen opinion to better inform municipal policy-making. It was the fourth time the survey was conducted in McKinney, with previous responses collected in 2017, 2019, and 2021.
This year researchers received 466 responses from 4,500 randomly selected households, alongside 966 responses from an open participation survey from January 20 to March 3.
McKinney respondents rated the city highly in terms of quality of life, outperforming the national benchmarks set by the same survey conducted in over 600 other communities across the country.
“Overall quality of life was given positive ratings by 92% of residents, 91% of folks would recommend living in McKinney. And again, right around that 90% of folks had a positive outlook towards the image of McKinney,” explained Joe Dell’Olio, senior survey associate with Polco/National Research Center, during the presentation on Tuesday, according to McKinney Courier-Gazette.
The health of the city’s economy was well regarded by McKinney respondents, with 86% rating the economy as good or excellent, according to the report.
As The Dallas Express recently reported, McKinney is one of the wealthiest cities in the U.S., ranking No.12 on a list compiled late last year. The study by data compiler HomeSnacks found that the city’s median household income was $100,775, the unemployment rate was 3.5%, and the poverty rate was 6.9%.
Perceptions of community safety — which was cited as the top priority among McKinney residents in the recent survey — were also very good, with 95% of respondents reporting that they felt safe at home, whether from natural disasters (86%), violent crime (85%), or property crime (81%).
While still above the national average, there was a slight decline in feelings of safety from property crime and violent crime reported compared to the previous survey conducted in 2021.
According to Neighborhood Scout, a resident of McKinney has a 1 in 732 chance of becoming a victim of violent crime and 1 in 105 of property crime.
In nearby Dallas, this chance rises to 1 in 116 and 1 in 28, respectively — echoing city residents’ concerns over safety from crime in recent polls, as The Dallas Express has extensively covered.
Elsewhere in the survey, McKinney residents indicated that they had fairly high regard for the city’s utility infrastructure, with 75% of respondents judging it as excellent or good overall.
More specific questions point to lack of inexpensive options for high-quality internet and utilities as areas responsible for this slight dip, with only 65% and 68% of respondents, respectively, rating them as good or excellent.
Survey questions seeing less favorable results were those regarding confidence in local government and overall mobility.
McKinney citizens recently voted against an initiative to expand the local airport by adding a 144,000-square-foot commercial passenger terminal using a $200 million bond, as The Dallas Express reported.
McKinney Mayor George Fuller had been a major supporter of the expansion project, and the city council had voted unanimously in favor.
Nevertheless, concerns cited by residents opposed to the expansion included potential increases in taxes and in noise that might have impacted nearby wildlife and residences.
Yet while 67% of residents reported good or excellent confidence in McKinney’s government, the transportation system received good or excellent ratings from only 41% of respondents.
This dip in satisfaction was largely due to bus and transit services receiving positive ratings from only 20% of respondents, which was below the national average.
Moreover, 59% of McKinney residents surveyed reported viewing the traffic flow on major streets favorably.
Increased congestion has been witnessed across the metroplex in recent years, primarily due to rapid population growth. McKinney has been one of the magnet cities of the area, seeing 5,568 new residents between 2020-2021, as The Dallas Express previously covered.
