National Citizen Survey

Every two years, the City of Dover participates in the National Citizen Survey, which provides a snapshot of the community and helps Dover measure service performance and quality, and assess community needs.

The results of the National Citizen Survey, combined with other feedback, helps the City Council, various City boards and commissions and the City administration understand and respond appropriately to the needs of the community in the upcoming years, as well as make comparisons with peer cities.

The city contracts with National Research Center, Inc. to participate in the NCS, an instrument that was developed in partnership with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) in 2001 to provide cities with a low-cost, high-quality method to conduct market research.

The survey centers on community livability and includes questions about the quality of life in the community, local policies, demographics, rating of local government services and resident use of services.

The National Citizen Survey was among the first scientific surveys developed to gather resident opinion on a range of community issues, and has been used in more than 350 jurisdictions across 46 states. The NCS is a high-quality cost-effective scientific survey of resident opinion and an important benchmarking tool that allows for comparison among communities. Communities using The NCS have reported that the tool helped improve performance, strengthen communications with community stakeholders, and identify clear priorities for use in goal and budget setting.

2023 National Citizen Survey Results

2021 NATIONAL CITIZEN SURVEY RESULTS

2019 NATIONAL CITIZEN SURVEY RESULTS

2017 National Citizen Survey results