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2023 National Community Survey

2023 Resident Survey Results: Services Delivered, Recreational Opportunities,

and Sense of Safety - Very High in Lower Merion

During May and June 2023, Lower Merion Township contracted with National Research Center, Inc. to conduct The National Citizen Survey (NCS). The survey captured the opinions of approximately 1,495 Township residents who completed it.

According to the survey report, Lower Merion, 93% of residents rated the Township as an excellent or good place to live and were higher than ratings in most other communities across the nation.

The survey was sent out in the mail in May 2023 to 4,800 randomly selected households, distributed evenly throughout Lower Merion’s 14 wards, according to population. The response rate was 16%—a very good rate for a survey of this kind—or 760 returned surveys. In early June, the survey was then opened to all residents online for two weeks, and 735 more surveys were completed, for a total of 1,495.

“The NCS Survey is a helpful tool to evaluate how well Township Services are performing and serving the residents of Lower Merion Township. Like the 2016 NCS survey, the results show that Lower Merion a great place to live. Our residents rated the services provided by the Township very highly—in many cases higher than the average ratings of other communities across the country who have conducted the NCS,” said Township Manager Ernie McNeely. “But even with the high ratings, we will continually look for ways to improve service to our residents, which is really the underlying purpose for performing the survey.”

Township residents gave favorable ratings to both Safety and the Economy as well as, Quality of Life, Parks and Recreation, and Health and Wellness.

In terms of benchmarks, which are the comparisons of results from other municipalities across the nation, the only areas where Lower Merion ratings are lower than the average is in ease of bicycle travel, similar to the 2016 survey and an area the Township has already committed to improve. Lower Merion Township ratings were higher than the benchmark averages for Township services in general, Police services, Fire services, Library services and Public Information services.

A complete report of the 2023 National Citizen Survey results is available at The NCS Report Lower Merion 2023

A useful tool to drill down on certain stats of the survey can be found here: The NCS Report - Lower Merion Township, PA 2023 | Tableau Public Click on the comparisons tab and you can sort by Area (Ward) and various demographics.

2018 Villanova University-Lower Merion Township "Town/Gown" Survey

2016 National Citizen Survey

National Citizen Survey reports for Lower Merion Township (published January, 2017)

1. NCS Dashboard 2. NCS Community Livability Report

3. NCS Demographic Crosstabs 4. NCS Geographic Crosstabs

5. NCS Supplemental Web Results 6. NCS Technical Appendices

Resident Survey: Quality of Life High in Lower Merion

During November and December 2016, Lower Merion Township contracted with Colorado-based National Research Center, Inc. to conduct The National Citizen Survey (NCS). The survey captured the opinions of more than 1,800 Township residents.

According to the survey report, “Overall quality of community life represents the natural ambience, services and amenities that make for an attractive community. How residents rate their overall quality of life is an indicator of the overall health of a community.” In the case of Lower Merion, 97% of residents rated the Township as an excellent or good place to live. Respondents’ ratings of Lower Merion as a place to live were higher than ratings in most other communities across the nation.

The survey was sent out in the mail in the Fall to 3,000 randomly selected households, distributed evenly throughout Lower Merion’s 14 wards, according to population. The response rate was 28%—a very good rate for a survey of this kind—or 847 returned surveys. In late November, the survey was then opened to all residents online for two weeks, and 955 more surveys were completed then, for a total of 1,802.

“It is not at all surprising to me that our residents have generally rated Lower Merion Township as an excellent place to live, and rated the services provided by the Township very highly—in many cases higher that the average ratings of other communities across the country who have conducted the NCS,” said Township Manager Ernie McNeely. “But ratings of various services provide us with indicators for where we can work to improve service to our residents, which is really the underlying purpose for performing the survey.”

Among eight facets of community living that were broadly considered, residents identified Safety and Economy as priorities for Lower Merion Township in the coming two years. Township residents gave favorable ratings to both of these facets as well as to all others rated, including Mobility, Natural Environment, Built Environment, Recreation and Wellness, Education and Enrichment, and Community Engagement. The NCS also captures residents’ opinions within three pillars of a community: Community Characteristics, Governance and Participation.

In terms of benchmarks, which are the comparisons with results from other municipalities across the nation, the only areas where Lower Merion ratings are lower than the average is in ease of bicycle travel, and in those reporting having attended a Township sponsored event. Lower Merion Township ratings were higher than the benchmark averages for general Township services, Police services, Fire services, Library services, Public Information services, healthcare services, and number of residents who vote. Benchmark ratings where Lower Merion was much higher included education and public transit.

The complete reports of the 2016 National Citizen Survey results are above. The very detailed, in-depth survey results include the following reports:

Community Livability Report, which captures what makes a community livable, attractive and a place where people want to be.
Dashboard Summary of Findings, with resident ratings across the eight facets and three pillars of a livable community.
Comparisons by geographic and demographic subgroups.
A separate set of survey results from the online respondents.

PDFs of all reports are posted above.

Conclusions reached by the National Research Center are that Lower Merion residents enjoy a high quality of life; that Safety is a top priority for residents and received high marks; that a strong Economy is another feature that makes Lower Merion Township a desirable community; and that nearly all residents are satisfied with the Lower Merion Township Police Department.

“On one level,” remarked Dan Bernheim, President of the Lower Merion Board of Commissioners, “given this is Lower Merion, the excellent results are not surprising but, nevertheless, remain gratifying. On another level, a deeper dive into the data points to areas where we can strive for improvement in our perpetual quest to maintain and enhance the Township as a wonderful place to live, work and raise a family.”

A few of the survey results in the “Community Livability Report:

National Citizen Survey

The margin of error around any reported percentage is 3% for the entire sample. Residents with questions about the survey or its results may contact the Public Information Office by phone at (610) 645-6199, or by exploring the reports above.

About The National Citizen Survey™ (The NCS™): The NCS (www.n-r-c.com/thencs) 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 also the only citizen survey endorsed by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the National League of Cities.

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