Quality of Life |
OVERVIEW
Overall, two and a half times as many residents felt the quality of life in Carlsbad was getting better or staying the same (69.4%) as compared to getting worse. In particular, 21.5 percent of residents felt the quality of life in Carlsbad was “Getting better,” 47.9 percent felt it was “Staying about the same,” and 26.5 percent viewed it as “Getting worse.”
Figure 4: Quality of Life
Similar to the results for satisfaction with city services, perceptions regarding quality of life were positively correlated with a number of attitudinal variables throughout the survey. To follow are the highlights from the analysis;
- As residents’ sense of community increased so did their views regarding the quality of life in Carlsbad.
- Residents who were satisfied with the job the City is doing to provide services, as well as those satisfied with city-resident communication and those providing positive ratings for the job the City does providing information that is important to them were more likely to feel that the quality of life in the City was improving.
- Respondents who indicated that they were “Very confident” in city government to make decisions that positively affect the lives of residents were the most likely to view the quality of life as “Getting better” (44.5%) and those “Somewhat confident” were the most likely to view it as “Staying about the same” (55.3%). Two-thirds of residents who indicated a lack of confidence in city government viewed the quality of life as “Getting worse” (“Somewhat unconfident”: 64.1%; “Very unconfident”: 73.0%; Average across the two groups: 66.7%).
Highlights from the sub-group analysis of quality of life continued;
- Residents who felt “Very safe” walking alone in their neighborhood either during the day or at night were more likely to report that the quality of life in the City was improving. Comparatively, those who felt “Somewhat safe” or “Unsafe” were more likely to report that the quality of life was “Getting worse.”
- Residents’ ratings for the City’s job balancing the various land uses (i.e., residential, commercial, industrial, and recreational) were correlated with views on the direction of the community. Specifically, those providing an “Excellent” or “Good” rating were the most likely to view the quality of life as “Getting better” (40.1% and 28.1%, respectively), whereas the majority of those rating the City as “Poor” or “Very poor” at balancing land uses felt the quality of life was “Getting worse” (56.1% and 65.6%, respectively).
- Comparatively, residents that felt that traditional open space was the best use of the land that begins with the strawberry fields and goes to Faraday Avenue were more likely than those who preferred other options to view the quality of life as “Getting worse” (31.7% vs. 20.8%).
Demographically;
- Negative perceptions regarding the direction of the community were correlated with length of residence, such that the percentage who felt the quality of life was “Getting worse” increased with length of residence (Less than 5 years: 13.5% “Getting worse”; 5 to 9 years: 22.0%; 10 to 14 years: 32.6%; 15 years or more: 40.8%).
- Homeowners were more likely than renters to indicate that the quality of life in Carlsbad was “Getting worse” (28.8% vs. 17.8%).
- Residents without children were more likely to view the quality as “Getting worse” than residents with children.
- Residents in the 18 to 24 year age category were the most likely to view the quality of life as “Getting better” (39.7%) and those in the 25 to 34 year category were the most likely to view it as “Staying about the same” (58.1%). Comparatively, residents 35 years and older were much more likely to indicate that the quality of life was “Getting worse,” with the highest percentage cited by those in the 55 to 64 year old age group (36.0%).
- No statistically significant differences were found by whether or not residents had visited the Carlsbad Village, zip code of residence or gender.
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