ROCHESTER — The City of Rochester has opened its 2026 National Community Survey, inviting residents to provide confidential feedback on quality of life and city services. The online survey is available through Sept. 7 and aims to supply city leaders with data to inform policy and operational decisions.
How the survey will be used
The survey, first conducted locally in 2022, asks participants to rate a range of community factors and municipal services. City officials say the results will help identify strengths, highlight opportunities for improvement and guide future decisions about programs and priorities.
“We rely on community feedback to guide our work,” Rochester Management Analyst Jessica Schuler said in a statement regarding the survey. “Your voice matters. When residents take the time to participate, it gives us meaningful insights that help us make data-informed decisions and improve services across the city.”
Responses to the survey are confidential and will be reported only in summary form. The city will review results across demographic groups to better understand community trends, and individual responses will not be released publicly.
Participation details
Residents can access the survey online at https://tinyurl.com/mrkvdrjx. The survey window closes on Sept. 7. Findings from the survey will be presented to the Rochester City Council at its meeting on Nov. 9 and then published on the city’s website.
- Survey access: Online at the provided tinyurl
- Open through: Sept. 7
- City Council presentation: Nov. 9
- Responses: Confidential; reported in summary
Why this matters to Rochester residents
Community surveys such as this provide elected officials and city staff with measurable feedback on resident priorities and perceived performance of services. While the city did not release participation targets or past response totals in its announcement, officials say they use the data to shape programmatic changes and budget priorities. For residents, completing the survey is a way to register satisfaction or concerns about specific services without attending public meetings.
City staff also analyze the results across demographic groups to better understand how experience and opinion vary across neighborhoods, age groups and other segments of the population. That analysis can highlight inequities or service gaps that merit further attention from staff and the City Council.
Next steps and transparency
After the survey closes, city staff will compile and summarize findings for the Nov. 9 City Council presentation. The summary will be made available online afterward so residents and community organizations can review the results. Because individual responses are not disclosed, the published results will focus on aggregated trends, ratings and comparative measures.
Community engagement tools such as the National Community Survey are one of several mechanisms Rochester city officials use to gather public input. Residents who wish to see how their feedback is reported can attend the Nov. 9 meeting or check the city’s website following the presentation for the published findings.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Survey access | https://tinyurl.com/mrkvdrjx |
| Open through | Sept. 7 |
| City Council presentation | Nov. 9 |
The city’s announcement noted that responses will be summarized by demographic groups but kept confidential at the individual level. Residents with questions about the survey or how results will be used can contact city staff through the City of Rochester’s official communication channels.
