Community Satisfaction Survey

The voice of our community matters in guiding Wheaton’s future. 

The City of Wheaton is committed to listening to our residents, and we value the community's feedback as we strive to ensure Wheaton is an outstanding community for everyone who chooses to call Wheaton home.

As part of the City's continued listening, we enlisted ETC Institute to conduct a community satisfaction survey to better understand how we’re doing and guide future decisions. ETC Institute mailed surveys to randomly chosen households in May and June of 2025 and collected data in numerous areas. 

The 2025 City of Wheaton Satisfaction Survey Findings Report is available for the community to review, and some of the key takeaways are highlighted below. 

2025 Community Survey Cover

What the Results Show:

  • Satisfaction levels for Wheaton rated higher than the U.S. average in all 46 areas assessed. Residents rated the quality of services provided by the City at 95.3%, compared to the national average of 49.0%.
  • Residents reported higher satisfaction rates in 2025 than 2014 in 45 of the 53 service areas assessed. Many of these directly correlate with areas the City has invested significant effort and resources to improve. For instance, satisfaction levels in each of the following areas have increased by more than 20% and align with objectives in the City’s Strategic Plan:
    • Effectiveness of the City’s stormwater runoff/management system (+27.3%)
    • Maintenance of City streets and sidewalks (+27.0%)
    • Police community engagement and safety programs (+21.2%)
    • Efforts to use social media/technology to inform (+34.4%)
  • Wheaton residents reported being pleased with the range of services provided, with more than 70% responding they are "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the value received for City tax dollars and fees. The City's scores in this area increased 17.6% since the 2014 survey. 
  • ETC Institute’s Importance-Satisfaction analysis identified the flow of traffic and congestion management as the top priority for investment over the next two years to raise the City’s overall satisfaction rating. This is an area residents ranked as being of high importance and among the areas where they reported the least satisfaction.  
    • This analysis also highlighted several opportunities for improvement that the City may consider when updating its Strategic Plan, including in the areas of: traffic conditions, availability of parking, visibility of police in neighborhoods, effectiveness of stormwater runoff/management, and availability of information about City programs/services.

We encourage you to review the 2025 Community Satisfaction Survey Findings Report for more information and results in all areas.  

About the Survey:

  • Five-page survey mailed to randomly selected households.
  • Recipients could complete the paper survey and return it to ETC Institute or fill it out online using a link on the survey. 
  • The City of Wheaton did not receive information about who received or completed a survey; results are anonymous.
  • ETC Institute received 601 surveys from randomly selected households, far surpassing its goal of 400 completed surveys to ensure a 95% level of confidence with a precision of +/-4.0%.
  • In addition to randomly selected households, the City opened the survey up for all residents to take online. These results are presented separately from the statistically random group as an addendum in the survey report. This allowed all residents who wanted to share feedback to do so.
  • Wheaton last completed a community satisfaction survey with ETC Institute in 2014, allowing the City to compare its results to the previous survey and with other cities nationwide.