Did Pensacola become a better place to live this year? Yes and no. Here's 10 takeaways

Each year, the Quality of Life Survey is conducted for Escambia County and the city of Pensacola to gauge how residents feel about living in the area and its direction.

The Pensacola Young Professionals (PYP) presented the latest survey during CivicCon last week and found that while the city has made great progress since the survey began in 2008, it’s seen some regression in many areas like education, the county government and affordable housing.

The survey also highlights an significant contrast in the city’s perception based on race. More white people said systemic racism doesn’t exist in Escambia County compared to last year while Black people answered roughly the same.

Quality of Life dashboard: Take a look at the data here

Attitudes toward law enforcement also showed a shift from last year. Whereas race relations with police within Pensacola city limits improved among white and Black people, race relations with police in Escambia County plummeted among Black people.

But the survey wasn’t all bad news. Overall, Pensacola residents felt that life was better than last year by about 4%. And Pensacola made progress in many areas such as having high confidence in the local economy, noting the availability of arts and cultural opportunities and receiving the highest marks to date as a good place to live for young, single people.

The Quality of Life survey has been funded by Quint and Rishy Studer and is conducted by the nationally recognized Mason-Dixon polling firm. Here’s 10 takeaways from the 2023 Quality of Life Survey.

Pensacolians believe the overall quality of life is better than last year

We’ll get started on a good note: Overall, the majority of Pensacola residents (67%) feel like the quality of life in Pensacola is better than it was last year (63%). How does that compare to the highest point? The sentiment is still high, up 20 points from its lowest point (47%) and just below the highest in 2015 (71%).

The slight drop is due to a few areas where residents weren’t as positive, such as how the quality of life will improve in the county over the next five years, the direction of the county and the city, the performances of Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves and of City Council and the future of the economy in Escambia County over the next five years.

Each of those dropped slightly from last year, but are still up significantly from their lowest points over the survey’s 15-year history. Meanwhile, the area saw a 12% increase as a place to live for families.

Pensacola Quality of Life Survey: Faith in Escambia K-12 education is at all-time low, Quality of Life Survey reveals

Pensacola offers great cultural opportunities like theater, museums and music

This year, Pensacola scored its highest rating yet for the availability of cultural opportunities such as theater, museums and music, scoring 61% positive. When the survey began in 2008, Pensacola scored a 60% negative in this area.

This metric might come as a shock to anyone who grew up in Pensacola before downtown’s revitalization in the late 2000s and early 2010s. “I can’t wait to move” was an often repeated sentiment that doesn’t pop up quite as much as it used to thanks to the revived opportunities that now exist between downtown, Pensacola Beach and NAS Pensacola’s attractions.

Pensacola scored record high for welcoming and inviting people of diverse backgrounds, ethnicity and culture

The Pensacola area hit a record high regarding whether the community is welcoming and inviting to people of diverse backgrounds, ethnicities and culture, jumping 12 points to 61% positive. Last year, the area scored 49% in this metric and 43% at its worst in 2008.

Pensacola job opportunities are at an all-time high

Speaking of hitting record highs, Pensacola residents are feeling particularly confident regarding job opportunities in the area and job security. In regards to job opportunities in the respondents’ field, they responded with 48% positive, up 2 points from last year and 35 points since 2009 when the area scored 13% positive.

"This, again, is the highest we've ever been in terms of people feeling good," said Claire Kirchharr, director of quality of life for the Pensacola Young Professionals who presented the survey results. "This, to me, not only reflects our job market, but also our diversity of jobs. People feel good about not only being able to keep their job and their economy in the job, but also that if something were to happen, they've got options.”

Pensacola is a great place for entrepreneurs

News Journal readers won’t be surprised to find that many people believe Pensacola is a great place to open a new business. This year, respondents were asked to rate the area as a place to live for entrepreneurs and new businesses and they responded with a 58% positive, up 7% from last year and the highest the area has ever scored. The lowest score the area received was 11% positive in 2011.

"This one's really important because a lot of these questions are, of course, going to have trickle down effects," Kirchharr said. "If we're a good place to live for entrepreneurs and new business, that's going to increase our ability for new grads to find jobs, that's going to increase our abilities for families to settle down and that's going to improve our general economy.”

Availability of affordable housing is at an all-time low

Affordable housing has been a global issue following the COVID-19 pandemic as rent and home prices skyrocketed while mortgage rates plummeted. Fast forward three years, while home prices have hardly budged, mortgage rates are now 8% and insurance rates in Florida have exploded 900% in some places, driving people from their homes. These issues are by no means just a Pensacola problem.

In 2008, Pensacola survey respondents ranked affordable housing at 65% negative, which slowly began dropping until it hit its lowest point in 2012 at 52%. That metric has since steadily increased to where it’s at now, 87% negative, the highest ever recorded.

Crime and drugs, cost of living and insurance are the biggest issue for Pensacola residents

A big part of the Quality of Life Survey is to identify key issues residents feel need improvement. Most of the time, this section of the survey is populated by familiar faces like crime, economy and cost of living. This year saw the emergence of a new topic: Insurance.

In the city of Pensacola, insurance topped the list with 20% of the vote while crime/drugs followed at 17% and cost of living also at 17%. In the county, education was the most concerning issue at 18% with crime/drugs coming in at 12% and insurance also at 12%.

Citing reasons they or a family member may leave the area, 28% cited insurance. "So, something we want to pay attention to is what at a local level are we doing to affect our insurance issues?" Kirchharr said.

Faith in Escambia County School Board plummeted

In the wake of a highly politicized school year in Escambia County, residents' faith in the school board and superintendent dropped substantially. The Escambia County School Board’s approval rating was just 22%, down from 37% last year and down 27 points from 2018’s high of 49%.

Residents’ approval of the Escambia County superintendent of schools was also an all-time low, hitting a 33% approval rating, though it is important to point out that 34% of respondents answered that they were unsure of superintendent Tim Smith’s performance, up 9 points from last year. In 2016, 61% of respondents approved of the superintendent’s performance.

Similarly, only 20% of respondents held a positive view of Escambia County public schools, down from 36% last year and 40% in 2018, which was the record high.

The 2022-2023 school year in Escambia County was mired in controversy as the county led not only the state but the country in book bans. Looking more broadly, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education have come under fire time and time again for decisions regarding everything from Advanced Placement curriculum, gender orientation, LGBTQ+ issues and more.

Quality of Life Survey 2022: Is the quality of life in Escambia getting better or worse? What citizens say

Availability of outdoor parks, playgrounds and beaches has dropped 30 points over history of survey

Perhaps the most surprising metric to drop was the availability of outdoor parks, playgrounds and beaches, which slowly dropped since 2015. Respondents in this year’s Quality of Life Survey ranked this metric at 57% positive, down 6 points from last year and 30 points from 2015’s record high.

Race relations in Escambia, Pensacola deeply divided

Race relations in the Pensacola area are probably the most difficult to judge when lumped together. This year was split evenly with 49% of respondents answering that they believe Escambia County is a good place to live for racial and ethnic minorities and 49% responding negatively. Looking at the same results by race paints a very different picture: 80% of Black respondents answered negatively while 59% of white respondents answered positively.

When asked specifically if the county was a good place to live for people like the respondents, the results were more positive. Black people responded 61% negatively while white people responded 65% positively.

Meanwhile, racial relations with police improved slightly in the city while they fell dramatically in the county. White people rated relations with the police as 39% positive (up 10 points from last year) while Black people rated it as 18% positive (up 2 points). In the county, 37% of white respondents answered positively (up 3%) while only 16% of Black respondents answered positively (down 33 points).

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Quality of Life Survey 2023: What we got right and wrong