Residents give city high marks in latest survey

STERLING HEIGHTS — Sterling Heights residents gave an overwhelming thumbs-up to city services and operations in the latest survey measuring public opinion.

Results of the seven-page survey, which was conducted in July and August 2025, reflect strong satisfaction with quality of life in Sterling Heights and mirror positive perceptions reported in previous surveys from 2021, 2018 and 2012.

Eighty-three percent of respondents were satisfied with Sterling Heights as a place to live while 78% said they are satisfied with the city as a place to raise children. The survey was conducted by Kansas-based ETC Institute and presented to the City Council on Dec. 16.

“It's basically our scorecard to see how we're doing with all of our service delivery across all disciplines,” said City Manager Mark Vanderpool. “Police, fire, code enforcement, parks and recreation, library and so on.”

The survey found that Sterling Heights performs exceptionally well when benchmarked against other communities across the country. The results indicated that Sterling Heights was rated above the U.S. average in 39 of 41 service areas; that overall satisfaction with city services was rated 20% above the national average; and they showed satisfaction with the value residents receive for city taxes and fees, which was rated 21% above the U.S. average.

“The survey results confirm my belief that Sterling Heights is a great place to live, and that residents truly appreciate the quality public services our employees deliver every day,” said Sterling Heights Mayor Michael Taylor. “Ranking so highly compared to municipalities across the United States reinforces that our focus on quality public services and placemaking makes a meaningful difference for our residents. We will continue to use these results to guide City Council’s decision-making moving forward.”

Jason Morado, ETC Institute director of community outreach, told council members the survey was distributed via mail and online to a random sample of residents and garnered 522 completed responses. He said the survey paints an accurate picture of citizen sentiment, with a 95% confidence level and 4.3% plus or minus margin of error.

“Essentially, that means that if we conducted this survey the same way 100 times, 95 times the results would be plus or minus 4.3% from what we're reporting,” he said. “So the results are never perfect, even for a statistically valid survey, but the margin of error is small.

“And we also, as we were administering the survey, (we) made sure that the demographics and survey respondents reflect the actual population of the city,” Morado said. 

In the area of public safety, 88% of the respondents reported that they are “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the overall quality of local police protection. Similar grades were given for fire protection (92%) and emergency medical services (89%). 

Looking ahead, respondents said the visibility of police in neighborhoods is the top priority the city should emphasize in the next two years, followed by crime prevention and traffic law enforcement.

For parks and recreation and city events, 91% of survey respondents were satisfied with the maintenance of city parks and 82% were satisfied with park amenities. The city’s popular Music in the Park concerts, meanwhile, scored 84% satisfaction. Residents were least satisfied with special recreation programs (61%).

Regarding the public library, 80% of survey respondents were highly satisfied or satisfied with the institution’s print collections and 73% were satisfied with the audio/video collections. Residents were least satisfied with homebound/home delivery services (56%).

Positive trends highlighted between the 2021 and 2025 surveys include 9% increases in satisfaction for the library’s children’s programs and reference services, and 4% increases for both adult and teen programs. 

The Sterlingfest Art & Music Fair saw its satisfaction rating hit 83% in 2025, up 5% from 78% in 2021. Snow removal satisfaction for residential and major city streets reached 67% and 85%, respectively, in 2025, each up 4% from 2021.

Top priorities for improvement gleaned from the 2025 survey results include: refuse, recycling and waste removal; traffic and congestion management; enforcement of local traffic laws; enforcing cleanup of litter and debris on residential property; maintenance of neighborhood streets; and enforcing mowing and trimming of grass and weeds on residential property.

Overall, the survey gives city leaders a statistical snapshot of how Sterling Heights residents view their city and how they should move forward with addressing expectations.

“You never know exactly how the residents feel,” said Mayor Pro Tem Liz Sierawski. “You sometimes get a small group of them telling you what they think, but to have the overall city surveyed scientifically and accurately is wonderful for us.”

Vanderpool called the survey an important tool for building on the city’s success and pursuing continuous improvement.

“These strong survey results reflect the exceptional work of our city employees,” he said. “They also help identify where we can keep focus on continuous improvement, including increasing police visibility and enforcement of traffic laws, strengthening code enforcement for property maintenance and continuing improvements to city streets. We’ll continue to evaluate these key areas, and we’ll be sharing details on how we plan to address them at the city’s annual strategic planning session on Jan. 27, 2026.”

The full survey results and report from ETC are available on the city’s website at sterlingheights.gov/survey.

Call Staff Writer Gary Winkelman at (586) 598-1070.