Palo Alto Community Survey

Share Your Thoughts By Taking the 2024 Palo Alto Community Survey!

NEW! Extended by two weeks and open to all residents. 

Take the survey 

The City seeks community-wide feedback through the Palo Alto Community Survey on an annual basis. The 2024 Palo Alto Community Survey is a community feedback tool that helps the City Council and City staff understand community perspectives on current services and programs, as well as unmet needs and priorities. The survey is initially sent via mail to a statistically valid number of Palo Alto households and subsequently available to all residents online. The survey is one way among many through which we gain insights from residents throughout our community.

Polco/NRC, a leader in developing national benchmarking surveys, generates a report summarizing survey responses and includes Palo Alto in their benchmark comparisons. This report offers the City Council, City staff, and the public with an independent, impartial assessment of current and previous community perceptions to improve government efficiency and effectiveness, and support future decision-making.

Click here for important reminders.

Previous Surveys

FY 2023 Performance Report, Community Survey(PDF, 4MB)

Raw data available here(XLSX, 635KB) | Dec. 4, 2023 City Council Presentation(PDF, 4MB)

2021 & 2022 Reports

Revision Date: 2/9/2023 

Raw data available here(XLSX, 336KB) | Open Participation data available here(XLSX, 138KB)*

* Open Participation results are not a validated representational sample of the community and are only included as additional information.


FY 2021 Performance Report, Community Survey
Revision Date: 5/13/2021

Archived Reports

Performance Reports and National Citizen Surveys: FY 2018 & Older

The Auditor's Office previously issued the annual Performance Report (formerly Service Efforts and Accomplishments) for the City of Palo Alto.


FY 2018 Performance Report, The National Citizen Survey™, and Citizen Centric Report
Interactive visualizations using the National Citizen Survey™ data are available at: Tableau Visualizations
Revision Date: 6/5/2019divider

Interactive visualizations using the National Citizen Survey™ data are available at: Tableau Visualizations
Revision Date: 1/31/2018divider

Interactive visualizations using the National Citizen Survey™ data are available at: Tableau Visualizations
Revision Date: 1/28/2017divider

Interactive visualizations using the National Citizen Survey™ data are available at: Tableau Visualizations
Revision Date: 1/25/2016divider

Interactive visualizations using the National Citizen Survey™ data are available at: Tableau Visualizations
Revision Date: 6/1/2015divider

Revision Date: 3/17/2014

Revision Date: 3/17/2014divider

Revision Date: 2/4/2013divider

Revision Date: 2/4/2013divider

Revision Date: 1/18/2011divider

Revision Date: 1/17/2011divider

Revision Date: 1/25/2010divider

Revision Date: 12/14/2009divider

Revision Date: 1/26/2009divider

Revision Date: 1/10/2008divider

Revision Date: 2/7/2005divider

This is the City Auditor’s first annual Service Efforts and Accomplishments report for the City of Palo Alto. Our goal is to provide the City Council, staff, and the public with an independent, impartial assessment of past performance to help make better decisions about the future.
Revision Date: 1/1/2003