HUD Survey on the Quality of Community Life, 1978. A Data Book

摘要

This 1978 data book contains survey information regarding the quality of community life as seen through the eyes of the American citizenry. The survey of 7,074 persons in 650 areas across the country collected responses to 250 questions pertaining to such issues as comparative evaluations of the attributes of various kinds and sizes of communities, assessments of what urban America used to be like, projections of community characteristics in the future, specific problems affecting communities and their severity, frequency with which neighbors get together and preferences for neighborhood composition, publics' use of various facilities inside and outside cities, commuting patterns, quality of local public services and government responsiveness or wastefulness, residential and housing preferences, and future expectations of conditions and services in communities. Breakdowns in data reflect regions of the country, location of respondents (central city, suburbs, rural), community size, occupation and marital status of head of household, age of respondents, respondents' level of education, income, tenure of residence, racial and ethnic characteristics, sex, neighborhood racial composition and local population change, per capita income, and percent of population below poverty level. The following are some highlights of the survey: (1) a large majority of Americans have positive feelings about their community, particularly older persons and homeowners; (2) the most frequently occurring problems are unemployment, drug addiction, and housing conditions (this is especially true of central cities); (3) most residents report that neighbors keep to themselves -- 72 percent in large cities, 55 percent in suburbs, and 44 percent in rural areas; and (4) most people are satisfied with public services, particularly in the suburban and rural areas, and believe that services will improve in the future. Other findings, tables of survey data, and the survey instrument are provided.