Visits to downtown, a major priority of Mayor Daniel Lurie, are up across the board: Respondents reported going downtown at least once in the past three months for shopping, dining, live music, museums, jobs, and other events.
But streets still receive the poorest grade across the board, a C+, and none of San Francisco’s amenities got more than a B+ from residents.
Respondents rated seven city services using a five-point grading scale from A+ to F. Libraries and parks each got a B+, safety and utilities got B’s, Muni and government each got a B-, and streets were the lowest at a C+.
The results are largely a return to scores from more than a decade ago, in 2015. Scores took a dip in post-pandemic years. In 2023, the government received a C, the lowest since 2002, and safety got a C+, the lowest since 1996, when the survey was first conducted.
San Francisco is now a B student once again.
Residents feel street conditions, generally, are getting better, according to the survey: Crime, one of the top issues in the post-pandemic period and in 2023 survey responses, dropped sharply from residents’ priority list. Homelessness, while still a top complaint, has also fallen sharply: Nearly 50 percent of respondents said it was the No. 1 issue in 2023, and just over 20 percent named it that this year.
Housing and cost of living have, by contrast, risen as top concerns, not a surprise in a city with 25 percent rent increases year-over-year.
The survey, commissioned by the Office of the Controller and conducted by polling firms InterEthnica and EMC Research among residents 18 and up, also noted demographic and other data.
Asian and Pacific Islander residents reported the highest increase in feelings of safety across the board: They were far more likely to feel safe walking around the city compared to in 2023, during a nationwide spike of anti-Asian violence that also hit San Francisco. They were also more likely to feel generally safe, and more likely to use parks weekly.
Users of various services — like the parks, libraries and Muni — were more likely to rate the services higher than non-users, the survey found, a consistent finding in past surveys as well.
