In December, 2019, the Town commissioned GreatBlue Research, Inc. of Glastonbury, CT to conduct a Community Survey among New Canaan residents to gather feedback on town programs, services, and initiatives. During the month of January, 403 telephone interviews among a random sample of New Canaan residents were conducted and 1,748 digital surveys were obtained. The sample size of 2,151 for this study has a margin of error of +/- 1.9% at a confidence level of 95%.
In summary, of the 2,151 residents surveyed, more than seven-out-of-ten, 73.1%, reported they “strongly agree” (22.3%) or “somewhat agree” (50.8%) with the statement: “Living in New Canaan is a good value for the taxes I pay and services I receive.” In addition, the strong majority, 89.5%, reported they would be “very likely” (55.8%) or “somewhat likely” (33.7%) to recommend NewCanaan as a place to live. More than one-half of residents (52.3%) reported their current perception of New Canaan “meets expectations” they had prior to moving to the town. One-quarter ofresidents (25.8%) reported New Canaan “exceeds expectations,” while 18.5% reported NewCanaan “falls short of expectations.”
The highest frequency of respondents (71.8%) reported: “quality of schools” was the primary reason or one of the primary reasons they chose to live in New Canaan, followed by “downtown village” (42.1%) and “family friendliness/strength of the community” (35.0%). “Quality of schools” (50.0%), “family friendliness/strength of the community” (37.5%) and “downtown village” (33.2%) were also the top three (3) reasons why residents have decided to continue living in New Canaan.