Community Livability Snapshot

What Is the Community Livability Snapshot?

The Community Livability Snapshot (CLS) is the entry point into Track — a single visual that shows how your entire community is performing across all livability domains at once. It's designed to answer one deceptively simple question before you dive into detailed data: where should we focus?

The CLS is a quality-importance matrix — a chart type that plots domains based on two factors simultaneously:

Quality (horizontal axis) — How well your community actually performs in this domain, based on objective GPAL data from public national sources
Importance (vertical axis) — How important residents rate this domain, based on NCS survey responses from communities nationwide

By combining these two dimensions, the CLS does something that raw numbers can't: it tells you not just where you're struggling, but whether it matters to residents. A domain where performance is low but residents don't prioritize it is a very different problem than a domain where residents care deeply but outcomes are poor.

Reading the Matrix

The CLS matrix plots each livability domain as an icon. Domains toward the right of the chart perform at higher quality relative to peers. Domains toward the top are rated as more important by residents. Based on where a domain lands, it falls into one of three categories displayed to the right of the chart:

On Track (green icons)

These domains perform at relatively high quality and are rated as relatively high importance by residents. They sit in the upper-right region of the matrix — in the "river" that represents the ideal balance of investment and outcome.

What this means in practice: current performance and resource allocation in these domains are working. Maintain rather than overinvest.

Needs Attention (orange icons)

These domains are rated as relatively high importance by residents but show relatively lower quality compared to peer communities. They sit in the upper-left region — the shaded orange area of the matrix.

What this means in practice: residents care about these areas but outcomes aren't where they need to be. These are your strategic priorities — the domains where increased investment, attention, or policy change is most likely to matter to the community.

Possible Excess (blue/teal icons)

These domains show relatively higher quality but are rated as relatively lower importance by residents. They sit in the lower-right region of the matrix.

What this means in practice: your community is performing well in these areas, but residents don't rank them as top priorities. This may represent an opportunity to reallocate some resources toward higher-priority domains — though context matters. Strong performance in these areas still has value; the CLS simply flags them as candidates for efficiency review.

Domain

What it measures

Economy

Economic health, jobs, income, business vitality, workforce

Safety

Public safety services, crime rates, resident perceptions of safety

Mobility

Transportation quality, commute access, walkability, traffic safety

Utilities

Water, sewer, electricity, internet, waste management

Housing & Community Design

Housing affordability, land use, neighborhood design, planning

Health & Wellness

Healthcare access, health outcomes, affordable food, wellness resources

Education, Arts & Culture

K–12, adult education, arts access, cultural opportunities, library services

Natural Environment

Air quality, environmental resilience, natural areas, water resources

Parks & Recreation

Parks quality, trails, recreational programs and facilities

Community Connection

Civic engagement, sense of belonging, diversity, volunteerism

Where the Data Comes From

The CLS explicitly attributes its data sources at the top of the Snapshot:

Importance data comes from the National Community Survey (NCS). Specifically, it uses averaged importance ratings — identified as "essential" or "very important" by survey participants — from communities nationwide that have conducted the NCS since 2020. These ratings represent the resident voice: what the community says matters.

Quality data comes from GPAL — publicly available community performance data compiled from national sources including the Census Bureau, BLS, CDC, EPA, HUD, and many others. These are the objective metrics: what is actually measurable about how your community performs.

The CLS also draws on additional datasets where relevant. The data attribution line on the current Snapshot reads: "Data from National Community Survey (national average) & GPAL data & American Rescue Plan Act - Resident 2022" — reflecting that federal engagement data from ARPA-related surveys is also incorporated where available.

The "Last updated [date]" timestamp in the top-right corner of the Snapshot tells you when the underlying data was most recently refreshed.

A download icon (↓) next to the last updated timestamp allows you to download the Snapshot as an image.

Improving Your CLS Data

At the bottom of the Community Livability page is an expandable section: "Improve Your Community Livability Data."

By default — without your own NCS — the CLS uses national average importance data from across all communities that have conducted the NCS. This gives a useful general picture, but it doesn't reflect your specific residents' priorities.

When you expand this section, it explains:

"The Community Livability Snapshot on this page is currently being rendered via data from the national aggregate GPAL database. Polco's data scientists recommend working towards a more accurate and precise picture of your community by utilizing Polco's engagement tools."

The recommended path to upgrade your CLS is Conducting The NCS — marked as the primary recommendation. Running the NCS replaces the national average importance ratings with your own community's resident responses, making the CLS specific to your residents rather than a national composite. It also fills in the "Data Unavailable" resident sentiment sections across all Track domain dashboards.

The section provides Learn More and Request Information buttons to get started.

How to Use the CLS Strategically

The CLS is most powerful when used as a starting point for conversation, not a final answer. Here are the most common ways organizations put it to work:

Strategic planning and budget prioritization The matrix immediately shows where to focus strategic investment. Domains in "Needs Attention" are the most data-defensible places to direct new resources. Domains in "Possible Excess" are worth reviewing for efficiency. Present the CLS at the start of a strategic planning cycle to align leadership on priorities before the data-deep-dive begins.

Council and board presentations The CLS distills community performance into a single visual that non-technical audiences can read in seconds. Domains labeled "Needs Attention" open natural conversations about why, what's being done, and what more might be needed. It's particularly effective for annual performance reviews and budget hearings.

Grant writing Domains in "Needs Attention" provide data-backed justification for funding requests. A community whose Safety or Housing domain appears in the orange zone has documented evidence of community need — exactly what grant applications require.

Identifying focus areas for resident engagement If Safety is "Needs Attention," that's a strong signal to launch a resident survey asking what specific safety concerns residents have and what they want prioritized. The CLS identifies where to engage; engagement tools answer why and what.

Tracking improvement over time As strategies are implemented and new NCS cycles are completed, the CLS updates to reflect progress. A domain moving from "Needs Attention" to "On Track" is compelling evidence that policy and investment decisions are working.

Starting a Polly AI conversation The "What Is This and How Can I Use It?" button on the Snapshot opens a Polly session with context about the CLS pre-loaded. This is useful for quick interpretations, drafting a narrative about your community's performance, or asking Polly to suggest strategies for specific domain categories.

NCS Domain Definitions

Understanding what each CLS domain actually measures helps interpret where your community lands. Here's what the NCS measures in each area — both the objective data and the resident sentiment questions:

Quality of Life — Overall quality of life, likelihood to recommend the community as a place to live, likelihood to remain over the next five years, and overall image and reputation.

Governance — Customer service of local employees, public information services, overall confidence in local government, treating all residents fairly and with respect, and informing residents about issues facing the community.

Economy — Overall economic health, economic development, shopping opportunities, cost of living, and the variety of business and service establishments.

Mobility — Overall quality of the transportation system, ease of public parking, ease of travel by public transportation, street repair, and sidewalk maintenance.

Community Design — Overall design or layout of residential and commercial areas, well-planned residential growth, well-planned commercial growth, availability of affordable quality housing, and land use, planning, and zoning.

Utilities — Overall quality of utility infrastructure, availability of affordable high-speed internet access, sewer services, storm water management, and garbage collection.

Safety — Overall feeling of safety, police and fire services, ambulance or emergency medical services, crime prevention, and emergency preparedness.

Natural Environment — Overall quality of the natural environment, water resources, preservation of natural areas, recycling, and yard waste pickup.

Parks & Recreation — Overall quality of parks and recreation opportunities, availability of walking paths and trails, recreation programs or classes, and recreation centers or facilities.

Health & Wellness — Overall health and wellness opportunities, overall health services, availability of affordable quality food, availability of affordable quality health care, and availability of preventive health services.

Education, Arts & Culture — Overall opportunities for education, culture, and the arts; community support for the arts; K–12 education; adult educational opportunities; and opportunities to attend cultural, arts, and music activities.

Community Connection — Connection and engagement with their community, sense of community, attracting people from a diverse background, taking care of vulnerable residents, and sense of civic and community pride.

Frequently Asked Questions

Go to Track Data → Community Livability in the left-hand admin navigation. It's the first item under Track Data.

It's a chart that plots items on two axes simultaneously — quality (how well something is performing) and importance (how much it matters). In the CLS, each livability domain gets plotted based on its objective performance score (quality) and resident priority ratings (importance). This lets you see at a glance which areas are strong, which need work, and which are lower priority relative to their quality.

Quality is derived from GPAL — Polco's curated national data system that pulls from public sources like the Census Bureau, BLS, CDC, EPA, and HUD. It reflects measurable, objective community performance indicators in each domain.

Importance comes from NCS resident surveys. Specifically, it uses averaged ratings where residents identified a domain as "essential" or "very important." These ratings come from all communities nationwide that have conducted the NCS since 2020. If your community has run the NCS, your residents' own ratings are used instead of the national average.

Not necessarily bad, but it does signal a priority gap. It means residents care highly about a domain but your community's objective performance in that area is lower than peer communities. It's the CLS's way of flagging where investment and attention are most likely to make a meaningful difference to residents. Use it as a starting point for deeper analysis in the domain dashboards.

Treat it as a prompt for efficiency review, not an automatic signal to cut. "Possible Excess" means your community performs well in a domain that residents don't currently rate as a top priority. That's worth noting — it may mean the investment is working so well that residents take it for granted, or it may mean there's room to rebalance. Look at the specific indicators in that domain dashboard before drawing conclusions.

Yes. As GPAL data refreshes and as new NCS data is collected (either from your community or the national pool), the CLS updates. The "Last updated" timestamp tells you when the current version was calculated. If your community conducts an NCS, expect the CLS to become more accurate to your specific residents when that data is incorporated.

Conduct the National Community Survey (NCS). The NCS replaces the national average importance ratings with your own residents' responses, making the CLS specific to your community's priorities rather than a composite of all communities. See the "Improve Your Community Livability Data" section at the bottom of the Community Livability page, or contact your Customer Success Manager.

Ten domains are plotted: Economy, Safety, Mobility, Utilities, Housing & Community Design, Health & Wellness, Education Arts & Culture, Natural Environment, Parks & Recreation, and Community Connection.

Yes. Click the download icon (↓) in the top-right corner of the Snapshot to download it as an image. You can also use the "What Is This and How Can I Use It?" Polly button to generate a written interpretation of your CLS that you can include in presentations or reports.

The Overview Dashboard shows domains based on all available GPAL data. The CLS plots domains that have both quality data (GPAL) and importance data (NCS). If importance data is unavailable for a domain — for example, if a domain is new or the NCS data source doesn't cover it — that domain may not appear on the CLS matrix while still appearing on the Overview and domain dashboards.

The CLS is an admin-facing tool. To share community performance publicly, the recommended approach is to download the Snapshot image and include it in a public report, council presentation, or content post on the resident platform. You can also embed individual saved data points from domain dashboards into content posts for public sharing.

It's an expandable info banner that explains the CLS in plain language directly on the page. Click the expand icon (∨) to read it, or click the "What Is This and How Can I Use It?" AI button on the Snapshot itself to ask Polly for a more tailored explanation.