With an overall quality of life index score of 3.3 out of 10 for Spokane County in the third edition of The Pulse Survey, it's clear that our community needs to begin making real progress on the issues most important to its citizens.

Greater Spokane Incorporated funds the quality of life survey, which polls a random selection of 600 registered voters, including 300 from the city of Spokane, 100 in the city of Spokane Valley, and 200 voters in Spokane County. Residents here have consistently expressed the same priority concerns in all three editions of The Pulse survey, which launched October 2024, ranking public safety, homelessness, and trust in government as their top concerns.

On a positive note, most residents agree (62%) that they feel safe visiting downtown Spokane during the day, according to the survey, an indication that some progress is happening to address safety concerns in the city's core. Additionally, many voters are happy with business expansion opportunities and the diversity of businesses in the Spokane region.

Still, two in three voters here now say the region's quality of life is getting worse, which is reflected in a slight dip in the quality of life index score from 3.6 in October 2024, to 3.5 in April 2025, to the lowest score to date of 3.3. Across all three surveys, however, the index score remains generally flat, data shows.

A majority of voters (64%) report that the Spokane region is going in the wrong direction, as they are feeling less safe in their neighborhoods and visiting downtown Spokane at night. 

Interestingly, the latest survey results show that voters' personal finances also are influencing their perspective on our quality of life. About four in five residents say they are concerned about their personal financial situation given the current economic conditions. 

Voters here are divided about growth in Spokane County, according to the survey. Some view growth happening here positively, citing economic development and job opportunities. Others indicate that poor planning and implementation is contributing to their negative view of growth occurring here.

While the results are disappointing, there has been some action by city leaders to improve upon voters' most pressing concerns. For example, Spokane City Council has unanimously voted to immediately toughen anti-camping rules to address sleeping, sitting, or loitering in public spaces. The new law gives officers authority to offer services, issue tickets, or make arrests, a turnaround from the Council's previous approach, which many business owners have derided for lacking strong enough consequences to deter that behavior.

Additionally, there's hope that a newly formed Safe & Healthy Spokane Task Force, consisting of individuals from government, businesses, service providers, health care, and law enforcement will move the community forward on a collaborative effort to address public safety and quality of life challenges.

These are the kinds of efforts we like to see, that showcase a broad, cooperative effort needed to affect change.

For now, patience is needed until we can move our rating higher. If we look to Seattle, which has conducted similar surveys for a longer period of time than Spokane and is seeing improvement, there's hope that the current actions of city and community leaders will eventually result in a visibly safer community.

It's going to take consistent dedication and true collective collaboration involving citizens, businesses, and government to make the changes the community wants to see. We are capable of converting the latest survey results into fueling reinvestment and commitment to the Spokane region.