Life has been turbulent around the D.C. region for the last few years, but the impact has not been distributed evenly.
Still, there’s less optimism about the direction things are going and frustration with how expensive things are, especially housing, according to a new survey conducted by the Greater Washington Community Foundation.
Called “Voices of the Community,” the Greater Washington Community Foundation worked with Gallup to survey thousands of residents around the D.C. area to get a sense of how people are feeling about life in the region. This is the first survey since 2023.
Now, about half of those who responded said they were thriving, but the other half were either struggling or even suffering.
Some of the issues include “things like job losses from federal workforce reductions, the cost of living continuing to rise for more families, community safety, mental health issues, a lot of things that I think are really impacting the overall quality of life,” said Danielle Yates, managing director of marketing and communications at the Greater Washington Community Foundation.
More than 50% of residents in D.C. (53%), Montgomery County, Maryland, (52%), Arlington and Alexandria in Virginia (61%), and Loudoun County, Virginia, (59%) all said they were thriving. In Prince George’s County, Maryland, Fairfax County, Fairfax City and Falls Church City, Virginia, the struggling or suffering numbers combined to go over 50%.
“One of the things that we did find was that people who said things like they didn’t struggle to pay for food or for housing were two times more likely to be thriving,” Yates said. “People who said the availability of good jobs are excellent were also two times more likely to say that they’re thriving. People who rate the availability of affordable housing as excellent were also similarly two times more likely to say that they’re thriving.”
A majority of people in almost every jurisdiction admitted they had been negatively impacted by the turmoil within the federal government. At most, 5% of people in any of those jurisdictions said the changes had a positive impact.
“D.C. residents really took the brunt of the impacts. More than half of D.C. residents — about 66% say they were impacted by federal workforce reductions,” Yates said.
Concerns about housing costs also continue to prevail in the D.C. area, with about a third of people saying they worried about whether they could cover their rent or mortgage.
Some — 14% — even admitted considering leaving the D.C. area for someplace else.
“The top two reasons for why they would do that would be the cost of living and availability of affordable housing,” Yates said. “So we’re seeing the pocketbook really affecting people’s decision-making and how they experience this region and their overall quality of life.”
The survey didn’t ask anyone to place the blame for their plight, but it did ask where help should come from. Most said local and state governments.
“They were very clear that the solutions they want to see are actually very localized solutions,” Yates said.
Going forward, there is a little optimism, but not that much, she said. Just 18% of people think things might get better, which is less than the 29% who felt that way in 2020.
“Only about 16% believe that the changes that are happening in the region will benefit them and people like them,” Yates said. “Whereas in 2020, it was about 27% people felt confident that the changes will benefit them.”
Besides housing, many people still worry about healthcare and food insecurity, too.
“We’re still in a really troubling space, and so I think we need to really focus our attention on how do we fix these persistent problems that have not gone away despite all efforts and our surveying over the last decade?” Yates said.
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