In a poll of Grand Rapids residents, 90% encouraged the city to focus on improving safety, according to new survey results released last week.
The National Community Survey 2026 was conducted by Wisconsin-based research firm Polco. That study measured 400 major cities from across the United States on traits like economy, mobility, and health.
Grand Rapids was mostly rated “similar” to its peers in quality out of a cohort that included “extremely high-performing cities” like Denver, New York City, and Las Cruces. It earned only one “higher” rating in education, arts and culture.
The only category in which Grand Rapids was considered “lower” than the rest of the group was in safety. Respondents gave Grand Rapids a 64% quality score in that category.
“There was one area in safety where you were 10 points lower than the national average, but then again it’s a high performing group,” Polco CEO Nick Mastronardi said while presenting the results to the Committee of the Whole last week.
When asked which category the city should focus on most in the coming years, 90% of respondents chose safety. That was considered “similar” to the other cities measured.
In his comments following the briefing, Mayor David LaGrand argued the safety numbers were due to Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Grand Rapids.
“Obviously that national moment of fear among other things would certainly, to me, contribute to overall feelings of safety in the community,” LaGrand said. “That’s not safety — worrying about ‘can I go for a walk at night?’ — but a question of ‘are my neighbors going to be stuffed into the back of a bus some afternoon?’”
“I know we’ve had a lot of people very clearly, emphatically coming in and telling us that they do not feel safe in this national federal environment,” he added.
When comparing the difference between the two safety ratings given for quality and importance, researchers found a 26% gap. It was Grand Rapids’ fourth largest quality-importance gap, with mobility leading the way at 34%.
Residents rated their overall feeling of safety in Grand Rapids at 64%, which was lower than other cities measured. That figure was up slightly from 62% in 2024.
Broken down by safety type, residents rated safety from natural disaster, fire, or flood at 79%. Property crime and violent crime each got a rating of 67%.
Among the city’s safety services, fire received the highest rating of 87%. Police services and crime prevention came in at 51% and 50% respectively, both receiving a “lower” designation.
Sentiment toward employment opportunities in the city also saw a “significant decrease,” falling from 65% in 2024 to 55% in 2026.
While examining a presentation slide about city communication performance, Commissioner AliciaMarie Belchak asked Mastronardi about a missing number on a graph of ratings for Grand Rapids’ traffic reports.
“You’re missing a number on the traffic reports under the excellent category on that slide,” she said. “Can you get that to us later? I mean, I could do math, but–”
“I see it, I’ll get back to you for sure,” Mastronardi said.
“The answer is 9, you don’t have to get back to her,” LaGrand said.
The survey was conducted from March 9 to April 20, 2026. That survey coincided with a vacancy at the city chief of police position before the appointment of Joe Trigg.