Predictors of Neighborhood Satisfaction

Abstract

Abstract Insufficient attention has been devoted to an examination of the factors that predict the level of satisfaction that community residents have with the neighborhoods in which they live. In this paper, we describe a program of research to examine the predictors of neighborhood satisfaction. Data on neighborhoods and individuals in Flint, Michigan were obtained from the 2000 Census and a citywide survey of neighborhood residents. Multilevel models were used to predict the effect of individual and neighborhood-level characteristics. Findings suggested that many factors from the survey predicted residents' satisfaction from their neighborhoods. While neighborhood characteristics derived from the census were statistically related to levels of neighborhood satisfaction, census variables did not add information to a model of neighborhood satisfaction already containing survey variables.