It’s not just you, and it’s not just your neighborhood.
A larger percentage of Hampton Roads residents are dissatisfied with their quality of life here than in the past 10 years, according to a new survey from Old Dominion University’s Social Science Research Center. Respondents cited the affordable housing crisis and lack of walkable neighborhoods among the reasons.
Slightly more than 60% of respondents said the quality of life in the region was excellent or good, the lowest percentage in years. That figure is down from 62.3% in 2023 and 69.3% in 2022, as well as a pre-pandemic high of 72.9% in 2015.
“Except for a slight rebound in 2022, quality of life ratings have been generally declining for the past several years,” research center director Tancy Vandecar-Burdinsaid in a call with reporters.
The survey, in its 15th year, polls residents on topics such as quality of life, the economy, crime, regional cooperation and flooding. The survey included input from 640 respondents across the region.
The quality of life satisfaction drastically varied by city. More suburban cities like Chesapeake (85%) and Virginia Beach (77.2%) had a much high percentage of excellent and good ratings than more urban areas like Portsmouth (26.2%) and Norfolk (51.4%).
Jesse Richman, ODU associate professor of political science and geography, said Portsmouth has consistently ranked lower than other localities for several years. He attributed the poor numbers to turmoil in city governance and increased transportation costs due to tunnel tolls.
“The overall conditions, I think, I’ve been calling out for quite some time, and I really hope that Portsmouth civic leadership can find ways to address and improve concerns by city residents about quality of life in Portsmouth,” Richman said.
Portsmouth hired a new city manager last year who has pledged to bring more stability to a city that’s seen high turnover of top leadership positions in recent years. Meanwhile, voters elected three new City Council members in November.
Respondents also were critical of the Hampton Roads economy. Only 38.4% rated the region’s economic conditions as excellent or good. Another 42.2% rated conditions as fair, and 17.8% of respondents rated them as poor.
The affordable housing crisis has adversely impacted the region during the past several years, as it has in much of the country. Norfolk needs around 6,800 rental units to meet demand for households making less than $35,000 a year — about 3 out of 10 city households — according to a 2024 city-commissioned housing study. One in three Virginia Beach households are housing cost-burdened, meaning they pay 30% or more of their income on their total housing costs, according to another city study.
When rating regional amenities, restaurants (76.5%), higher education (70%), and quality of shopping (60.7%) received the most “good” and “very good” ratings, while earnings in wages (24.1%) and cost of living (20.6%) received the fewest. Nationally, inflation has slowed in recent months, though prices are still 20% higher than three years ago.
Trevor Metcalfe, 757-222-5345, trevor.metcalfe@pilotonline.com