Nearly 300 Millcreek residents took part in a citywide survey to measure well-being. The Utah Wellbeing Survey Project, run by Courtney Flint, Ph.D., at Utah State University, targeted Millcreek as one of 51 cities in the state to participate in the survey. Millcreek first did the study in 2022 and this was the second time residents voiced their opinions and concerns.

Flint is an environment and society professor at USU. In 2018, she created a survey-based assessment that focused on the well-being of residents in Utah cities to better understand how residents feel about the places they live and give information to local leaders about what people want in their communities. 

“We asked questions about personal well-being and community well-being,” Flint said. “We asked about different categories of well-being. We asked about community connections, which is a very important variable, as it turns out. We asked about recreation activities and perceptions of population development. This year, we had a bunch of questions about transportation and projects with UDOT and then we had people rank their level of concern for the future of their city.”

More than 80% of Millcreek respondents rated their personal well-being at 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale, with community well-being coming in at an average of 3.8 on the scale. Those numbers remain relatively stable from the 2022 survey. 

Personal well-being was measured based on several factors including family life, mental health, leisure time, connection to nature, education and environmental quality. Residents rated mental and physical health as the biggest contributor to their well-being with transportation, education and cultural opportunities rated last.

“Millcreek is a very active community,” Flint said. “You look at the percentage of people who are walking, biking, gardening, visiting parks, going to community events and using trails and it’s over three-quarters of the respondents….That kind of activity in Millcreek, with people participating in city events and recreating at parks and using trails, was highly correlated with feelings of community connection.”

When it comes to concerns in the city, more than 90% of participants said air quality was their top issue, followed by water supply, green space and homelessness. On the other end of the scale, only 32% of respondents were concerned about substance misuse, 25% were worried about access to culturally appropriate food and 20% raised concerns about access to substance abuse treatment programs.

Nearly half of the survey takers rated environmental quality in the city as poor, fair or moderate. Traffic congestion was high on the list of concerns along with road cleanliness, limited green space and the state of the Great Salt Lake. 

When asked what they valued most in Millcreek, mountains, neighbors and people were the most popular responses. Many respondents expressed appreciation for Millcreek’s location. Being close to Salt Lake City with access to canyons and parks and having short commute times were considered important to well-being.

“Communities are unique and have their own sets of needs and interests and personalities and circumstances, and so we like to make sure that we are keeping this at the community level of analysis,” Flint said. “Cities seem to really appreciate the data.”

To see the complete survey results, visit usu.edu/utah-wellbeing-project. λ