Parkites are, essentially, not at all worried about their safety in the Main Street core during the daytime hours.

The shopping, dining and entertainment strip is one of Park City’s top attractions, drawing people for breakfast before a day on the slopes, shopping in the afternoon and then apres ski gatherings and dinner.

The National Community Survey, administered on behalf of City Hall and covering a wide range of Park City issues, was conducted in late 2022 and early 2023 and shows people who live in Park City consider themselves safe in the city

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The survey found 99% rated their safety in the Main Street core during the daytime as excellent or good. The figure has not fallen below 97% over the course of five surveys between 2011 and the current one.

The survey did not inquire about safety in the Main Street core in the evening and nighttime hours. There are regular reports of drunkenness, disorderly conduct and other sorts of criminal activity at night on the street.

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Ninety-nine percent also rated the safety of their neighborhoods as excellent or good during the daytime hours, the highest of four surveys between 2011 and the current one. The figure has not fallen below 95% over the course of the four surveys.

The survey also found Parkites overwhelmingly see themselves as safe from property crime and violent crime. The survey results indicated 97% rated their safety from violent crime as excellent or good while 87% rated their safety from property crime as excellent or good. The response to the question about violent crime was up 2 percentage points from 2011, the most recent time the question was asked in the survey, while the response to the property crime question was the same as 2011.

A question asking about someone’s overall feeling of safety returned a 95% rating of excellent or good, down slightly from a nine-year high of 99% in 2015.

The exceptionally strong ratings regarding safety will be welcomed by a wide swath of the community, from law enforcement to businesses to rank-and-file Parkites. The Park City Police Department at some level could especially see the ratings as an affirmation of its crime-fighting tactics. The Main Street businesses, meanwhile, could consider the ratings as something that may encourage more people to visit as it attempts to remain competitive against outlying commercial districts.

Many have long seen Park City as a safe place at all hours, particularly when put against the metropolitan areas where large numbers of Parkites lived before arriving in the community. There are fisticuffs on Main Street and in the street’s nightclubs, but they rarely involve serious injuries. Random street crime is also rare. The tourism industry that drives the Park City economy is seen as also benefitting from the overall feeling of safety.

The Police Department’s annual report covering 2020, the most recent posted online, showed 701 reports of crimes that were classified as major, toward the midpoint of the figures over a five-year period. Assaults and criminal mischief, two categories of cases that are regularly reported in the Main Street core, were also toward the midpoint of the five years.

Another survey question regarding safety centered on fires, floods and other natural disasters. Parkites at a clip of 76% rated their safety from those events as excellent or good. It was the first time the question was asked and the category was added as City Hall continues to stress emergency preparedness. The question was also asked in the period after the Parleys Canyon Fire in 2021, which forced evacuations in parts of the Snyderville Basin and drew attention to the area’s emergency planning.

The National Community Survey results included high ratings in a broad range of categories. Park City residents are pleased with parks, recreation opportunities, cleanliness, firefighting and library services, as examples.

Some of the other results included:

• a 92% excellent or good rating regarding someone’s neighborhood as a place to live, essentially unchanged across five surveys between 2011 and the current one.

• a 92% excellent or good rating regarding Park City as a place to visit, down slightly from three previous surveys.

• a 91% ‘Yes’ response when asked whether someone was likely or unlikely to remain in Park City for five years, the highest number of the five surveys between 2011 and the current one.

• a 95% excellent or good rating regarding the overall quality of the natural environment, the highest of the five surveys between 2011 and the current one. The figure has been between 92% and 95% over the course of the five surveys.

• a 95% excellent or good rating for the overall quality of parks and recreation opportunities, the first time the question was asked.

• a 96% excellent or good rating of fire services. The result has not fallen below 94% over the course of the five surveys.

• a 90% excellent or good rating of city parks, the lowest result of the five surveys.

The results are based on 972 responses, which were split nearly evenly between surveys through the mail and those taken online. The mailed responses have a 4.4% margin of error.