Have you ever taken the time to think about your dream home or dream community if you could live wherever you wanted? Turns out you are not alone if you said yes to this. In a new survey from Improvenet, an online hub for home improvement resources, more than 2,000 Americans were polled about their dream neighborhood and what they look for in an ideal community to live.
Whether we realize it or not, we all have preferences related to the community we live in that can range from where we shop for our groceries, to how close of a relationship we have with our neighbors. So what exactly are the most important factors for most Americans when choosing a community to live?
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Improvenet ranked the top 26 factors of what must be included in a dream neighborhood. They can be seen below:
- Access to grocery stores
- Ample park space
- A strong public schooling system
- Fine dining restaurants
- Fast casual restaurants
- Farmer’s markets
- A public library
- Big box stores
- Bike lanes and paths
- Public transportation
- Ethnic and cultural diversity
- Lots of families
- Street festivals, block parties
- Movie theaters
- Park district/community center
- Gyms, fitness studios
- Public pool
- Communal gardens
- Lots of young adults
- Bars and pubs
- Museums
- Public art (murals, sculptures, etc.…)
- Music venues
- Large shopping mall
- Theatre
- Place(s) of worship
Commute time was another factor that was asked about in this survey. 14 minutes was the ideal commute time according to the 2,000+ respondents of the survey. Most respondents said they would prefer to not commute more than a half hour most days.
Respondents were then asked about the idea setting for a neighborhood. Nearly 1 in 3 people said they preferred a quiet suburb near a city. 25% of people said they prefer to be in a big city, but in the quiet part away from the bustling area. 24% of people said they preferred to be in the bustling suburb near a city. Only 10% said they preferred to be in a very quiet exurb, very far from cities.
Neighbors were also a controversial topic in this survey. People were asked how close they would prefer to be with their neighbors. A majority of respondents (61%) said the prefer to be somewhat close, like friendly co-workers. 22% said they preferred to be not close and respectfully quiet. Only 17% said they prefer to be very close like best friends.
The full results of the survey from Improvenet, can be seen in the graphic below.
