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Toronto Community Survey Results

The Toronto Community Survey is a large-sample, demographically representative benchmark survey of Toronto residents. The purpose of the survey is to track key social and economic determinants of resident wellbeing. It complements other data instruments, such as the Census, the General Social Survey, and the City of Toronto’s Listening to Toronto survey, to provide granular socioeconomic data to support more precise planning of services and programs that improve resident safety and wellbeing. 

 The Toronto Community Survey was commissioned as a pilot project of the SafeTO Collaborative Analytics and Learning Environment (SCALE), supported with funds from the Federal Crime Prevention Action Fund. The survey was conducted between December 2023 and March 2024 by Ipsos LP. It utilizes a hybrid sampling methodology to provide demographic representativeness and even coverage across Toronto’s 158 social planning neighbourhoods. A total of 7,222 responses from residents 18 years and older were received, with an average of 46 responses per neighbourhood. 51% of the sample originated from a demographically representative online panel, and 49% originated from randomly selected households recruited by mail. Results were weighted by age and gender to reflect 2021 Census profiles of the population of Toronto.

Key findings

The following are a summary of select top-line findings from the survey. A full set of crosstab data and methodological documentation is available upon request.

Mental Health and Community Belonging 

  • • Overall, just over half of survey respondents (52%) rated their mental health as “excellent” or “very good” 
  • • One in five respondents (21%) rated their mental health as “fair” or “poor” 
  • • Younger respondents were more likely than older respondents to report fair or poor mental health 
  • • Half of respondents (50%) reported a “very” or “somewhat” strong sense of belonging to their local community, while 43% reported a “somewhat” or “very” weak sense of community belonging 
  • • Mental health and community belonging are intertwined. Those with a weak sense of belonging to their local community were over 3 times as likely to report fair or poor mental health than those with strong ties

Financial Challenges and Supports

When asked about their experiences in the last 12 months: 

  • • Over a quarter of respondents (27%) indicated that they were unable to get to where they needed to go because of the cost of transportation 
  • • One in five (21%) indicated they were unable to find a job or had trouble keeping a job 
  • • Just over one in ten (14%) indicated going hungry or been unable to afford to eat a meal 
  • • A similar number (15%) indicated being unable to pay rent, unable to pay their mortgage, experienced housing instability or been evicted/served with an eviction notice
  • • Respondents between the age of 18 and 24 were more likely to report financial difficulties than older respondents 
  • • In times of financial hardship, family was the most common source of support, with 65% of respondents indicating they would turn to this category for help. Around one fifth to one quarter of respondents selected friends and neighbours (25%), credit unions and banks (25%), government (21%) and social service agencies (20%) 
  • • Less than one in ten (8%) of respondents reported that they would turn to payday loan and alternative financial establishments

Perceptions of Personal Safety 

  • • In general, just under half (45%) of respondents reported being “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with their personal safety from crime 
  •  • One-third (31%) indicated being “somewhat” or “very” dissatisfied with their personal safety from crime 
  • • 17% of respondents reported that they had personally experienced an incident or crime that appeared to be motivated by sex, gender identify or expression, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability or language in the past 12 months 
  •  • Awareness of reporting procedures for incidents of hate and discrimination is moderate, with 55% knowing how to report this kind of incident

Use of Community Based Services 

  • • Just under half of respondents (48%) indicated that they had not used a community-based service or program in the last 12 months. Services include but are not limited to community centres, community health clinics, youth centres, jobs programs, shelters, and recreation programs. 
  • • One in five (19%) report “frequently” or “very frequently” using community-based services 
  • • Younger respondents are more likely than older respondents to report using a community-based service at least once in the last 12 months

See the full results

Methodology

The survey design involved:

  • Breadth rather than depth in 16 questions, with 12 socio-demographic questions
  • Hybrid polling model: panel responses combined with targeted mail-out invitations, later weighted to match general population
  • The City of Toronto commissioned Ipsos LP, a professional polling company, to perform the survey
  • 7,222 responses in total across 158 neighbourhoods
  • Average of 45 responses per neighbourhood
  • Evenly distributed so that all neighbourhoods have a voice
  • Conducted from Dec 2023 to March 2024 in two phases
  • Approximate cost of $130,000
  • A sample of n= 7,222 Toronto residents 18 years of age and older have been surveyed in total.
  • The study took part over two phases: Phase 1 took place between 16 November and 18 December 2023. A total of 3,500 panel members took part in this phase.
  • Phase 2 took place between 13 February and 6 March 2025. A total of 3,722 Toronto residents took part in this phase.
  • The survey was translated into the top 5 languages in Toronto: Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog, Tamil, and Spanish.
  • Sampling quotas and weighting were designed to match the latest Statistics Canada Census figures (2021).
  • Weighting was used to ensure the sample was representative of the surveyed population by age and gender.

Phase 2 sampling

The study ensured a spread of responses across 158 selected neighbourhoods in the city of Toronto. The achieved responses were reviewed by neighbourhood after phase 1 and informed the sampling protocol for phase 2 of the study, i.e. areas which had achieved a lower response in phase 1 were oversampled in phase 2, to ensure around 40-45 interviews were achieved in each of the 158 areas or as close as possible.

Phase 2 invitation letter

Residents were invited by postal letter to take part in an online study, and provided with a unique access code to use to access the survey. The invitation letter had a QR code to allow respondents to access the survey more easily. The letter provided additional information about the study and contact information for the Ipsos team for any queries.

Survey Questions

Questions were determined using principles from the Urban Institute Taxonomy of Outcome Indicators, examples from other jurisdictional surveys (such as the Social Capital Study) and with input from SDFA operational units and specialists in other City divisions. This survey will not have open-ended questions to reduce costs and improve comparability and temporal analysis. Most questions are Y/N or 5-point Likert Scale responses that can be easily tabulated and averaged.

Core Questions

  1. How frequently have you used a community-based service or program in your neighbourhood in the past 12 months?
  2. How would you describe your sense of belonging to your local community?
  3. Overall, how satisfied are you with the public services, amenities and infrastructure in this neighbourhood?
  4. In the past 12 months, have you felt or been discriminated against on the basis of your race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, gender expression, religion, or age?
  5. How much trust do you have in the following institutions/organizations: [Local Businesses, Health Care Sector, Toronto Police Service, Justice System and Courts, Primary and secondary school system, Libraries, Religious Centres, City Hall/Ward Councillor, Non-Profit Community Agencies, the Municipal Government (City of Toronto), Cultural Spaces]
  6. Over the past 12 months have you gone hungry or been unable to afford to eat a meal?
  7. Over the past 12 months have you been unable to pay rent, unable to pay your mortgage, experienced housing instability or been evicted/served an eviction notice?
  8. Over the past 12 months have you been laid off, been unable to find a job, or had trouble keeping a job?
  9. Over the past 12 months did the cost of transportation prevent you from going somewhere in the city you wanted to go?
  10. If you were to ever experience financial difficulties and needed help, who would you turn to? [Family, Friends and Neighbours, the Broader Community, Credits Unions/Banks, Payday Loan and Alt Finance, Social Service Agencies, Government]
  11. In general, how is your mental health?
  12. In general, how satisfied are you with your personal safety from crime?

Discrimination and Hate Crime Questions

  1. In the past 12 months, have you personally experienced an incident or crime that appeared to be motivated by sex, gender identity or expression, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability or language?
  2. In the past 12 months, have you witnessed someone else experience an incident or crime that appeared to be motivated by sex, gender identity or expression, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability or language?
  3. If you were to experience an incident or crime that appeared to be motivated by sex, gender identity or expression, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability or language, would you know how to report it?
  4. If you were to experience an incident or crime that appeared to be motivated by sex, gender identity or expression, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability or language, would you feel comfortable reporting it to law enforcement?

Demographic Questions

The survey also collects the voluntary demographics of respondents for disaggregation purposes so that analysts can see how responses differ among certain communities. Wherever possible these questions try to match those on the Canadian Census so that they can be compared to benchmark data. The demographic questions included:

  • Indigenous identity
  • Disability
  • Ethnoracial background
  • Gender identity
  • Sexual orientation
  • Age (5-year cohorts)
  • Household income
  • Immigration (born in Canada, length of time in Canada)
  • Religion
  • Income groups

Appendix

Download Result Tables

Download TCS Neighbourhood Aggregate Result Files with Demographic Disaggregations (7 Excel .XLSX files, ZIP, 2.1 MB)

Contact Us

For questions about the Toronto Community Survey results, use the project mailbox or the Social Data Analytics contacts listed below.

General mailbox: spar@toronto.ca

Wayne Chu
Associate Director, Social Data Analytics
Social Development, Finance & Administration
wayne.chu@toronto.ca
Mat Krepicz
Senior Analyst, Social Data Analytics
Social Development, Finance & Administration
mkrepicz@toronto.ca

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Last updated: September 2026