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By Myrna Trauntvein
TN Correspondent

Nephi City is one of 30 cities currently participating in the Utah Wellbeing Survey Project and has been involved since 2020.

“This project is designed to assess the wellbeing and local perspectives of city residents and to provide information to city leaders to inform their general planning process,” said Seth Atkinson, city administrator. “It is important to note that the 2021 survey was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

This was intentional as the last round of wellbeing surveys were conducted in 2020 prior to the pandemic. This allows the survey to assess changes at this unique period of time. Future surveys are anticipated to gauge recovery.

This latest report describes findings from the 2021 Nephi survey with initial information on changes since 2020 and some comparative information with other project cities.

Feedback from city leaders and planners is welcome.

“In January and February 2021, Nephi City advertised the survey via utility bill newsletter, social media, library and city hall flyers, city council meeting, and local newspaper coverage,” said Atkinson.

All city residents age 18+ were encouraged to take the online Qualtrics survey.

From the respondents, 144 viable surveys were recorded in the 2021 survey effort with 87 percent complete responses.

In contrast, the 2020 survey had 275 responses.

The 2020 Nephi Wellbeing Survey report is available on the Utah Wellbeing Project website.

The adult population of Nephi was estimated at 4,030 based on the 2015-2019 American Community Survey. The 144 survey responses in 2021 represent 3.6 percent of the adult population and have a conservative margin of error of 8.02 percent.

Overall Personal Wellbeing and Community Wellbeing survey results in Nephi were average among 29 study cities. Religion was an influential factor in wellbeing ratings with Latter-day Saints having higher wellbeing scores.

The Highest Rated Wellbeing Domains were: Local Environmental Quality, Safety and Security, Living Standards and Connection to Nature.

The Most Important Wellbeing Domains were: Safety and Security, Living Standards, Physical Health, and Mental Health.

According to the survey findings, COVID-19 had the greatest impact on Social Connections, Cultural Opportunities, and Mental Health.

“Overall personal wellbeing declined in last year for 39 percent of respondents,” said Atkinson.

Community wellbeing in Nephi declined in the last year for 46 percent of respondents and was more likely to decline for those living in Nephi longer than five years.

“The majority of respondents felt population growth in Nephi was too fast,” said Atkinson. “Respondents were more divided about the pace of economic development.”

Survey results showed that the top concerns for the future of Nephi were: Opportunities for Youth (80 percent Moderate or Major Concern), Water Supply (79 percent Moderate or Major Concern), Affordable Housing (77 percent Moderate or Major Concern), Recreation Opportunities (74 percent Moderate or Major Concern), Employment Opportunities (72 percent Moderate or Major Concern).

The survey indicated that 50 percent of respondents indicated that it is not likely that they could find new, affordable housing in Nephi in the next five years if desired or necessary.

The high cost of housing and land, rapid growth and the need for more affordable housing were common themes in open comments.

“The things people value most about Nephi are the small town feel, access to nature, good location, abundant recreation and feelings of safety,” said Atkinson.

Survey Respondent Characteristics are: full time residents at 98.6 percent and part time residents at 1.4 percent.

Respondents have lived in Nephi anywhere from 0.25-72 years, with the average being 24 years, the median being 20 years and with 19.7 percent living in Nephi five years or less.

Demographic characteristics of the survey respondents were compared with U.S. Census information from the 2015-2019 American Community Survey. Survey respondents were not fully representative of Nephi. People who have at least a four-year college degree, are married, and/or own their home were particularly overrepresented.

People age 18-39 were particularly underrepresented.

Not all respondents provided demographic information. Weighting was not used in any of the analysis for the findings. Updates will be provided later to account for weighting by demographic characteristics

Comparing 2020 and 2021 survey data from Nephi, the average personal wellbeing score increased from 3.98 to 4.05 and the community wellbeing score declined from 3.63 to 3.58. The number of respondents differed between years and there is no tracking of individuals from one year to the next.

“The COVID-19 pandemic dominated much of the 2020 survey,” said Atkinson.

Survey respondents were asked if their overall personal wellbeing or wellbeing had changed in the last year. Survey findings show that 39 percent indicated that their personal wellbeing declined in that time and 46 percent indicated that wellbeing in Nephi declined as well.

Nephi was included in the Rapid Growth cluster of Utah cities. Within this cluster of cities, Nephi falls just above average in terms of the average overall personal wellbeing score and just below average in terms of average community wellbeing. Nephi is not statistically significantly different from the other cities in the cluster in terms of overall personal wellbeing, but it is significantly higher than Herriman and lower than Spanish Fork, North Logan, Vineyard, and Hyde Park in overall community wellbeing.

According to national and international entities that track wellbeing, there are a number of common dimensions or domains of wellbeing. In this survey, respondents rated ten domains on a 5-point scale from poor to excellent, suggesting how their wellbeing was doing well in each area. They were also asked to indicate the importance of each domain to their overall personal wellbeing on a 5-point scale from not at all important to very important. The top three highest rated wellbeing domains for respondents in Nephi were Local Environmental Quality, Safety and Security and Living Standards. The four most important wellbeing domains were Safety and Security, Living Standards, Physical Health, and Mental Health.

Living standards and safety and security were highly important and rated above average. No ratings fell into the red quadrant of higher-than-average importance, but lower than average rating). However, Physical Health and Mental Health approached this quadrant as their importance score was above average, but ratings are near the overall average rating. Please note that all domains except for Cultural Opportunities had an average rating above 3.0 (moderate) and the importance score for all domains was higher than 3.0 (moderately important).

The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact was most strongly felt regarding Social Connections, Cultural Opportunities, and Mental Health. Improvements were reported in Connection to Nature for 13% of respondents and Leisure Time for 11% of respondents.

Community wellbeing was more likely to decline for those living in Nephi longer than five years.

Living standards were less likely to decline for those age 60+, female respondents and those with higher incomes.

Mental Health was less likely to decline for those indicating their religion as Latter-day Saint than those indicating religion as Agnostic/Atheist/No Religious Preference and less likely to decline for those age 60+ (versus those age 18-39).

Physical Health was less likely to decline for those age 60+.

Those who indicated their religion as Latter-day Saint reported higher perceptions that people in Nephi take action and have higher levels of community connection than those who indicated Agnostic/Atheist/No religious preference. Age, gender, and income also had positive relationships with these variables.

“A significant, positive relationship was found between an individuals’ community connection and overall personal wellbeing,” said Atkinson.

Respondents were asked to indicate whether or not they participated in seven different activities and a community activeness score was calculated by adding activities. The average community activeness score for Nephi was 2.72. Church group activities (68 percent) was the most common activity for respondents.

Survey participants were asked about the influence of landscape features on their wellbeing. Natural landscape including mountains, trails, rivers and streams, and city parks were found to have an overwhelmingly positive influence on wellbeing. In terms of development and industry in the landscape, respondents were more divided.

Over half of Nephi survey respondents indicated they felt population growth was too fast with 58 percent responding that way and 32 percent indicated it was just right. Respondents were more divided on economic development, with 37 percent indicating it is too slow and 36 percent indicating it is just right.

Respondent’s Opinions Regarding Population Growth and Economic Development in Participating Utah Cities were: Nephi, 5 percent rated too slow, 58 percent rated too fast; Draper, 0 percent rated too slow, 72 percent rated too fast; Layton, 1 percent rated too slow, 71 percent rated too fast; Tooele, 2 percent rated too slow, 67 percent rated too fast; Logan, 3 percent rated too slow, 61 percent rated too fast; Sandy, 1 percent rated too slow, 58 percent rated too fast; South Ogden, 1 percent rated too slow, 52 percent rated too fast; Bountiful, 3 percent rated too slow, 48 percent rated too fast.

Nephi was grouped with the rapid growth cities. The data for respondent rating in those cities was: Herriman, 1 percent rated too slow, 90 percent rated too fast; Lehi, 0 percent rated too slow, 84 percent rated too fast; Hurricane, 2 percent rated too slow, 80 percent rated too fast; Santaquin, 0 percent rated too slow, 76 percent rated too fast; Nibley, 1 percent rated too slow, 74 percent rated too fast; Spanish Fork, 0 percent rated too slow, 70 percent rated too fast; Vineyard, 0 percent rated too slow, 68 percent rated too fast; North Logan, 0 percent rated too slow, 57 percent rated too fast; Hyde Park, 2 percent rated too slow, 55 percent rated too fast; Ephraim, 6 percent rated too slow, 35 percent rated too fast.

Economic growth in Established/Mid-Sized Cities and cities of the first and second class: Nephi, 37 percent rated too slow, 20 percent rated too fast; Draper, 3 percent rated too slow, 42 percent rated too fast; Tooele, 37 percent rated too slow, 28 rated too fast; Logan, 24 percent rated too slow, 30 percent rated too fast; Sandy, 6 percent rated too slow, 37% rated too fast; City: South Ogden – 17% rated too slow, 25% rated too fast; City: Bountiful – 20% of respondents rated too slow, 19% rated too fast. Subtitle: Rapid

Survey respondents indicated the degree to which a number of possible local issues were a concern as they look to the future of Nephi. Opportunities for Youth, Water Supply, and Affordable Housing were the top three concerns with 77 percent to 80 percent of respondents indicating these were moderate or major concerns.

Respondents were asked, “Do you think city events in Nephi should be run by volunteers or by paid city staff?” Responses in 2021 were similar to those in 2020: Volunteers, 53.4 percent (55 percent in 2020); Paid City Staff, 46.6 percent (45 percent in 2020).

“Respondents were asked about the likelihood of finding new, affordable housing in Nephi in next five years and the type of housing they think they could afford given the current housing market,” said Atkinson. “Nine people wrote in that they couldn’t afford any new housing in Nephi.”