Municipal Services Survey: People enjoy living in Espoo – residents express increased satisfaction with municipal services

For the first time, the survey received responses from a significant number of foreign-language speakers. Foreign-language speakers are respondents who reported a language other than Finnish or Swedish as their native language.

The results indicate that residents are increasingly satisfied with the level of the municipal services. The main cause of the improvement in overall results is the fact that foreign-language speakers gave higher ratings for municipal services than speakers of the two national languages (Finnish and Swedish). However, the ratings given by speakers of Finnish and Swedish were also somewhat higher than in 2024.

According to the survey, residents have the most satisfaction with the City of Espoo’s library services and services related to outdoor activities and exercise. Residents also gave very high ratings for the following: air quality, recycling, safety in residential areas, children’s playgrounds, waste management, traffic safety for motorists and management of parks and green areas.

Residents gave the lowest ratings for prevention of problems related to substance abuse and violence, prevention of social exclusion and receiving plots for detached houses.

When the survey results are compared with the previous year’s results, the following services show the greatest improvement in resident opinions: promotion of good relations between population groups, communications on municipal services, street and road maintenance and customer service of municipal agencies in general.

On the other hand, compared to the previous year, the quality of services has declined the most in the following services: promotion of business activities, employment services and placement of housing, jobs and services.

In addition to the quality of services, the Municipal Services Survey also collects the respondents’ perceptions of their quality of life, of their financial situation and of incidents in public places that have weakened their sense of security.

77% of Espoo residents feel that their quality of life is fairly good or very good. Tapiola has the best quality of life, as 85% of respondents living in the area reported a good quality of life. Otherwise, the reported of quality of life is largely the same between the various residential areas of Espoo.

According to the survey results, one in ten Espoo residents considers their quality of life to be bad or fairly bad. The differences between speakers of the national languages and foreign-language speakers are very moderate.

Almost half of Espoo residents consider their financial situation to be excellent or fairly comfortable. Tapiola has the best results, as more than half of the area’s inhabitants say that they can get by at least fairly comfortably. This view is shared by less than half of the residents in Espoonlahti, Leppävaara and Olari-Matinkylä. Espoon keskus has the lowest percentages of residents who get by fairly well or fairly comfortably.

Almost one third of Espoo residents feel that they can manage in live if they plan their everyday spending carefully. Meanwhile, almost a quarter of Espoo residents have to make occasional cuts to their daily spending, and one in ten have to cut back on almost everything.

The number of incidents that weakened the residents’ sense of security was lower than in the previous year. According to the survey results, one in five Espoo residents has encountered racism in public in their residential area. Less than one third of foreign-language-speaking Espoo residents have encountered racism in their daily lives, and about one sixth reports that they themselves have been the target of racism. Meanwhile, almost one in five Espoo residents who speak Finnish or Swedish has encountered racism.

One in seven residents has encountered violence or threats of violence. 6% of Espoo residents have encountered sexual harassment.

Over the years, general satisfaction to services has been measured in two different ways: the broad municipal satisfaction index and an overall rating. The latest survey also includes an NPS index. Espoo’s NPS score is 21, which can generally be considered good, even though comprehensive comparative data is not available.

The broad municipal satisfaction index combines the ratings for all surveyed services and gives an overall average. Additionally, the various service sectors have been weighted by increasing the importance of comprehensive school and early childhood education.

The value of the broad municipal satisfaction index has improved from the previous year. The index value for all respondents is 3.83, an improvement from the previous year’s value of 3.71. The index value for foreign-language speakers’ responses is 4.13, while responses from speakers of the national languages have an index value of 3.73. Tapiola and Matinkylä-Olari had the highest local index values. Meanwhile, Leppävaara and Espoon keskus had the lowest local index values.

The average of the overall rating for the City of Espoo’s services has also improved. In the 2025 survey, Espoo’s average is 7.98, compared to 7.73 in the previous year. The average is measured on a scale of 4 to 10. The main cause for the increase is foreign-language speakers, as their ratings have an average of 8.28. However, speakers of Finnish and Swedish also expressed increased satisfaction after the previous year, with an average of 7.88. In total, 36% of all respondents gave a rating of 9 or 10.

Background of the survey

The Municipal Services Survey is carried out every year. The 2025 survey, carried out during November and December, was taken by a total of 1835 Espoo residents, 379 of whom were foreign-language speakers. The survey was carried out in ten different languages. As in previous surveys, data collection for speakers of the national languages (Finnish and Swedish) was carried out through Norstat Oy’s online research panel. For foreign-language speakers, the survey was carried out as an informed online survey; a sample of speakers of the eight most common foreign languages were invited by mail to participate in the survey. Responses from foreign-language speakers were also collected through immigrant organisations and telephone invitations. All respondents who reported their mother tongue to be a language other than Finnish or Swedish were defined as foreign-language speakers. The overall results were weighted to correspond to the population shares of speakers of the national languages and speakers of foreign languages. The survey was carried out by Bondata Oy.