Is Grand Rapids a Friendly, Neighborly City? Survey Says Yes!

This past month, September, a new survey was released on the quest to find the most Neighborly and friendly cities in America. Neighbor.com unveiled its list of America’s 25 most neighborly cities, ranked by examining residents’ charitable giving, generosity, happiness, and well-being.

Also, the study found that 42.5% of people in these cities are more willing than before to help a neighbor after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The good news? Grand Rapids is in the top five of the most neighborly cities in America, at number five!

In a Neighbor.com blog, they explained that they set out to do something they have been doing now for several years, finding the 25 Most Neighborly Cities in America. Each year, they have based these rankings on a variety of publicly available data related to charitable giving, generosity, happiness, and well-being of residents, and other factors that qualifies a city in their overall neighborliness.

MEL TROTTER MINISTRIES ALWAYS THERE TO HELP FEED THOSE IN NEED

No doubt that the past two years, pandemic years, have been tough on all of us, and the Neighbor.com folks wanted to find out how we Americans came out of it. Were we more divided or, in many ways, did it bring us a bit more together?

They also did something different this year by not simply relying on data, but actually interviewing Americans.

They found that more of us hang out with our neighbors and friends more than we used to. We are more likely to help out a neighbor than before, support small businesses more than ever, and despite the big political divide, we are choosing to be more accepting than before. That's pretty amazing!

The top 10:

Rochester, New York
Madison, Wisconsin
Provo, Utah
Oxnard, California
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Raleigh, North Carolina
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Poughkeepsie, New York
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Des Moines, Iowa
San Jose, California

Here is what they said about us:

Grand Rapids, Michigan: Population: 199,417

Rounding out the top five is Grand Rapids, Michigan, jumping from its #14 position in 2021. Grand Rapids is in the top third for charitable giving, neighborly acts, and volunteering. But what really sets it apart is how abundant its parks are — 76% of all residents live within a 10-minute walk of a public park.

And here’s a fun fact: Grand Rapids was the first city in the U.S. to add cavity-preventing fluoride to its drinking water — all the way back in 1945!

Yes, we have a long way to go, but I'd still rather live here than in many other parts of the country!