2019 Survey: Methodology

119 Survey Interviews

The 2019 Menino Survey of Mayors uses a combination of open- and closed-ended questions to explore myriad, salient local issues and policy priorities. This year, 119 mayors discussed everything from infrastructure and transportation, to workforce development, to the Opportunity Zones program. To generate a systematic sample, we invited all mayors of cities with 75,000 or more residents to participate. Each mayor received an email invitation from the Boston University Menino Survey of Mayors team at their official email account, and follow-up phone calls. The vast majority of interviews were conducted in person or over the phone. This systematic sampling and recruitment effort yielded a representative sample of mayors of American cities with populations over 75,000. Table 1 compares the demographics of participating cities to all cities with over 75,000 residents.

Table 1. Demographic Comparison of Sample Cities to All U.S. Cities with Populations >75,0001

Survey All Cities
Number of Cities 119 480
Avg. Population 228,925 224,929
Avg. Pct. White 53% 49%
Avg. Pct. Black 16% 14%
Avg. Pct. Hispanic 21% 25%
Avg. Median Housing Price $232,672 $276,929
Region % of Sample % of Cities
Midwest 16% 16%
Northeast 15% 10%
South 34% 33%
West 35% 41%

Figure 1: Demographics of Surveyed Mayors


  1. Source: 2017 American Community Survey (ACS), published by the US Census Bureau. [return]