Connection to Canberra


Identity and belonging

Connection to Canberra

Our sense of connection to our city plays an important role in establishing a sense of belonging. This indicator will measure whether Canberrans would recommend our city to others as a good place to live, as well as how proud we are to live in the ACT region.

Canberra is a good place to live

This measure shows Canberrans’ agreement that the Canberra region is a good place to live. This is important because liveable cities have the potential to enhance wellbeing across wellbeing domains.

The proportion of people who agree that the Canberra region is a good place to live has remained high since 2019 but did decline through the COVID period. In 2023, 88.8% of people rated the Canberra region as a good place to live, up from 79.8% in 2022.

2022-2023: Living well in the ACT region survey, unpublished data.

2019-2021: Living well in the ACT region: The changing wellbeing of Canberrans during 2020 and 2021.

Line graph of percentage of respondents who agreed, disagreed, or had neutral level of agreement that the Canberra region is a good place to live, between 2019 and 2023.

In 2023, 88.8% agreed that the Canberra region is a good place to live compared to 79.8% in 2022.

In 2023, 5.6% disagreed that the Canberra region is a good place to live compared to 8.2% in 2022.

In 2023, 5.6% were neutral about the Canberra region being a good place to live compared to 12.1% in 2022.

The Living Well in the ACT Region survey, conducted by the University of Canberra, aims to measure, track and understand the wellbeing of adult residents living in the Australian Capital Territory region of Australia. It examines factors known to affect wellbeing at the individual, household, community and regional level.

When generating data for the ACT, statistical weighting is used to address differences between the sample of people who respond to the survey, and the characteristics of the ACT adult population. Differences between groups are reported when there is a statistically significant difference based on 95% confidence intervals or other tests of significance.

Data are produced from this survey for different groups of people in the ACT. The ‘overall response’ category represents responses at the ACT population level. Where reliable estimates can be produced, data are also presented for Canberrans by: gender, age, cultural background, gender identity and sexuality, carer role and experience of disability.

Care is needed when interpreting the differences in findings between groups as the descriptive statistics published here show where there are differences in wellbeing, but not what has caused those differences in wellbeing.

The University of Canberra has been conducting the survey since 2019. As of mid-2023, the survey had been conducted 6 times. Not all questions have been measured each time the survey has been conducted.

There have been no changes in measure design, analysis or reporting of this measure since it was first included in the survey.

Data for people with disability can only be compared between 2022 and 2023 due to a change in the way disability was defined and measured in the survey, to better reflect international best practice.

Further information about the survey can be found at Living Well in the ACT Region or by contacting Professor Jacki Schirmer at the University of Canberra.