Celebrating Excellence: Virginia Beach Receives 2025 Leading the Way Award

The City of Virginia Beach has been awarded the prestigious 2025 Leading the Way Award, a recognition reserved for local governments that excel in delivering high-quality services to their residents. The award was presented by the ETC Institute, a nationally recognized leader in community survey research. 

The Leading the Way Award highlights communities that rank in the top 10% nationwide based on ETC Institute’s DirectionFinder Survey. This survey evaluates three core areas of municipal performance:

• Satisfaction with the overall quality of services.
• Satisfaction with customer service provided by employees.
• Satisfaction with the value residents feel they receive for local taxes and fees.

Leading the Way in Key Areas of Community Life

As ETC Institute noted, “The City of Virginia Beach is truly setting the standard in many areas.”

Virginia Beach didn’t just meet expectations; it exceeded national averages by more than 20 percentage points in 15 different service areas, showcasing the City’s commitment to excellence. These areas include:

• Parks and recreation programs and facilities (+38.9 percentage points)
• Quality of life as a place to live (+38.0 percentage points)
• Customer service from city employees (+32.2 percentage points)
• Police services (+26.5 percentage points)
• Bulky item pickup and removal (+26.1 percentage points)
• Overall quality of city services (+25.8 percentage points)
• Appearance of the city (+25.1 percentage points)

Virginia Beach’s recognition as a 2025 Leading the Way Award winner is a testament to the dedication of City leadership, employees and the community as a whole.