From a Wave to Trust: What Missouri’s Brand New 2026 Neighboring Survey Tells Us

 

New statewide research on neighbors offers both encouragement and a challenge.

The encouragement is that neighborliness is alive and well in Missouri. People wave. They talk across driveways. They help each other. Most believe a neighbor would come through if they suddenly needed assistance.

The challenge is that many of those relationships never progress much beyond the surface.

That may be the most important lesson from our newest State of Neighboring survey: Missourians do not necessarily need to be convinced that neighbors matter. We need to help people take the next small step in building a relationship.

We Have Plenty of Waves

The most common neighbor interaction in Missouri is exactly what you might expect: 70.8% of residents wave or say hello to their neighbors. About half have face-to-face conversations (52%) or spontaneous conversations outside (51.3%). 

Those are encouraging numbers. But participation declines as the relationship requires more investment. Only 31.9% help one another with favors, tasks or projects, 22.7% share food, tools or other items, and 17.3% visit in one another's homes. 

That suggests a simple goal for Missouri: Don't stop waving. But don't stop at waving.

If you wave to someone, learn their name. If you know their name, have a conversation. If you regularly talk, learn something about them. If you know something about them, look for an opportunity to help.

Learning Names Really Does Matter

Our survey found that 56.1% of Missourians know the names of neighbors in at least some adjacent homes. But only 42.9% know neighbors' occupations, and just 33.1% know an interesting fact about them. 

That progression is revealing.

We recognize more people than we really know.

It also provides additional support for something we have emphasized through the Engaged Neighbor Program: learn the names of the people who live closest to you.

Names aren't the finish line, but they are a starting line. In fact, the statistical analysis in the survey identified a group of residents characterized by knowing most adjacent neighbors by name along with greater trust and confidence that neighbors would help when needed. 

So here's a wonderfully simple Good Neighbor Week activity: learn the name of one neighbor you don't currently know.

No committee required. No meeting. No registration fee. Just walk across the yard and introduce yourself.

Your Neighbor May Want You to Make the First Move

Perhaps my favorite finding in the entire study is this one: 61.5% of Missourians say they would like to interact with their neighbors beyond a friendly wave or hello. Only 17.4% disagree. 

Think about that the next time you're wondering whether you should introduce yourself to someone down the street.

They may be wondering the same thing.

That doesn't mean everyone wants weekly neighborhood dinners. In fact, another finding provides an important caution. Respecting privacy remains the most frequently selected characteristic of a good neighbor, at 66.5%. 

Those findings aren't contradictory. People want connection without intrusion.

Being an engaged neighbor doesn't mean being in everyone's business. It means knowing enough about the people around you to notice, care and help when needed.

Goodwill Is Not the Same as Trust

Another fascinating finding involves help and trust.

More than three-fourths of Missourians—76.9%—believe a neighbor would help them if they unexpectedly needed assistance. And 64.3% said they had done a favor or act of kindness for an immediate neighbor during the previous month.

That's an impressive reservoir of goodwill.

But then we asked a tougher question.

Only 57.2% have a trusted neighbor with whom they could leave a key in an emergency. 

That gap matters.

There is a difference between having a friendly neighbor and having a dependable neighbor. There is a difference between believing someone would probably help and knowing exactly whom you could call.

Ultimately, I think that is where neighboring needs to go.

Events Aren't the Goal. Relationships Are.

The survey also offers an important lesson for those of us who organize neighborhood programs.

Only 10.1% said they interact with neighbors at neighborhood social events, and just 7.1% interact through local organizations. When asked what makes someone a good neighbor, only 9.8% selected hosting social events. 

That doesn't mean we should stop holding block parties, driveway gatherings or neighborhood events.

It means the event isn't the outcome.

Twenty people attending a neighborhood ice cream social is an output. Two people meeting there, discovering a common interest and continuing the relationship afterward is an impact.

The best neighborhood gathering is one that creates a reason for someone to talk to a neighbor tomorrow.

Good Neighbor Week Has an Awareness Challenge

The survey also delivered a sobering finding for those of us involved with Missouri Good Neighbor Week. 84.9% of respondents said they had not heard of Missouri Good Neighbor Week, and 91.7% said they had never participated. 

For an initiative that has documented tens of thousands of acts of neighboring, that's an important reminder: there is a big difference between activity among participants and recognition among Missouri's overall population.

But I also see enormous opportunity. We don't necessarily need to convince people to join another program. Instead, we can help them recognize that things they are already doing are acts of neighboring.

Checked on an older neighbor? That's neighboring.

Loaned someone a tool? That's neighboring.

Took someone's trash cart back to their house? That's neighboring.

Introduced yourself to the new family down the street? That's neighboring.

Do it. Report it. Tell the story. Invite someone else to do it.

That fits our evolving vision for Missouri Good Neighbor Week: a year of neighboring activity and a week to celebrate it.

Moving One Step Deeper

The survey's open-ended responses may provide the best roadmap of all. When residents were asked what could strengthen neighborhood relationships, their leading suggestions involved opportunities to meet and know neighbors, more communication and casual conversations, and everyday friendliness and mutual respect. 

Nothing terribly complicated. Maybe the progression we need is simply: Wave → Name → Conversation → Knowledge → Help → Trust

Look at the neighbors immediately around you and ask yourself: What is the next step in this relationship? Then take it.

Because stronger neighborhoods probably aren't built by one spectacular act.

They are built when thousands of ordinary people decide to move one small step closer to the people who live nearby.

WRITTEN BY

David L. Burton

For more information, visit the Engaged Neighbor website. Take our pledge and become part of a movement! Or subscribe to our newsletter. Access some of the research documents written by David Burton, the author of this blog. Or better yet, purchase one of his books off Amazon. Contact David L. Burton via email at dburton541@yahoo.