Sep. 29--Sure, Miami's got lousy drivers, questionable manners and one of country's most depressed real estate markets. Yet despite its drawbacks -- not to mention the recession -- residents of Miami-Dade say they love this city more than ever.

To be more precise, they're expressing a greater level of attachment to this community, according to the "Soul of the Community" three-year study conducted by Gallup and funded by the Knight Foundation.

This year, the second of the project, Miami had the most significant jump in community attachment when compared to other large cities in the survey, which is being released Tuesday. In all, 26 U.S. communities are being studied.

The Knight Foundation's Dennis Scholl said pollsters originally thought the economy might negatively impact sentiments about their communities.

"It turned out to be somewhat surprising to us," said Scholl, Miami program director for the foundation. "I would have thought that people, because they were unhappy with their economic circumstance, would be unhappy with their community."

For the 400 local adults interviewed by Gallup between February and April, problems of crime and unemployment were perceived as being more severe than in 2008. But positive qualities -- especially Miami's openness, aesthetics and social offerings, like culture and entertainment -- caused a statistically significant increase in the overall level of attachment compared to last year.

THE SCORE

Those plus eight other factors -- including education, safety and social capital -- added up to a mean score for Miami-Dade of 3.62, a statistically significant increase from a score of 3.42 last year. That was also higher than all the other Knight communities overall, which measured at 3.58. Two other large communities measured against Miami -- Philadelphia and Detroit -- averaged only 3.37.

In an unexpected twist, the economic difficulties of the past year may have helped Miamians to appreciate the joys of home.

Katherine Loflin, an Aventura-based consultant contracted by Gallup to help communities understand the information, said people reported spending more time with close friends and family this year, and developing greater emotional attachments as a result.

"What's interesting this year in Miami is the perception of residents caring about each other is also significantly higher," said Loflin. Peoples' measures of connections with others -- through clubs, neighbors, close friends and family -- rated four percent higher this year.

That may prove important to Miami's economic future.