What True North Research does

True North Research, Inc. is a privately held, full-service survey research firm founded in 2002 and headquartered in Encinitas, California. The company is exclusively dedicated to government clients, designing and conducting custom research studies for cities, counties, special districts, educational institutions (K-12 and Colleges & Universities), councils of government, transportation planning agencies, public utilities, and state and federal agencies. Since founding, it has completed over 1,500 research studies, a figure the firm cites as evidence of its depth in the public sector.

The firm's service portfolio is organized into four interconnected modules: Community Opinion & Performance Management, Tax Measure Feasibility, Visioning & Planning, and Marketing & Communications. These offerings deliver statistically reliable data and strategic advice to support client decisions in planning, customer service, performance management, policy making, tax measure preparation, and public outreach. Underlying the services is core expertise in survey research methodology and custom study design rather than proprietary software, platforms, or AI systems; no patents, certifications, technology integrations, or API offerings are disclosed.

The business operates on a professional services, project-based revenue model. Services are delivered through direct, relationship-led engagement with government agencies — a sales-led go-to-market motion with no resellers or intermediary channels. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed, consistent with custom government procurement. The firm has no disclosed parent company, no subsidiaries, no funding rounds, no named enterprise customers, and no management team listed in available sources. It claims operational reach at local, regional, state, national, and international levels from its single California office.

Name

True North Research

Legal name

True North Research, Inc.

Website

https://tn-research.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

True North Research is a privately held, Encinitas-based survey research firm founded in 2002 that designs and conducts custom public opinion and planning studies exclusively for government agencies, having completed over 1,500 projects across local, state, and federal levels.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government Survey Research Services

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (54191)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Industry & Sector Research (Syndicated/Custom) (BPAHALAE)

Keywords

• Government survey research
• Public sector research
• Tax measure feasibility
• Community opinion polling
• Visioning and planning research

Headquarters

HQ city

Encinitas

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Government Survey Research Services: Project-based research engagements with government agencies including cities, counties, special districts, educational institutions, and state/federal agencies. Services encompass community opinion studies, tax measure feasibility analysis, visioning and planning research, and marketing/communications research.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

True North Research, Inc. is a full-service survey research firm that designs and conducts custom research studies for government agencies. Its work spans community opinion and performance management, tax measure feasibility, visioning and planning, and marketing and communications research, and it has completed more than 1,500 such studies for cities, counties, special districts, educational institutions, transportation agencies, public utilities, and state and federal clients.

Product overview

True North Research is a full-service survey research firm offering a unified portfolio of four interconnected service modules for government agencies. The core offerings include Community Opinion & Performance Management (providing statistically reliable data on resident/voter perceptions), Tax Measure Feasibility (specialized studies for ballot measure preparation), Visioning & Planning (strategic research for long-term planning), and Marketing & Communications (public outreach campaign development). These services are delivered as custom research studies designed to provide actionable insights for strategic decision-making in planning, customer service, performance management, policy making, and public engagement.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Community Opinion & Performance Management Research Custom-designed survey research studies that measure community opinion and agency performance for government agencies, used to inform public-sector decision-making.
• Tax Measure Feasibility Research Custom survey research studies that assess the feasibility of proposed tax measures, providing statistically reliable voter sentiment data for government agencies considering placing a tax measure on the ballot.
• Visioning & Planning Research Custom survey research studies that gather community input to support visioning, strategic planning, and long-range planning initiatives by government agencies and public-sector organizations.
• Marketing & Communications Research Custom survey research studies that inform the marketing, messaging, and communications strategies of government agencies and public-sector organizations by gathering statistically reliable input from target audiences.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• ICF International: ICF International is a large public-sector consulting and research firm offering survey, evaluation, and policy research to government clients — overlapping with True North's government research services at greater scale and breadth.
• NRCC / NRSC polling ecosystem firms (e.g., Wilson Perkins Allen): Wilson Perkins Allen and similar established political polling firms operate at national scale with broader party/advocacy rosters; while larger and not exclusively public-sector, they overlap with True North on ballot feasibility and community opinion work.

Direct peers

• Public Opinion Strategies: Public Opinion Strategies is a nationally recognized Republican polling firm conducting survey research for political campaigns and public-sector clients — overlapping with True North in ballot-measure and community opinion work.
• FM3 Research: FM3 Research is a California-based public opinion and survey research firm that conducts custom research for government agencies, ballot campaigns, and public-sector clients — directly comparable to True North's core community opinion and tax measure feasibility services.
• Goodwin Simon Strategic Research: Goodwin Simon is a California-based research firm specializing in public opinion, ballot measure, and community research for progressive organizations and public agencies — closely comparable to True North's public-sector survey work.
• Lake Research Partners: Lake Research Partners is a public opinion research firm working with advocacy, foundation, and public-sector clients on survey design and strategic research — comparable to True North in methodology and public-sector engagement model.
• EMC Research: EMC Research is a national public opinion research firm serving public agencies, political campaigns, and advocacy clients with custom survey design — competing directly in the same government research niche as True North.
• Hart Research Associates: Hart Research Associates is a survey research firm conducting public opinion, policy, and ballot research for government, nonprofit, and corporate clients — a comparable custom-research peer in the same government research category.
• Probolsky Research: Probolsky Research is a California-based full-service public opinion and market research firm focused on government, public agencies, and political campaigns — directly comparable across community surveys, tax measure feasibility, and visioning/planning research.
• Godbe Research: Godbe Research is a survey research firm specializing in public agency, community, and transportation planning research across the western U.S. — a closely aligned competitor offering custom survey design, community opinion research, and ballot-measure studies.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/true-north-research-inc.

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about True North Research