A 1978 statewide survey of Florida's licensed drivers 18 years or older was used to ascertain: (1) if significant differences in assessment of 23 community attributes exist by size of place and ecological milieu (community location relative to a metropolitan core county) and (2) if these differences persist when personal characteristics of residents (age, income, race, sex, education) were introduced as controls. Communities were classified by three locational groupings and differentiated by size. The study was limited to 3,564 persons residing in places of under 50,000 people. Findings associated with the 23 community attributes were presented by 7 broad topical areas: public facilities and services, health, housing, social/environmental concerns, recreation and cultural opportunities, economic development, and government-citizen relations. Although some modifications were apparent, the statistically significant relationships for the assessment were generally the same when personal characteristics were used as a control. Additionally, findings demonstrate continued use of a single residency classification for carrying out research on subjective assessments of quality of life attributes is inadequate. Size of place and ecological milieu should be considered simultaneously given that both account for a significant amount of the variation in residents' appraisals of adequacy of local attributes, even when important characteristics of residents are controlled. (AH)