The concept of community satisfaction is often discussed in sociological research on subjective social indicators. The hypothesis of this paper is that clearer understanding of the concept of community satisfaction is necessary if research measuring the concept is to be valid. The paper concentrates on three areas of concern. Section I reviews previous research efforts treating community satisfaction, beginning with the pathbreaking study by sociologist Vernon Davies in 1945. The major problem with most studies has been that they focus on the determinants of community satisfaction with little discussion of more general conceptual concerns. Section II presents a critical assessment of the term as it has been used and maintains that some researchers have not taken into consideration how community members define their own situations. The authors argue that an understanding of the objective nature of community must precede any attempt to interpret community attitudes. Section III suggests a conceptual scheme in which community satisfaction may be understood as tri-dimensional, composed of: (1) factual knowledge to provide the descriptive content; (2) evaluative direction to suggest personal appraisal of a situation; and (3) salience to indicate the relevance of a circumstance to the actor. Additional research on the problem of relevance of community satisfaction with regard to specific issues such as school busing is recommended. References are included. (Author/DB)