For the fourth consecutive year, Utah was ranked first in the 2025 U.S. News & World Report’s Best States rankings. Based on 71 metrics across eight categories, this composite ranking has become one of the most widely cited, common reference points in comparing state performance in key domains.
But no single ranking captures everything a state does well — or poorly — so Deseret News also reviewed other data sets that track family life, health, community and economic conditions. We used federal data when available, along with other third-party indexes to fill in more of the picture.
Since we first reviewed this in 2024, several new data sets have been released, allowing an updated look at how the Beehive State compares with the rest of the nation. Here, then, is a fresh look at 15 patterns that continue to show up in national data sets illustrating Utah’s comparative strengths as a state.
1. Higher marriage rates and less divorce
Marriage rates are dropping everywhere, including Utah. But Utahns continue to show above-average marriage levels across several common measures. For instance:
- 55% of Utah women in the most recent census report have been married at some point in their life (vs. 46.5% nationally).
- There were 11.2 Utah marriages per 1,000 people in 2023 CDC data (vs. a 6.2 national average).
- There were also 52 marriages per 1,000 unmarried women in a 2024 Bowling Green analysis (vs. 31 marriages as a national average — ranging from the next highest state of 44 in Idaho, to 20 in the lowest state of Delaware).
Utah also falls in the lower-divorce tier in some state comparisons, such as the latest Wallethub report where Utah ranks lowest in its combined “separation and divorce rate.”
Yet the exact ranking depends heavily on how divorce is measured. For instance, divorce rates per 1,000 residents can look higher in states with a larger share of married adults, because more people are at risk of divorcing each year. In 2023, a Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute analysis of census survey data reported 13.3 out of every 1,000 married Utah women divorced, compared with 14.4 nationally.
2. Prioritizing children
According to the CDC’s most recent National Vital Statistics Reports in 2023, Utah continues to have the highest “general fertility rate” at 64-65 births per 1,000 women, compared with a national average of 56 births per 1,000 women.
By this measure, Utahns are about 15-20% above the national average, with Utah’s birthrate more than 5-8 points above the next states of North and South Dakota and Nebraska.
Utah led the nation in population growth from 2010 to 2020 (18.4% in the latest census) — followed by Idaho, Texas and North Dakota. This continues its pace as one of the fastest-growing states since 2000.
When measuring lifetime childbearing (the “total fertility rate”), Utah no longer ranks first. After leading the nation until 2016, Utah has fallen out of the top tier, ranking fourth in 2022 and 10th in 2023 behind states such as South Dakota, Nebraska and North Dakota.
The state still has the highest share of families with young kids — consistently ranking the youngest state in the nation. That contributes to Utah’s humorous ranking as the No. 1 best state for trick-or-treating by looking at walkability, pedestrian safety, weather and search trends.
These young children in Utah are also more likely to be supervised by two committed parents. Last year, University of Virginia professor Brad Wilcox wrote in the Deseret News that “no state in America has more families headed by married parents than the Beehive State” — citing 2021 data that “82% of its children were living in married-couple families” compared with 75% of children nationally.
3. Strong social capital and community cohesion
The Social Capital Index is a 2018 measure of how closely tied people are to their communities. Noting that “nearly 60% of Americans reside in the bottom two-fifths of states for social capital,” the congressional authors of this index identified Utah as having the highest social capital score, followed by Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Utah’s community fabric has also been recognized as open to newcomers, especially compared with other red states — welcoming an estimated 304,918 immigrants (almost 9% of the population), most hailing from Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, India and China, in that order.
The state has a reputation for civic cooperation, reflected in the 2010 Utah Compact on immigration (reaffirmed in 2019) and the 2015 “Utah compromise” on religious liberty and gay rights. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s focus as chairman of the National Governors Association in 2023 was “disagree better.”
Utah’s major universities also appear unusually politically mixed by one measure — faculty political-donation patterns — which can shape how often students encounter viewpoints across the spectrum. Utah State and the University of Utah show unique balance, with Brigham Young University the most politically balanced in the analysis.
Utah ranked first in one 2025 “kindness index” that blends volunteering, charitable giving, trust and crime. The authors report: “Utah leads the nation in kindness, powered by the country’s strongest combination of volunteering, charitable giving, and neighbor trust,” noting that “6 in 10 Utah residents report helping neighbors monthly.”
“We can’t guarantee someone will return your lost wallet, but in Utah, the odds are better than anywhere else.”
4. Higher levels of faith and religious involvement
According to congregation data compiled by the 2020 U.S. Religion Census, Utah has the largest share of religious adherents across the United States. The report found 76% of Utah residents adhering to a religious affiliation, with the next highest states being Alabama at 64% and Louisiana at 63%.
(These behavioral findings in reported participation contrast with other surveys asking people to self-report how highly religious they are; in that case, Utah ranks 12th in people identifying as religious, after many of the Southern, Bible-belt states.)
Across all faiths, Utah also has the eighth-highest concentration of congregations per 100,000 people of any state (184), a number that increased from 2010 to 2020. There are currently at least 19 religions with 10 or more congregations in the state, with notable growth rates for Traditional Temples Hindus, Muslims and the National Baptist Convention.
According to the census, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the highest number of adherents in the state at 2,126,216 in 2020 — with a growth rate of 8.4% between 2010 and 2020.
5. High charitable giving and voluntarism
Connected with community and religious trends, Utah has been No. 1 in both charitable giving and voluntarism most years, as reflected in many past reports like this from Gallup in 2014: “Utahans Most Likely to Donate Money and Time.”
The latest WalletHub report on “Most Charitable States” analyzed 19 key metrics ranging from overall volunteer rate, donated hours per capita, the share of population donating time or money, and percentage of income donated — as well as public charities and food banks per capita, percentage of sheltered homeless, and the share of population collecting food and clothing, fundraising or selling items to raise money.
Based on this in-depth report, Utah was labeled as the second most charitable state in 2025 after Wyoming — with the highest volunteer rate of 47% (2.5 times the lowest state) and the most volunteer hours per capita at 46 hours (4.7 times the lowest state).
Utah families are second highest in donating their adjusted gross income (3.5% of their earnings, on average), with the state also reflecting the third-highest percentage of taxpayers who donate money to charity.
6. Educational excellence and affordability
According to the latest U.S. News & World Report analysis of state educational metrics, Utah ranks fourth in education, after New Jersey, Florida and Colorado (the state ranked second in 2024).
This ranking derives from Utah’s fifth-best K-12 student performance, including the nation’s fourth-best math scores, eighth-best reading scores and 13th-best high school graduation rates. Utah also performs among the top 15 states nationally for youth engagement in education, training or employment.
In a 2025 WalletHub report on “Best and Worst States for Teachers,” Utah ranked second-best nationally. This was based on a review of 24 key metrics, including teachers’ income growth potential, pupil-teacher ratios and public-school spending per student.
Utah students are also 10th best nationally in college readiness, with the state ranking seventh overall in higher education. A 2025 report highlights Utah as being in “the top third of states when it comes to educational attainment” — with only Colorado outperforming Utah in the percentage of population with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
In line with data suggesting that Latter-day Saints have measurably fewer student loans, Utah college students have the nation’s lowest (or second-lowest) average student debt at graduation and fifth lowest tuition and fees. The state leads the nation in educational affordability overall.
Ben Blau, head of the Department of Economics and Finance at Utah State University’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business, told U.S. News & World Report in 2024 that Utah taxpayers are “extremely generous” in funding public higher education in the state.
7. Positive lifestyles and physical health
Utah consistently scores high on measures of physical activity:
- A 2021 analysis of health data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded Utah was the seventh “fittest state in the nation,” with over 80% of the Utah population participating in some form of physical activity per month (the highest scoring state for this statistic).
- More recently, Utah has been ranked as the second most physically active state by America’s Health Rankings of CDC data, which currently lists the state as third best after Colorado and Vermont — with 16.8% percent of adults reporting “no physical activity or exercise other than their regular job in the past 30 days.”
- A December 2023 review of gym data by a fitness organization concluded Utah had more residents who exercise outside their regular jobs than anywhere else (83%) — grading the state as the fourth most physically active state once other variables were taken into account.
Wallethub likewise lists Utah as having the “highest sports participation rate” generally. More specifically, a new report calls Utah “the fastest-growing hotbed for pickleball nationwide,” ranking the state No. 2 in the U.S. for pickleball obsession, based on 737,000 Google searches about the sport in the state in 2025 and 4.5 pickleball venues per 100K people.
In line with a relatively high level of physical activity, Utah was rated fourth in a 2022 Forbes analysis of state populations with the “healthiest hearts.” The state ranks 11th lowest for obesity and is among the group of states with the lowest incidence of cancer.
Other recent analyses rank Utah sixth nationally in “health outcomes and healthy behaviors” and ninth among states that “take the best care of their health.”
According to the latest U.S. census, Utah also tied North Dakota for states ranking first in having the highest percentage of residents covered by employer-sponsored insurance at 78.4%. More broadly, U.S. News & World Report ranks health care in Utah 14th in the nation, due to the nation’s 10th-best health care quality and 13th-best public health.
Another 2025 analysis by the Commonwealth Fund identified Utah as third after the District of Columbia and Massachusetts for “health care quality,” which it defined as “receiving the right care at the right time.”
Utah is currently listed as ninth in terms of the longest life expectancy among states. One deeper 2023 analysis of federal longevity data combined lifestyle indicators such as exercise, diet, weight, sleep, stress, isolation, natural spaces and time outdoors — ranking Utah as fifth on the list of the “Top 10 best states in the U.S. for a long, healthy life.”
8. Lower alcohol and drug abuse
WalletHub released a 2026 analysis of which states have the biggest drug problems — assessing 20 different measures across three overall categories: 1) drug use and addiction, 2) law enforcement and 3) drug health issues and rehab. Crunching all the numbers, including state-by-state overdose trends, Utah was the second-lowest state in terms of overall drug use and percentage of teenage drug users.
According to a 2022 Forbes analysis, Utah also had the lowest percentage of people who smoke daily and the highest percentage of people who had never smoked.
The state also demonstrates the lowest percentage of adults who are binge-drinkers and the lowest alcohol consumption per capita by large margins, with the state’s estimated 17.7 gallons per resident per year about half the national average of 34 gallons — and 8 gallons below the next state, Maryland. (Idaho came in third, at 26.5 gallons per person.)
Utah is the state with the lowest percentage of fatal accidents caused by drunk driving (22%), according to 2022 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.
9. High public safety and lower crime
Utah is the fifth-safest state for driving overall, according to a 2024 Forbes analysis across key metrics from the NHTSA, including the number of fatal car accidents and people killed in car accidents per capita, as well as percent of fatalities from speeding and impaired driving.
Utah’s crime rate is consistently well below national levels. For instance, compared to the U.S. average, the violent crime rate in 2024 in Utah was approximately 36% lower, and its rate of property crime was 20% lower.
The 2025 U.S. News & World Report ranks the state as seventh overall in “crime and corrections,” based on the state being No. 7 in corrections outcomes, with an incarceration rate of 176 per 100,000 residents, compared with a national average of 311 — and a juvenile incarceration rate of 23 per 100,000 compared with 39 nationally.
A WalletHub 2025 report on the “Safest States in America” examined 52 key metrics, including assaults, bullying, theft and rape per capita and number of mass shootings. Utah was ranked as the fifth-safest state in the nation, after a set of smaller New England states, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.
Compared with analyses that limit themselves to FBI data to assess state-by-state comparisons of sexual violence, more comprehensive analyses reveal more nuance. For instance, higher or lower rates of reporting child abuse or sexual assault may reflect more or less willingness of a community to hold perpetrators accountable and take abuse seriously enough to report it to authorities.
Other methodological differences also play a significant role in measuring abuse. For instance, in both 2012 and 2016-2017, the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey found that Utah had some of the lowest sexual violence rates across states. Yet the latest 2023-2024 report from the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey positions the state into a higher tier of sexual violence.
Due to substantial methodological changes in sampling and measurement approaches, the CDC cautions against comparing these figures directly with prior NIPSV surveys.
10. Overall happiness and life satisfaction
Compared to investigations more narrowly focused on a small set of variables related to well-being, at least three different analyses across 50 states have examined an extensive list of happiness-related variables. In 2009, Gallup assessed emotional health, how much someone is thriving, healthy behaviors, physical health and work environments across the nation, ranking Utah No. 1 in overall well-being.
The Sharecare Community Well-Being Index similarly compiles into a single health score more than 600 data points spread across five categories of personal well-being (physical, social, community, purpose and financial) and five types of social health (health care access, food access, resource access, housing and transportation, and economic security). Utah has consistently ranked in the first quintile of well-being, including fifth in 2018, 10th in 2022 and ninth in 2025.
And a 2025 WalletHub report on the “Happiest States in America” examined 30 relevant metrics across three key dimensions: 1) emotional and physical well-being, 2) work environment and 3) community and environment.
Utah ranked as the No. 1 happiest state in 2023 based on this more comprehensive examination, followed by Hawaii and Maryland. In 2026, the state was ranked sixth.
After examining a wide range of factors that impact mental health, Soliant Health has listed Utah as No. 9 and No. 10 on its 2023 and 2024 reports on “Best States for Mental Health.” In addition to the frequency of “bad mental health days” reported by the population, and access to mental health providers and suicide rates, the report assessed unemployment and violent crime rates, how many teens and young adults are disconnected (neither working nor in school), access to exercise opportunities and air pollution.
According to one travel magazine’s list of “Most Beautiful States in the U.S.,” Utah was ranked fourth in the list of 50 states — topped only by Hawaii, California and Alaska.
“To rank this high with exactly zero miles of coastline, you’ve gotta have some superlative sights,” the authors remark, “and Utah brings it like no other landlocked state in the nation.”
Thanks to high elevation and good visibility (low light pollution), Utah also ranks fourth in the top states for spotting an asteroid in the U.S. (after California, Colorado and Oregon).
11. Lower poverty and higher upward mobility
According to multiple analyses, Utah has the lowest childhood poverty rate in the nation, the second lowest for women, and the second or third lowest poverty rate for families overall (depending on the study). The state’s homeless level, which has increased in recent years to 13 per 10,000, is still significantly below the national rate of 23 per 10,000.
The state is also the No. 1-ranked state for social mobility, according to a 2023 analysis led by Justin T. Callais at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. This data aligns with an earlier 2018 finding from Harvard economist Raj Chetty and colleagues that Utah has one of the highest rates of upward economic mobility of any state in America (defined as the odds that a child will earn more than his or her parents did at the same age).
In their 2014 study, Chetty and colleagues identified Salt Lake City and San Jose, California, as having the highest rates of “absolute mobility” in the nation. Specifically, the likelihood of moving from the poorest income threshold to the richest was 10.8% in Salt Lake City, compared with 4% elsewhere in the country.
Places like Salt Lake City and San Jose, they concluded, “have rates of mobility comparable to countries with the highest rates of relative mobility, such as Denmark.” In a 2017 Bloomberg article titled, “How Utah Keeps the American Dream Alive,” columnist Megan McArdle quipped that Utah is “a bit like Sweden might be if it were run by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.”
A separate 2015 analysis by the American Enterprise Institute likewise identified Utah as the No. 1 state in terms of economic mobility for poor children. As Natalie Gochnour summarized, “children born in low-income families in the Salt Lake metro area are more likely to achieve the American dream than anywhere else in the country.”
While Utah’s social mobility has continued increasing since 2013, a 2025 report from the Utah Foundation shows the gap with the rest of the country has decreased with Utah now ranking as 12th in social mobility.
A 2023 Census Bureau analysis examined income inequality across the nation by combining various financial measures into a single statistic — concluding that Utah had the lowest inequality score of any state in the nation.
Among the 51 metropolitan areas with more than one million in population, Salt Lake City scored the lowest in income inequality — with West Jordan City the lowest in income inequality among the 267 cities over 100,000 in population, as Gochnour likewise points out.
Digging deeper on the same data, Deseret News contributor Stephen Cranney notes that “the lower the percentage of (Latter-day Saint) church members in the county, the higher likelihood of economic inequality — a finding that is highly statistically significant.”
Like other fast-growing states, housing affordability is a concern (36th compared to other states), along with affordability overall (31st). This has been increasingly emphasized as arguably Utah’s most significant structural challenge, especially for younger families.
More positively, according to a 2025 report, Utah ranks 13th nationally for homeownership and is one of the top-performing mountain states, ranking just behind Idaho and tying with Wyoming for second place.
Provo, home to Brigham Young University, leads the nation in cities where young adults make up the largest percentage of homeowners — with people under 25 making up roughly 39% of homeowners in the city and young adults owning more homes than older cohorts.
And Utah ranked first in 2023 and fourth in 2025 in new home construction nationally. At an average of 42 people per square mile, the state ranks 30th nationally in population density, suggesting comparatively more physical capacity for growth, though water constraints continue to be real.
12. Economic strength and growth
A 2025 independent analysis of 15 policy variables by the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Center for State Fiscal Reform concluded Utah has the nation’s best economic outlook among U.S. states and the third best current economic performance.
According to the last two 2024 and 2025 U.S. News & World Report analyses of state economic variables, Utah likewise has ranked third overall among states for its economy, after Florida and Idaho. This is based on the state’s third-best employment, fourth-best GDP growth, fifth-best growth of young population and the sixth-best overall economic growth.
A separate 2025 analysis by WalletHub compares states on 28 key indicators of economic performance and strength, including GDP growth, unemployment rate, startup activity and the share of jobs in high-tech industries. Across these factors, they rank Utah as the state with the second-best overall economy.
The analysts note that “at over $88,500, the median annual household income in the state is the second-highest in the country after adjusting for the cost of living.” (The state elsewhere ranks as the eighth highest for median household income). In addition, “the average income in the state also grew by 6.1% between 2023 and 2024” (similar to growth the previous year).
“The labor market in Utah is also very healthy,” WalletHub also notes. “Utah has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, at 3.2%, along with the eighth-most growth in the civilian labor force between 2023 and 2024.”
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics confirm a rate of nearly 68% labor force participation in Utah — also the highest in the country. In terms of overall job satisfaction, Provo, Salt Lake City and Ogden all rate highly (No. 1, No. 9 and No. 11, respectively) in Glassdoor’s 2023 analysis of “cities with the most satisfied workers.”
WalletHub lists Utah as having the “lowest work hours,” perhaps reflecting the state’s priority on family and faith.
WalletHub also underscores the state’s “great potential for the future of business,” based on the third-highest growth rate in the number of businesses and the sixth-highest share of jobs in high-tech industries. The state has been called the first (2024) and third-best (2025) state to start a business, with three of the top five “best cities to start a business” all in Utah: St. George, Cedar City and Washington.
13. Fiscal responsibility, government stability and public trust
U.S. News & World Report concluded that Utah’s financial stability was first in the nation in 2025, after being sixth in 2024. That was based on a fourth-rated long-term fiscal stability, due to a nation-best Government Credit Rating and a seventh-best Pension Fund Liability.
The state also has been ranked the sixth best in short-term fiscal stability, based on the nation-leading ranking in budget balancing. Utah also has an AAA Government Credit Rating — which is the highest value possible, denoting the “lowest expectation of default risk” and “assigned only in cases of exceptionally strong capacity for payment of financial commitments,” which is “highly unlikely to be adversely affected by foreseeable events.”
Alongside these measures of trustworthy governance, data from 2013 to 2021 also shows Utah residents with as many 20 to 30 percentage points above the national average in terms of trust in law enforcement.
WalletHub appraised Utah in 2025 as the most independent state in the nation based on Utah consumer finances, the government, the job market, international trade and personal vices. That includes the fact that Utah has the second highest number of households with rainy-day and emergency funds.
Utah has also been rated as the third least federally dependent state (after New Jersey and Washington), and the second lowest state in terms of households receiving public assistance and SNAP/food stamps (after Wyoming).
A separate WalletHub analysis across 17 metrics rated Utah as second highest in “financial knowledge and education,” and the seventh highest in “financial literacy” overall.
Utah ranks after Hawaii as the state with the least amount of student debt, the lowest in credit score decreases and eighth best in terms of where credit card delinquency is increasing the least. That being said, Utah is also among the states with a largest increase in both average household debt and auto loan debt.
14. Robust infrastructure and long-term planning
According to a U.S. News & World Report analysis of key infrastructure metrics — including commute time, road quality, bridge quality and broadband internet access — Utah ranks third nationally in overall infrastructure, behind North Dakota and Oregon.
That’s partly due to the state’s No. 1 ranking in internet access nationally. Access to high-speed internet has specifically expanded: Nearly 60% of Utahns now have access to gigabit service, and BroadbandNow ranks the state 16th among states in 2025 for internet.
The state also ranks second in transportation overall, again based on data in commute and road quality, along with public transit. Commute times in Utah average 21.6 minutes, about 5 minutes less than the national average.
Utah is also one of the only states with a unified cross-agency 30-year transportation plan coordinating road, transit and bike/pedestrian plan, as well as a 50-year water plan accompanying the new Great Salt Lake Basin Integrated Plan — all of which are cited nationally as examples of a forward-thinking planning culture.
While sustained growth continues to strain infrastructure and public services, U.S. News and World Report notes that these growing pains may propel Utah to grow stronger in its infrastructure as it prepares to host the Winter Olympics in 2034. That includes plans to expand passenger rail in Salt Lake City, which Gov. Cox has identified as a priority. (Utah currently ranks 14th in the nation for public transit use.)
Work along the Wasatch Front to alleviate traffic on Interstate 15 includes improvements to the Mountain View Corridor in a phased approach providing quicker north-south access for commuters.
15. Environmental stewardship and resource management
Utah ranked third in the U.S. for geothermal generation in 2023 and has advanced in solar energy use, ranking 13th in installed capacity by early 2024 — enough to power an estimated 586,000 homes. In 2023, 15.5% of Utah’s electricity came from renewable sources, up from 13% the prior year, with 45,893 clean-energy jobs reported that same year.
The federal government controls 64.4% of Utah’s land area — the second-highest share of any state after Nevada — which places substantial stewardship responsibilities on agencies in Utah. In a state with elevated wildfire risk, crews treated more than 18,000 acres of hazardous fuels in fiscal year 2024 through thinning, mulching and other efforts to reduce fire spread.
These indicators show a state proactively involved in the stewardship of its natural resources. Even so, episodic air pollution remains a challenge (ranked 28th nationally for air and water quality), due in part to seasonal inversion patterns.
And longer-term water scarcity, highlighted by the decline of the Great Salt Lake, poses environmental and public-health risks. A 2025 UCLA analysis also found Utah recycled less than 1% of its treated wastewater in 2022 (the lowest rate among Colorado River Basin states).
None of this above is to idealize Utah or suggest there aren’t serious challenges in the state, much like other places in the country. For instance, in addition to challenges noted above (housing affordability pressures, household debt, winter air quality), the state continues to show higher-than-average mental health strain, especially among adolescents and women.
An interconnected social ecosystem
It would be a mistake to appraise these variables as independent and standalone. None of them operate in a vacuum — representing different elements of an interdependent and self-reinforcing ecosystem.
For instance, comprehensive analyses of happiness often take into account economic and family measures. And higher levels of faith have long correlated with people’s willingness to make charitable donations.
Faith is associated with many variables on the list — from strong prioritization of children, family, education and economic self-reliance, to unique levels of health, happiness and freedom from addiction.
Regarding economic equality, Chetty and colleagues found that areas like Utah with greater mobility also tended to have “less segregation, less income inequality, better schools, greater social capital and more stable families.”
As reflected here, faith and family really do appear to pay tangible, practical dividends. Indeed, one of the top predictors of economic performance across U.S. states is the share of married parents, according to experts.
“The percentage of parents who are married in a given state,” two researchers note, “is typically a stronger predictor of the state’s economic mobility, child poverty and median family income than are the education level, racial makeup and age composition of its population.”