Salt Lake City, the state capital · Photo: Invictus323 · CC BY 4.0How Utah stacks up
No state scores higher overall: Utah earns an A+, 100 of 100. Utah tops the country on growth from 2010 to 2020: the population grew 18.4%. Utah is safe and split at once: 21% of residents live in towns among the nation’s safest quarter, like Smithfield and Mapleton, while 16% live in places such as Salt Lake City, Ogden and Murray, in the quarter reporting the most crime.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
9th of 51A−84/100 Safe, but not everywhere. Violent crime runs at 225 per 100,000 residents, 32% below the national figure (14th lowest among the states). Its towns run the full range: Smithfield and Mapleton rank near the top of the country, Salt Lake City and Ogden near the bottom.
With property crime counted (property + 4 × violent), it places 14th lowest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 47 Utah towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally. Covers 81% of residents of Utah’s 10,000+ towns.
Two very different kinds of town
Most states with towns this safe have few at the other end; New Hampshire and Rhode Island have almost none. Pleasant View leads its towns at #270 of 3,410 nationally, with Syracuse and Saratoga Springs close behind. Murray and South Salt Lake sit at the high-crime end of the national ranking.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Utah | 21% | 16% |
Towns policed by others
Our town measure uses the crime each local police department reports to the FBI; towns without enough of the last three years are left out. In Utah, 81% of residents of 10,000+ towns are covered. Clinton and Salem sit out, missing too many years. In Eagle Mountain, Millcreek, Bountiful and 16 other places, county or state police answer the calls, so there is no town figure. Next door, coverage runs from 86% in Colorado to 100% in Wyoming.
Schools
13th of 51A−76/100 Strong results in the classroom. It spends $11,467 per pupil (50th) and scores 3rd, more than the spending would predict. Measured on the one test every state gives, 37% of its students reach Proficient (3rd highest). It leads its neighbors on schools, ahead of Colorado.
In the class of 2023, 88.3% graduated on time, 13th highest; graduation counts as much as test results in the grade.
Spending: $11,467 per pupil, 2nd lowest. Shown for context, not graded.
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 68 Utah towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
20th of 51B62/100 A little cheaper than average. Homes cost 5.1 times the typical household income, and the median tax bill is $2,525 (22nd lowest). Tooele leads its towns at #448 nationally; 25% of residents live in top-quarter towns.
Home values run 5.1 times the median household income, 11th highest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 68 Utah towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
4th of 51A94/100 Healthy, town after town. Town after town lands in the national top quarter: 48% of residents live in one. 16% of adults describe their health as fair or poor, against 19% nationally.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 68 Utah towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
4th of 51A94/100 A state of homeowners. Only New Jersey and one other state put more residents in the nation’s highest-ownership quarter of towns. Utah ranks 13th highest for home ownership, at 70% of homes. It leads its neighbors on home ownership, ahead of Idaho.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 68 Utah towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
43rd of 51C−16/100 Natural hazards cost more here than in most states. Earthquakes drive 46% of the $161 a year FEMA expects natural hazards to cost per $100,000 of buildings (16th highest). Only Vernal (#12 of 5,239) makes the national top quarter; under 1% of residents live in such towns. Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado all do better on hazard risk.
Four federal major-disaster declarations since 2015, 6th fewest.
Behind the figure: earthquake 46%, inland flooding 32%, wildfire 21% of FEMA’s expected losses.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 68 Utah towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
15th of 51B+72/100 Short commutes with few exceptions. Utah workers average 22.1 minutes to work, against 26.4 nationally. Nearly every larger town does well here, Cedar City and North Logan among them.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 68 Utah towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
7th of 51A88/100 Growing nearly everywhere. No state grew faster between 2010 and 2020 than Utah: the population grew 18.4%. Nearly every larger town does well here, Herriman and Bluffdale among them.
New homes permitted in 2025: 8.8 per 1,000 residents (4th most).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 67 Utah towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How Utah compares to its neighbors
Against Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, Utah leads on schools and housing but trails on natural hazards.
| Utah | Idaho | Wyoming | Colorado | New Mexico | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | A+ 1001st of 51 | A 906th of 51 | B+ 7414th of 51 | B− 5424th of 51 | D 1245th of 51 |
| Safety | A− 8414th official · 21% in top towns | A 8611th official · 22% in top towns | B 645th official · 4% in top towns | C 2644th official · 6% in top towns | D− 449th official · 0% in top towns |
| Schools | A− 763rd official · 8% in top towns | C− 2013th official · 0% in top towns | C+ 429th official · 4% in top towns | B− 525th official · 7% in top towns | D 651st official · 1% in top towns |
| Cost of living | B 6222nd official · 25% in top towns | B− 5418th official · 10% in top towns | A 9212th official · 52% in top towns | C 3023rd official · 1% in top towns | B+ 7211th official · 21% in top towns |
| Health | A 944th official · 48% in top towns | A− 7815th official · 36% in top towns | C 3422nd official · 4% in top towns | A+ 964th official · 59% in top towns | D 647th official · 1% in top towns |
| Housing | A 9413th official · 29% in top towns | B+ 688th official · 8% in top towns | C+ 3810th official · 0% in top towns | C+ 4237th official · 10% in top towns | B+ 6615th official · 10% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | C− 1636th official · <1% in top towns | B+ 6829th official · 48% in top towns | B 6026th official · 23% in top towns | B− 5228th official · 11% in top towns | B− 5035th official · 20% in top towns |
| Commute | B+ 7210th official · 38% in top towns | A− 829th official · 53% in top towns | A 923rd official · 88% in top towns | C+ 4026th official · 13% in top towns | B+ 6617th official · 35% in top towns |
| Growth | A 881st official · 48% in top towns | A+ 1002nd official · 83% in top towns | D 1245th official · 12% in top towns | A+ 966th official · 70% in top towns | B− 4639th official · 34% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work