No qualifiers: Utah is the best state in U.S.

Brice Wallace 

Utah has earned dozens of designations over the years for being the best state for one thing or another, including several related to its economy.

But at a recent twice-annual economic summit, several people focused on a ranking that strips away all qualifiers: U.S. News & World Report says Utah is the nation’s best state.

Bolstered by top rankings for its economy and fiscal stability, Utah jumped to the overall top spot after being No. 3 in 2021. U.S. News used 71 metrics across eight categories to compile its rankings, with Utah supplanting Washington at No. 1.

“This isn’t [just] the best economy in the United States. This is the best state,” Gov. Spencer Cox said at the recent One Utah Summit in Layton. “This is the definitive ranking of all 50 states, and they chose Utah. And that’s something I think we should be proud of.”

In addition to the economy and fiscal stabilitys top positions, Utah is No. 4 for nfrastructure, No. 5 for education, No. 7 for healthcare, No. 15 for crime and corrections, No. 20 for opportunity, and No. 46 for natural environment.

In the economy category, Utah is No. 1 for employment (job growth, labor force participation and unemployment rate), No. 2 for growth (net migration, GDP growth and growth of young population) and No. 7 for business environment (business creation rate, top company headquarters per capita, patent creation rate, tax burden, and venture capital per GDP).

One reason for Utah’s economic strength is industry diversification, according to Ryan Starks, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity (Go Utah).

“We’re strong in multiple areas,” Starks said at the summit. “We’re not just an ag community, we’re not just a tourism community or an oil community, but we have a diversity of economic output, and it’s a really exciting time to be in the state.”

“Contextually, Utah is a hotspot,” Vicki Varela, Go Utah’s managing director of tourism and film, said during a summit breakout session. “The world has fallen in love with Utah, for many reasons. I look back to the Olympics … and I think we would all agree that at that time, Utah was a flyover state. And now, Utah is a destination state for a visitor economy, for traditional economic development, for technology, for healthcare.”

Starks described Utahns as hard-working, productive, industrious and caring, and he was among several speakers at the summit who lauded Utahns’ willingness to collaborate to solve the state’s problems.

In a commentary in U.S. News, Cox said the “Utah way” is an approach to governing “that prioritizes solutions above partisanship and values relationships more than ideologies. At its core, the Utah way brings individuals of different backgrounds and ideas together in a spirit of collaboration to solve problems.”

He also said Utah has a mindset that “invites innovation and challenges the status quo.”

In a news release following the U.S. News ranking, Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams said the state’s persistent focus on strengthening its economy and empowering citizens to reach their greatest potential is the reason Utah ranked the best state overall.

“Utah’s quick economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pay dividends as we surpass the nation in stability and growth. I am excited our state was named No. 1 and look forward to maintaining the top spot for years to come,” Adams said.

“Here in Utah, we look to the future with an eye of optimism,” added Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson. “We create sound policy, invest in the future, and focus on bettering the lives of current and future generations. “We remain rooted in our conservative values of hard work, sacrifice, personal responsibility and collaboration, and it’s reflected in this incredible national ranking.”

The U.S. News ranking (the full report is at https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/utah) follows a recent report by WalletHub indicating Utah is the best state for starting a business in 2023. It later listed eight Utah small cities among the top 20 in the nation for starting a business, including having the top three and four of the top five. Utah also had the best economic outlook among states — for the 16th year — in the “Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index.”

“I believe that entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of any economy … I’ve been saying it from Day One hoping that it would become true, that Utah is the ‘Startup State,’” Cox said at the summit. “And we’re trying everything as government to make sure that we are supporting that ecosystem of entrepreneurs, people who are willing to take risk, to follow their dreams that will help fulfill the dreams of hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of other people as they create those jobs and those companies that create jobs, obviously, but also solve some of the biggest problems that we’re facing.”