Survey Says: Utah Really is a Pretty Great State!

Survey: Utah may be among the best places to live in the future 

Utah's Wasatch Front, Courtesy SkiVacationUtah

Excerpted From: THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, August 15, 2012

Utahns who believe the state is a great place to live can rest easy when they think about the future.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index has ranked Utah as the state that will be the best place to live in the future.

"Utah does best in part because it is among the top two best-performing states for low smoking habits, ease of finding clean and safe water, having supervisors who treat workers like a partner rather than a boss, learning something new or interesting on any given day, and perceptions that your city or area are "getting better" rather than "getting worse," the survey said.

Gov. Gary Herbert, in a statement announcing the results of the survey, said such results continue to prove that Utah really is the best state in the nation now, and is well positioned for long-term success.

The report looked at roughly 18 months of data taken from 530,000 interviews with adults in the U.S. in 2011 and 2012.

Utah was ranked among the top 10 in 11 of 13 categories, including economic confidence, job creation and an improving standard of living. In five of those categories, Utah was ranked in the top two and its strong showing placed it well ahead of Minnesota at No. 2, Colorado No. 3, Nebraska at No. 4 and North Dakota at No. 5.