Why Utah is the Best State in America

It’s safe to say that Utah has surprised Vanessa Charcas.

An associate account director for a marketing agency, Charcas moved from Chicago to Salt Lake City in 2020. Having grown up in Florida, she never imagined she’d like hitting the slopes. But now she considers herself part of the local skiing community, and in general has enjoyed trying new things in the Beehive State.

Utah, she says, “opens up another side of you that you don’t really realize” is there.

“Unless you know someone that lives here or you have visited, you don’t know how much of a gem it is,” adds Charcas, 30. “If you do visit, I’m pretty sure immediately you realize how beautiful it is and what it has to offer.”

Utah, where a majority of residents belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, boasted consistent success across most of the categories measured, with top-15 performances in six of the eight categories and a top-20 ranking in another. But Utah’s economy is an area where it shines brightest, according to the U.S. News analysis: The state ranked No. 1 in that category and in the fiscal stability category. The state also ranks first and second, respectively, in the employment and growth subcategories, both of which fall under the economy category.

Dean, who served in the administration of former Republican Gov. Gary Herbert, says the state has a “stable tax and regulatory structure,” which is “what business leaders want.” Utah is also diversified in terms of industry, with strong energy and tourism sectors and a growing finance sector in Salt Lake City, adds Ben Blau, head of the Department of Economics and Finance at Utah State University’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business.

“I think this human capital aspect from the education system is carrying over into the economy,” Blau says.

Blau and Dean also say Utah provides a good atmosphere for entrepreneurs and startup companies, which has been a big part of its economic story. The state ranks No. 3 in the Best States business creation rate metric – an assessment of business growth in the private sector – and companies tend to find success after being born, too. According to research from Stanford University professor Ilya Strebulaev, 1 out of every 61 Utah startups backed by venture capital reaches unicorn status – a term for a privately held startup valued at over $1 billion. Utah’s rate is almost 70% above the national average.

Ryan Boswell, senior director of growth at Silicon Slopes – a nonprofit that works to empower connections within the state’s business, startup and technology communities, and which hosts an annual summit with renowned speakers from the business world – says there’s a reason for Utah’s unicorn-friendly corporate climate. It’s one that led him from providing free social media support leading up to Silicon Slopes’ 2022 conference to joining the team full time.

“It’s an ecosystem and community that is different from anything else that I’ve ever seen,” says Boswell, who notes he’s done work on the East Coast, Midwest and West Coast. “There’s not a whole lot of competition, per se. Yes, businesses obviously compete and have competitors. But Utah is all about building up one another and connecting people together to create opportunity.”

But what is it about Utah that makes it attractive to workers within the technology sector? Recent research from the University of Utah indicates it has a lot to do with the state’s natural beauty.

A survey conducted in late 2020 through a partnership between the university’s Gardner Institute, the nonprofit Utah Outdoor Partners and Silicon Slopes found that among Utah natives working in the industry who had left the state and then moved back, 82% rated “outdoor recreation options and/or access to wilderness and public lands” as the most important factor in doing so. Family (76%) and career opportunities (76%) weren’t far behind. Among transplants to Utah, 79% rated the outdoors as the most important factor in their choice to move to the state.

Additionally, 75% of executives from 50 growing companies in Utah said in a prior survey that the ability to attract and retain workers was a factor in their company’s decision to be located in the state.

Charcas, who got involved with the networking group Young Professionals Salt Lake City soon after moving, says Utah’s outdoor beauty and the simple fact that it’s “booming” could be part of why the state is a draw for other young people.

“I think people come here and they just see this entire package,” adds Peter Hodgson, co-president of the young professionals group and director of technical product management for an avatar company headquartered in Salt Lake City. “You can be in a lot of different places at once but still kind of thrive at these bigger companies. And what keeps people here, too, is that then there are also maybe smaller or more … entrepreneurial companies. So there’s a lot of opportunity at different levels here.”

Still, Utah – just like any other state – has plenty to work on as well. Despite its national parks and scenic vistas, the state ranks just 46th in the natural environment category of the Best States rankings, which assesses states primarily on pollution-related problems. Meanwhile, scientists and conservationists have warned recently that the Great Salt Lake, even after a precipitous winter, is at a high risk of disappearing.

Charcas also says she’s observed challenges in the state when it comes to diversity and inclusion, which she focuses on as a committee co-chair at her place of work. She says a lot of people in Utah are “oblivious” or even “close-minded” about diversity and integration issues, at least in part because many were born and raised in the state and never left.

Yet while Utah faces deep-rooted problems that won’t be solved overnight, Dean also points to the concept of the “Utah way,” in which people talk to each other and work through issues “instead of just yelling at each other all the time.”

The state’s nickname, after all, is derived from the idea of bees working together to support the hive.

“That’s sometimes what we call the secret sauce,” Dean says. “That you have all these people that come together, and then that we still have the ability to try to work through issues. I’m sure we’re imperfect at doing it, but we try to do that.”