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.

Marriage rates are dropping everywhere, including Utah. But Utahns continue to show above-average marriage levels across several common measures. For instance:

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.

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.