Utah leads nation in community according to Social Capital Index

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah was ranked as the state with the highest levels of community across the United States, nearly double of the next highest state.

The Social Capital Index report from the Utah Foundation found that Utah earned 13 on their community life sub-index score. The next highest state, Wyoming, earned a score of 7.

While Utah does lead the nation, the score has dipped by nearly 40% from 2013.

“Utah does very well in terms of community life,” said President of the Utah Foundation Shawn Teigen. “We lend helping hands to our neighbors, and we volunteer. However, we are heading in the wrong direction, with rapidly decreasing levels of community life.”

The community score, standardized in 2016, now goes on a scale from 0 to 14, though as states improve or decline in the rankings over time, their scores may move up and down beyond the limits of the scale.

This score details the amount of social capital a population has. According to the Utah Foundation website, social capital is “the bonds between people and among networks, which they can use to benefit themselves and the group as a whole.”

This score is made up of eight different measures, ranked from 1 to 50. Across the United States, Utah scored:

• 1st in the nation for charitable donations.
  • This was determined by the number of Americans within the state who gave at least $25 to a non-political group or organization, such as a charity, school, or religious organization, as reported by the American Community Survey.
• 1st in the nation for volunteerism.
  • This was determined by the number of Americans within the state who reported volunteering to the U.S. Census. 
• 2nd in the nation for religious participation (Mississippi was ranked 1st in the nation).
  • This was determined by the number of Americans within the state who reported weekly religious attendance to the Pew Research Center.
• 1st in the nation for neighborhood participation.
  • This was determined by the Current Population Survey administered by the U.S. Census. 
• 47th in the nation for non-professional organizations funding effort.
  • This was determined by the amount of money earned by or donated to non-professional organizations per $1000 of personal income, based on information from the IRS.
• 39th in the nation for professional associations funding effort.
  • This was determined by the amount of money earned by professional organizations per $1000 of personal income, based on information from the IRS and the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
• 38th in the nation for spending time with friends and neighbors.
  • This was determined by measuring the average number of minutes spent with friends and neighbors per day, as reported by the American Time Use Survey produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• 2nd lowest in the nation for spending time alone.
  • This was determined by measuring the average number of minutes spent alone per day, as reported by the American Time Use Survey produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 

While Utah has remained at the top of the chart with community life, they have still followed the national trend of lowering levels of community life. 

According to the Utah Foundation, poor social and economic outcomes are associated with low levels of social capital. The Utah Foundation also states, “social scientists across the political spectrum agree that social capital in the U.S. is in long-term decline.”