Here’s why Utah landed on this list of 10 worst places to live

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah has ridden years of accolades for its business-friendly environment, driven in large part by state leaders’ penchant for conservative fiscal policy and light-touch regulatory approach alongside an economy that regularly outperforms most of the country.

This long-running perfect storm has led to a slew of top tier national rankings, with the most recent examples including June 2026’s No. 3 Best State Economy by Wallethub, May 2025’s No. 1 Best State (for the third year in a row) by U.S. News & World Report, March 2025’s No. 1 Cheapest State to Start a Business by CNBC and January 2025’s No. 3 Friendliest State for Entrepreneurs, according to a report from Inc.com, to name a few.

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The ubiquity of the recognitions inspired former Utah Gov. Gary Herbert to make “best state for business” a boilerplate brag at public appearances throughout his two-and-a-half terms as the state’s top executive. Herbert’s successor and current Gov. Spencer Cox has carried that torch forward in making the touting of Utah’s business environment bona fides an essential part of his administration’s branding.

 

In its latest rankings of America’s Top States for Business released last week, CNBC assessed all 50 states on 138 metrics in 10 broad categories of competitiveness. The fundamentals of the study, now in its 20th year, aim to identify the factors businesses consider when making site selection decisions and where states are focusing economic development efforts to win jobs and businesses, according to the business-focused news website.

Quality of life issues

Utah landed a respectable 16th on the 2026 list, earning high marks in the report for its workforce, economy and business friendliness. The state’s low unemployment and corporate tax rate of 4.55%, the 12th lowest in the country among states that assess the tax, provided a boost as well.

But CNBC also assembled a breakout list based on data gathered in its analysis, ranking states on a set of metrics categorized under the “quality of life” heading. Those measures included, according to the report, “hard data on factors like crime rates, air quality and healthcare.” Other criteria used to compute each state’s score were cost and availability of childcare, inclusiveness of state laws and reproductive rights.

The news organization noted that as more businesses are bringing back mandatory, in-person work assignments, “finding a place where people will want to live is an increasingly important factor as companies decide where to set up shop.”

“Quality of place, especially investing in quality of place, is the top thing you can do for talent attraction and retention,” said site selection consultant Larry Gigerich, managing executive director of Ginovus in Indianapolis, and chairman of the Site Selectors Guild, per CNBC.

Utah ended ranked as the 6th worst place to live, bettering Missouri, Alabama, Oklahoma and Arkansas but behind Georgia, Louisiana, Indiana, Texas and bottom-dwelling Tennessee, which earned an “F” grade thanks to an overall quality of life score of 60 out of a possible 290 points.

Utah also fell into the failing grade range, based on the CNBC assessment, earning 95 out of a possible 290 points.

While the analysis highlighted that Utah’s relatively low crime rate did not contribute to the state’s subpar ranking, other factors helped drag down its quality of life score.

Room for improvement

Here’s where Utah needs to improve, according to the report:

Primary care providers

In its report, CNBC ranked Utah 47th based on access to primary care providers, asserting that, “For all its natural beauty, Utah is not the healthiest place to live.” According to a 2024 report from health policy and research firm KFF, Utah ranked second to last in the nation based on a per capita measure. Utah’s 96 providers per 100,000 residents bested only Idaho, with 95.4 primary care providers per 100,000 residents. Washington, D.C., earned the top spot in the KFF report with over 515 primary care providers for every 100,000 residents.

Air quality

The CNBC analysis noted Utah’s air quality “leaves something to be desired, with high ozone levels, according to the American Lung Association.” Based on breakout data from the same report that earned Utah its spot as No. 1 Best State Overall from U.S. News & World Report, the publication ranked the Beehive State 48th for pollution, finding it was dead last in the country for levels of industrial toxins and 40th for pollution health risks.

Cost of living/child care

CNBC skewers Utah for running askew of its nickname, pointing to the state’s minimum wage of $7.25 an hour that covers just 16.5% of the cost of living for a family of four. When it comes to finding care accommodations for children, the report notes Utah “has just 513 childcare centers in a state with 3.5 million people, according to Child Care Aware of America.” Using data from Child Care Aware along with U.S. Census Bureau information, BabyCenter ranked Utah 45th for child care in a report published last month, thanks in part to the state’s .26 childcare spaces per child rate (the lowest in the country, according to the report.)