Utah Foundation today released its second biennial report on quality of life within the state of Utah. Produced in collaboration with Intermountain Healthcare, the Utah Foundation Quality of Life Index is updated every two years to track how Utahns perceive changes in quality of life and the reasons for those changes. The 2013 Utah Quality of Life Index stands at 78.2 out of a possible 100 points, up from 77.2 points in 2011. Although the overall rating improved, several issues important to Utahns, such as public schools, job availability, and air and water quality, are still viewed as having below average quality.
Highlights of the report include:
- Utahns feel that safety and security, public schools, air quality, excellent healthcare, and opportunities for good jobs are most important to their community quality of life.
- Six factors should be considered action items because their importance was rated above average but their quality was rated below average. These factors are: availability of good jobs, public education, acceptance of one another’s differences, air and water quality, affordable housing, and other living costs. Availability of good jobs had the largest discrepancy, with an importance rating of 88.4, and a quality rating of only 68.6.
- Five factors rated above average in both importance and quality can be considered Utah successes: higher education, availability of quality healthcare, support that people provide one another, good parks and recreation, and safety and security from crime.
- In addition to the Quality of Life Index questions, the survey asked respondents which one thing could most improve the quality of life where they live. The top responses reflected the need to improve air quality, the availability of good jobs, K-12 education, and affordability, and to decrease levels of crime and traffic.
“Survey respondents are fairly happy with their quality of life,” said Utah Foundation president, Stephen Hershey Kroes. “Even the factors with the lowest quality ratings are not at the bottom of the overall quality scale. Nonetheless, the availability of good jobs is still Utahns’ greatest concern, even after improving its rating by 9% since 2011.”
“The items that Utahns feel are important are things that elected officials can improve,” said Shawn Teigen, Utah Foundation’s senior research analyst. “Cleaner air quality, better public education, and lower crime rates can all be achieved through appropriate legislation and effective implementation. Survey respondents indicated that addressing these issues will improve their quality of life.”
The full report is available free to the public at http://utahfoundation.org/img/pdfs/rr718.pdf.
