The Utah Foundation’s Social Capital Index project is a series of reports that measure whether Utah is thriving in terms of its “social capital.” Put simply, social capital refers to the ways in which individuals can leverage connections between people and social networks for the benefit of themselves or their community.
One of the seven categories of the project focuses on families. The key finding from that report is:
Utah has the second-highest ranking of family health in the nation.
That said, Utah’s level of family health has the fourth largest drop of all 50 states.
This installment in the Utah Foundation’s Social Capital Index project uses seven indicators across two categories to compare states in terms of family health:
Strength of family structure:
- Share of adults aged 35 to 64 who are currently married – Utah is the highest in the nation
- Share of births to married women – Utah is the highest
- Number of adults per household – Utah is the third highest
Quality of family ties:
- Share of children aged five and under who are read to every day – Utah is the 17th worst
- Time spent on electronic devices by children from 6 to 17 – Utah is the 22nd best
- Share of families eating a meal together daily – Utah is the 10th worst
- Time spent with family while eating, exercising, or socializing – Utah is the 19th worst
“Utah does very well in terms of family health,” said Shawn Teigen, President of the Utah Foundation. “However, that positive ranking is based on the strength of our family structure alone, given that we struggle with the quality of family ties. Further, we are heading in the wrong direction, with rapidly decreasing levels of family health.”
Highlights of this Report
- Utah has the second-highest ranking of family health in the nation, second only to Idaho.
- Utah’s family health has fallen from an index score of 20 to an index score of 14 from 2013 to 2025 – the fourth largest drop in the nation.
- By a clear margin, Utah has the nation’s highest proportion of currently married adults and the highest proportion of births to married women.
- Prior to the pandemic, Utah languished in the bottom 10 states in reading to young children, and it had been in rapid decline. However, since the pandemic, Utah has arrested its decline.
- During the pandemic, Utah saw a spike in families eating together daily. However, that share has declined, and Utah is now the lowest among Mountain States and the tenth lowest in the nation
- Recreational electronic device use among Utah youth peaked during the pandemic and has since fallen. Once a good measure for Utah, the state now sits around average.
- While Utah families may be well-formed, the interactions within those families have, for years, been of poor and declining quality. The consequences for children will play out over time and may have negative effects on future family formation.
