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.
Social trust is the second of seven categories of social capital. Utah was good, and is getting better:
Utah has the second-best social trust sub-index score in the nation, and the best sub-index score among the Mountain States.
The Utah Foundation measures social trust through four indicators that researchers can revisit consistently over time:
- Convictions for fraud – Utah is the ninth-lowest nationally
- Penalties for breach of trust – Utah is the lowest
- Public corruption convictions – Utah is the seventh lowest
- Violent crime rates – Utah is the twelfth lowest
“Taken together, these measures suggest that Utah is among the better-performing states nationally in terms of social trust, and the best-performing state in the region,” said Christopher Collard, Research Director of the Utah Foundation. “This bodes well for Utah’s overall level of social capital.”
Highlights of this Report
- Utah has the second-best social trust sub-index score in the nation, and the best sub-index score among the Mountain States.
- Of four social trust indicators measuring crime, Utah was among the top 12 states for every indicator, and either first or second among the Mountain States for every indicator.
- From 2022 to 2024, Utah had the best rate in the nation for breach-of-trust penalties.
- Utah’s social trust sub-index score has continued to improve over the past 12 years – primarily driven by falling rates of fraud convictions.
- Most Mountain States and the nation at large have experienced declining rates of fraud and public corruption over the past 12 years.
