Best PlacesUtah Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Utah area, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Utah ranks 3rd of 50 U.S. states on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on population health and a strong job market. The weaker spots are air quality, tree cover, and disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in Utah
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Utah
The parts of Utah, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Summit County & Morgan County
Salt Lake County
Tooele County
Utah County
Box Elder County
Davis County, Weber County & Cache County
Juab County
Washington County & Iron County
Sanpete County, Carbon County & San Juan County
Utah shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Utah's strengths and weaknesses
Utah ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Population health, a strong job market, and fast internet are the strongest pieces.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Air quality, tree cover, and disaster risk hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Utah ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of states
- Local economyBetter than 97% of states
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of states
- Low vacancyBetter than 97% of states
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of states
Where Utah ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of states
- Tree shadeBetter than only 9% of states
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of states
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 20% of states
- QuietBetter than only 25% of states
What it costs to buy a home in Utah
A household needs to earn about $134,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Utah home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $104,206, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment and a 6.8% 30-year fixed rate. The rate updates weekly from Freddie Mac; property tax uses Utah's effective rate against the median home value.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first ten years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Utah
Utah runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Utah.
Who works in Utah, and how
Work in Utah centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Utah
Utah has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most states and more late-night spots per resident than 86% of states. The map and measures below show how they vary by area.
What the weather is like in Utah, month by month
Utah sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 25. Spring and fall carry most of the comfortable stretch.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 31° | 25° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 94° | 81° | 68° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 42° |
The best schools in and around Utah
Schools across Utah average a C+, better than 55% of states.
Top elementary schools
- Sunrise SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Howard R. Driggs SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Peruvian Park SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
Top middle schools
- Albion MiddleA+ · 70% proficient
- Draper Park MiddleA · 66% proficient
- Butler MiddleA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Utah County Academy Of ScienceA · 72% proficient
- Success SuuA · 70% proficient
- No. Ut. Acad. For Math Engineering & ScienceA · 69% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Utah school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Utah measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Utah against the other 49 states.
Who Utah suits
Families
Schools beat 55% of the country and crime runs low. Compare areas on the map for the best fit.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 89% of states, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Utah
Is Utah a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Utah ranks 3rd of 50 states. It scores highest on population health, a strong job market, and fast internet, and lowest on air quality and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Utah expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $525,330. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $104,206 median income, cost of living beats 89% of states.
Is Utah safe?
Yes, Utah is safer than 89% of states. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $303 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Utah?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 39 with lows near 25. The area gets its pleasant stretches in spring and fall.
What are the best areas in Utah?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Summit County & Morgan County, Salt Lake County, and Tooele County. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Utah good for families?
Schools beat 55% of states, and safety is best away from the urban core. Home prices are usually the catch in the strongest school areas.
Is Utah good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 89% of states, and internet is widely advertised, so a big-employer salary stretches further here.
Compare Utah with other states
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Utah. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Utah represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Utah detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Utah: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Utah: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Utah: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Utah: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Utah detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.