The Utah Foundation’s report on Utah Quality of Life Index shows just a 1 point overall improvement from its first study from the fall of 2011. But Shawn Teigen, the Foundation’s Senior Research Analyst, says there’s a clear message here for Utah’s political and business leaders.
“If they want to do something that has the most impact on Utahns’ quality of life," says Teigen, "they would be able to look at things like jobs, K through 12 education and air quality and really probably get a…kind of get a finger on the pulse of what Utahns are really concerned about and what they really want improved.”
Teigen says one of the report’s notable changes from 2 years ago was a 5 percent decrease in the importance of living near people with shared values.
“It does seem like people are becoming more accepting and maybe we’ll have a survey in two years from now and we might be able to show some nice trends,” say Teigen.
The Foundation’s second biennial report is produced with help from Intermountain Healthcare. It’s a statewide survey of more than 600 Utahns.
