TL;DR
Utah ranked No. 2 on ConsumerAffairs' 2026 list of best states to move to, behind New Hampshire, topping the nation for economic strength.
Utah posted the third-highest job growth in the country from 2019 to 2024, with poverty and unemployment rates below the national average.
Utah landed the No. 2 spot on ConsumerAffairs' list of the best states to move to in 2026, trailing only New Hampshire, according to a report released by the ConsumerAffairs Research Team.
The ranking pulls from five weighted categories: affordability, safety, economic strength, healthcare and education, and quality of life. Utah topped the nation in one category outright.
Utah's economy leads the pack
Utah ranked first overall for economic strength, according to the report. The state posted 15.7% job growth from 2019 to 2024, the third-highest rate in the country. Poverty and unemployment rates in Utah both came in below the national average, researchers found.
The report also flagged Utah's summer heat as a factor for movers to weigh. Utah's average summer high sits at 88 degrees, and the state's record high of 117 degrees was set as recently as 2021, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.
New Hampshire takes the top spot
New Hampshire claimed the No. 1 ranking this year after placing second the past two years, per the report. The state ranked second overall for safety and quality of life and does not collect state income or sales tax, according to researchers. New Hampshire's unemployment rate sits at 2.8%, the fourth lowest in the country.
Idaho ranked third, followed by Virginia in fourth and Maine in fifth, the report found. Idaho posted the same 15.7% job growth rate as Utah and ranked first in the nation for safety.
How the rankings work
The ConsumerAffairs Research Team scored all 50 states using data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Tax Foundation, FEMA and other sources. Each state received points across the five categories, and researchers combined those scores into a final ranking out of 100 points.
New Mexico ranked last for the third straight year, according to the report, with Louisiana and California rounding out the bottom three.
