Republican leaders are again touting Utah’s No. 1 economic outlook ranking for a 19th straight year. But with global uncertainty on the rise, critics say the report does not accurately reflect life in the state for thousands of families.
The annual “Rich States, Poor States” report by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, which also publishes model legislation used by state lawmakers, rates states on metrics such as income tax rates, gross domestic product, domestic migration and employment.
Utah’s overall top rank is buoyed by the strongest GDP numbers in the country and fourth-best employment numbers.
“This doesn't happen by accident,” said ALEC President and Chief Economist Jonathan Williams in Washington, D.C., when he announced the rankings on April 15. “This is the course of many years of hard lifting when it comes to policy issues.”
Williams and Utah GOP leaders pointed to the state’s continued efforts to cut state income tax and reduce spending as ways the Beehive State sets itself apart, according to ALEC’s metrics.
The effort to pass a sixth straight year of income tax cuts was a particular highlight for Utah Speaker of the House Mike Schultz.
“It almost didn't happen this year because we didn't have the revenue that we've seen over the last five or six years,” he said. “But what did we do? We stepped in, and we evaluated every dollar spent in the state of Utah, and we were actually able to go in, reduce the inefficiencies, take and reallocate funds to areas where it was more efficient, and freed up additional money to where we could have a tax cut this year. It was not easy, but it was important to us.”
But not everyone is impressed.
Utah House and Senate Minority Leaders Angela Romero and Luz Escamilla released a statement that ALEC’s metrics do not reflect the full picture of life in the state — especially for immigrants.
Romero and Escamilla both sit on the Legislature’s powerful Executive Appropriations Committee and have a hand in shaping the state’s budget each year.
“That work includes fighting for the social programs and community investments that make economic participation possible,” they said.
For them, ALEC’s rankings do not capture “the real gaps that thousands of Utah families are facing as they struggle to make ends meet.”
Instead, Romero and Escamilla pointed to recent findings from the libertarian Cato Institute that highlight the contributions of immigrant communities to the economic success of states like Utah. Those, they said, “need to be acknowledged in any honest assessment of what makes our state thrive.”
“For us, true economic success means ensuring prosperity is equally accessible,” they said. “We can celebrate Utah’s ranking while recognizing it is not a complete measure of well-being.”
Schultz was quick to brush off the critique of ALEC’s methodology and pointed to other lists where Utah stands out, including a No.1 state ranking from U.S. News and World Report and a 2025 report from the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute that showed Utah was the best state for household income when adjusted for local cost of living.
”All you have to do is look at the numbers,” said Schultz. “It's hard to argue with those numbers.”
Still, it’s not all smooth sailing. The state can still be affected by factors out of its control. The U.S. war with Iran has led to a blockade of the critical Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, which has disrupted global markets and oil supply. Many Utahns have felt the effects at the gas pump, with the average gallon now costing $4.20, up from $2.79 per gallon in February.
With global uncertainty on the rise, U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens thinks Utah’s culture is the key to weathering any future economic storms.
“We are an entrepreneurial state,” he said. “We're the best going in terms of small business, the most business-friendly. So we think outside the box. We collaborate because we have to. We understand how that works.”
For fellow Rep. Celeste Maloy, other states should be following Utah’s lead.
“I think we've got some work to do here [in D.C.] to communicate what Utah is doing right so that other states can emulate it,” she said. “When we're communicative, and we're telling people what's happening in the economy, then they don't have to panic every time that's the headline.”
