Health and well-being are critical to women’s quality of life and overall happiness. This is true across the nation, and it is true for women in the state of Utah. SmileHub just released a report that highlighted the “Best States for Women’s Health” where they compared each of the 50 states based on 18 key metrics that include a variety of health indicators. Even though it is important to know what is happening nationally, for Utah women it is even more important to understand how we are doing within our own state. 

The good news if that we are not ranked at the bottom, as we have been each year with WalletHub’s Best & Worst States for Women’s Equality. Yet, our 31st of 50th state ranking isn’t the best either. Of 100 points, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland are at the top (all above 67 points), while Oklahoma, Arkansas, Nevada, Mississippi, and Texas are ranked as the worst states—all below 35 points. Utah has 49.78 points. 

For this ranking, SmileHub categorized their findings into three main categories: health and living standards (45 points), health care policies and support systems (35 points), and safety (20 points). With a total of 18 key indicators that are each weighted differently, they pull their data from a variety of sources that range from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States Mortality DataBase, United Health Foundation, U.S. News & World Report, Guttmacher, and the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Although not published in their report, I was able to obtain more detailed data directly from SmileHub. Let me share what I found.

Health & Living Standards

First, Utah currently ranks 5th for the women’s “Health & Living Standards” rank, which is wonderful. I have included the state rankings for each indicator within this category below (1=Best State and 50=Worst State).

1. Women’s Life Expectancy at Birth: 17
2. Female Uninsured Rate: 33
3. Share of Women with Good or Better Health: 9
4. Women’s Preventive Health Care: 46
5. Share of Physically Active Women: 2
6. Share of Women Who are Obese: 9
7. Maternal Mortality Rate: 5
8. Heart Disease Mortality Rate for Women: 2
9. Female Smoker Rate: 1

Health Care Policies & Support Systems 

Secondly, Utah ranks 42nd in women’s “Heath Care Policies & Support Systems” ranking, which comes from the sum of the following indicators, including our rankings (1=Best State and 50=Worst State):

1. Health & Wellness Charities per Total Number of Women: 44
2. Quality of Women’s Hospitals: 15
3. Share of Women Ages 18-44 Who Reported Having One or More People They Think of as Their Personal Doctor or Health Care Provider: 39
4. Abortion Policies & Access: 30
5. Unaffordability of Doctor’s Visit: 37
6. Domestic Violence Support Services per Total Number of Women: 27

Safety

Third, Utah ranks 49th on women’s “Safety” ranking, which comes from the sum of the following indicators, including our rankings (1=Best State and 50=Worst State):

1. Suicide Rate for Women: 45
2. Depression Rate for Women: 49
3. Prevalence of Rape Victimization Among Females: 45

Overall, Utah is doing well in some areas, particularly with having top 10 rankings on women with good or better health, physically active women, less women who are obese, lower maternal mortality rates and heart disease mortality rates, and a #1 ranking of the state with the lowest percentage of female smokers. However, I am extremely concerned about women’s safety in our state, and I will provide some additional details about the three related indicators: 

First, Utah ranked 9th in the U.S. in age-adjusted suicide rates in 2020, and suicide ranks 8th in leading causes of death for Utahns. When looking at the suicide rate specifically for women, WalletHub ranked Utah as 39th in the nation in 2024, and now in 2025 Utah is ranked 45th on this ranking. You can learn more about “Suicide Among Utah Girls and Women” in this 2022 Utah Women & Leadership Project report. 

Second, Utah ranks 49th of 50 states in the depression rate for women. The World Population Review ranks Utah as the 12th highest state in general, and according to 2021 Utah data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, adult Utah women have a higher lifetime prevalence of clinically diagnosed depression (32.1%) than adult men in the state (16.3%). 

Finally, Utah ranks 45th of 50 states in the prevalence of rape victimization among females, which is incredibly concerning. I wrote about this recently in an opinion piece titled “Utah has a problem with violence against women. There’s a clear solution.” Although strides are being made in increasing awareness of this problem, our state’s support for prevention of sexual assault is dismal. 

Although these rankings only give us certain pieces of the puzzle in helping us better understand the status of women in Utah, the more data and information we have allows us to be more strategic in finding ways to ensure women and girls better thrive. Helping women helps Utah families and the state as a whole.