WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Utah easily leads the nation in terms of its performance across 13 forward-looking metrics that might determine which states will be the best places to live in the future. Minnesota, Colorado, Nebraska, and North Dakota round out the top five.

Utah does best in part because it is among the top two best-performing states for low smoking habits, ease of finding clean and safe water, having supervisors who treat workers like a partner rather than a boss, learning something new or interesting on any given day, and perceptions that your city or area are "getting better" rather than "getting worse."

These are five of 13 metrics encompassing economic, workplace, community, and personal choices Gallup used to assess the future livability of 50 states. The findings are based on the results of over 530,000 interviews with U.S. adults conducted Jan. 2, 2011, through June 30, 2012, as a part of Gallup Daily tracking and the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. Previous results focusing on the best future region in the U.S. recently appeared in Business Insider as well as Gallup.com and the Gallup Business Journal.

The remaining eight metrics include evaluations of one's life five years from now, economic confidence, job creation, standard of living momentum, obesity, ease of finding a safe place to exercise, visits to the dentist, and the percentage of workers employed full time for an employer. The selection of the 13 metrics was not based on any statistical model, but rather on their presumed relevance to future livability. Each metric contributed equally to the final ranking.

Southern States Not Well Positioned Future Livability

West Virginia, followed by Mississippi and Kentucky, are the three states with the lowest overall average ranking across the 13 metrics. West Virginia is ranked last in the country for five of them: economic confidence, learning new and interesting things daily, ease of finding a safe place to exercise, obesity, and smoking. Residents of Mississippi are last in the U.S. for being employed full time by an employer, annual visits to the dentist, and having a supervisor that treats you like a partner rather than a boss. All three states are in the bottom 10 for economic confidence, smoking, obesity, ease of finding clean and safe water, dental visits, and ease of finding a safe place for residents to exercise.

Nevada is last in "city/area 'getting better' minus 'getting worse'" and 49th in providing its residents with clean and safe water, while residents of Maine have the worst standard of living momentum.

Utah, Minnesota, and North Dakota Lead Two Metrics Each

Utah sets the national standard for smoking, for workers being treated as partners by their supervisors, and for ease of finding clean, safe water. Meanwhile, North Dakota maintains strong economic indicators and Hawaii tops all the states in standard of living. Elsewhere, residents of Mississippi anticipate the best life in five years and Minnesotans find it easiest to locate a safe place to exercise. Colorado leads all states with the lowest obesity, and residents of Connecticut are the most likely to have visited a dentist in the last 12 months. South Dakotans are more likely to see their cities/areas getting better than residents of any other state.

Bottom Line

Clearly, the future livability of any given state is not yet determined. Leaders and residents alike have a keen opportunity right now to set the foundation for creating a place where people will want to live. By focusing on the metrics that have the most impact on forthcoming economic, health, and social well-being outcomes, leaders will be able to realize the greatest return on their investment.

See page 2 for more on how the rankings were computed, and see the tables on page 3 for the full state rankings.