Survey: Utah likely to become best state to live in

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Uh-oh – get ready for a whole lot of new neighbors, or start digging the moat at the state line.

Utah could become the best state in the nation to live in, according to a Gallup survey released Tuesday.

The survey measures 13 "forward-looking metrics," and found Utah ranks first or second in five of them: Low smoking habits (1st), ease of finding clean and safe water (1st), having bosses who treat workers like a partner (1st), "learning something new or interesting" on an average day (2nd), and perceptions that your region is "getting better" and not "getting worse" (2nd).

Here's how Utah ranked in the other eight metrics: economic confidence (10th), job creation (5th), standard of living momentum (6th), obesity (5th), ease of finding a safe exercise spot (4th), visits to the dentist (9th), the percentage of people working full-time for an employer (21st), and optimism over life in the next five years (30th).

Gallup interviewed 530,000 over 18 months, from January 2011 to June 2012.

Minnesota was a distant second in the survey, followed by Colorado, Nebraska and North Dakota. West Virginia was dead last.

(H/T Politico)