1. Salt Lake City is America's Leader in Plastic Surgery:
As the number of cosmetic procedures nationwide continues to surge, we looked at which cities have most embraced market demand for taut faces, lush lips and flat abs. Most shocking of all was the town that ranked first: Salt Lake City.
http://www.utahbusiness.com/issues/articles/10710/2011/02/survival_of_the_fittest

2. Utah is America's Most Depressed State:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/story?id=4403731&page=1

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/695231614/Utah-leads-the-nation-in-rates-of-depression.html

3. Utah has the most bankruptcy filings in America:
Despite Utah's falling bankruptcy numbers, the state ranked first nationally in households per filing, with one of every 36.5 households in the state filing for bankruptcy for the 12 months ended March 31, 2004, according to the ABI.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600103927,00.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?Utah,-the-Nations-Bankruptcy-Capital&id=38697

It has fallen to second place
http://www.bankruptcyaction.com/USbankstats.htm


4. Utah has the most anti-depressant use, especially in women: Study Finds Utah Leads Nation in Antidepressant Use. Some point to the pressures of Mormonism, especially for women, to explain the surprising findings.
http://www.usu.edu/psycho101/lectures/chp2methods/study.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/06/03/eveningnews/main510918.shtml

5. Utah leads the nation in suicides among men aged 15 to 24:
Could it be that they can't admit they don't want to go on missions, or assume other church "leadership" positions?
http://www.adherents.com/largecom/lds_LowSuicideRate.html
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635201873,00.html

6. Utah has the most per-capita fraud in America:
Salt Lake City, with a mere 170,000 residents, is by far the country's smallest city where the scam-fighting U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission has an office. It has been there since the early 1950s. Why? "There is a lot of fraud here per capita," says local SEC boss Kenneth Israel. "There doesn't seem to be any shortage of work for us."
http://www.lds-mormon.com/6303056a.shtml
http://www.pyramidschemealert.org/PSAMain/news/UtahScamState.html

7. Utah is #1 in mortgage fraud in America:
In 2001, the FBI listed Utah as No. 1 in the country for the amount of mortgage fraud cases reported.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600151169,00.html

2006 it dropped to second
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=425506

8. Since 1991, Utah's rape rate has consistently inched higher than the national rate. By 2002, Utah ranked 14th in the nation for rapes.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600125585,00.html

9. Utah leads the nation on searches for the seach word “Poronography”, “strip tease” and nudity (all by a wide margin)
http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=%22nudity%22&geo=US&date=1%2F2010%2012m&cmpt=geo

10. Utah leads the nation in subscriptions to pornographic sites
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705288350/Utah-No-1-in-online-porn-subscriptions-report-says.html

11. Utah placed 24 of 50 for divorce at 3.5 per thousand, Idaho placed 46th at 5 per thousand.
http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/st_DIVORCE_20100813.html

Please feel free to add, correct or update.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2011 04:51PM by Jim Huston.

12. Utah leads the country in the amount of LDS Church funds spent on Shopping Malls...

(this one isn't necessarily backed up by any official statistics...)

A recent Op Ed piece in the TRIBUNE claimed that Utah had the lowest Voter Turen-out in America...that needs to be confirmed. The explanation was that so many citizens already know who is going to win, they don't bother to come out.

Also, our state political system is rated lowest in many catigories as well..transparency etc...this needs confirmation also.

Checked it out. Texas and DC are consistently lower. Utah and New York are very close which puts Utah #3 or #4.

It's obvious why this is all taking place. It's the last days and Satan himself has taken away the hearts of many and turned them away from teachings of Jebus himself. There you go!

to the fact that Utah has the youngest population in the country, with Utah County being the youngest county in the country.

As a result, you're going to see patterns typical to young adults that indicate instability, unwise decision making and learning curve experiences. Eagle Mtn/Saratoga Springs, for instance, has a bunch of foreclosures because young families reached too far just as the economy dipped.

Younger populations are also going to go for drugs and cosmetic surgery, more than maturing populations.

The above stats do reflect that Utah isn't nearly as morally fixed and homogeneous as perceived, and that it is undergoing a philosophical/ecclesiastical migration. But it also shows that young people tend to do dumb stuff.

The one stat that is most concerning is the number of young people killing themselves. That indicates a trend of the cultural soul.

The bankruptcies are a direct result of tithing. You can't give up 10% of your income for nothing and get by, especially when you are young and starting out.

The suicides likely have a lot to do with being gay. If you are in your early 20s and being pressured to marry, but becoming aware that you are gay, the stress can be enormous. Unless you leave the church, there is no way to reconcile your desires with the church's plan for you.

The fraud is just the naivete of Mormons to trust other Mormons. How many times do they clutch the pearls and say, "But he's an RM!"? That's also a big reason they fall for MLMs.

A couple points/quibbles:

1) Utah has been a plastic surgery center since at least the mid 1970s, when I heard an interview on KSL by the head of the Utah Plastic Surgery Assn, discussing the high rates per capita of plastic surgery in Utah.

This is especially amazing since the median age in the state is the lowest in the nation (24) and the median income is also one of the lower ones in the nation. So it is not just well-to-do old people driving up the Utah stats.

6) SEC office -- listing the Salt Lake City population as 170,000 is misleading. That SEC office serves much of the intermountain region. It's primary service area is the Wasatch Front (Brigham City to Delta, roughly), which has a population of 2.2 million. Salt Lake County itself is just over 1 million. Either of those would be more appropriate stats. It's still the smallest metro area with an SEC fraud investigation office.

11) Caption on divorce confused me. It was not immediately clear to me whether a large number was better or worse.

Suggestion: Utah is in the middle of the pack on divorces per 1000 residents, 24th place at 3.5/1000. Massachusetts was lowest at 1.8 divorces/1000, and Idaho 46th at 5.0/1000. See how same-sex marriage has destroyed marriage in Mass!

#6 - I provided two articles on the subject. There are a lot more. The second article quoted was completely impartial.

http://blogbeebe.blogspot.com/2007/12/utah-scam-capital-of-america.html

http://www.utahstories.com/multi_level_marketing_utah.htm

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/article_7c2429f4-a9ed-5ce2-af14-a40ed6c7b8bc.html

The Utah state legislature has passed a "safe harbor" amendment to its anti-pyramid scheme statute that legalizes the types of schemes that have been prosecuted by the FTC and other states over the last 30 years. Utah has the highest concentration of multi-level marketing scheme headquarters per capita of any state in America.

PSA conducted an analysis of the proposed new Utah and found it to be the opposite of what it claims to be. Promoted as a consumer protection bill that tightens restrictions on pyramid schemes, the proposed law is, in fact, a special interest bill written by the pyramid sales scheme industry and designed to benefit pyramid sales schemes at the expense of consumers. The proposed law legalizes sales schemes that previously would have been prosecuted in Utah under the existing law.

#11 - Higher is worse. I posted this because TSCC claims very low divorce statistics. What they base it on is temple divorces, not civil divorces.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2011 08:42PM by Jim Huston.

13. Utah leads the nation in the number of false prophets per capita. (See Ensign Magazine, GA fold-out edition).

14. Utah leads the nation in the number of males per capita wearing white shirts. (See sales figures - Mr. Mac/Dillards)

15. Utah leads the nation in the number of pillsbury doughboy lookalikes. (See LDS temple attendance statistics.) Idaho a close second.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2011 04:09PM by Rebecca.

Utah is also at the bottom of the list of states in per-pupil spending in public schools.

(It's kind of odd that the des news would print such good news about the state of deseret--the paper has become a mo rah rah fest and the long version of a corporate newsletter. Not doubting the citations but marveling at the fact that they print anything negative about the fair state.)

Last in per student spending
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700043945/Utah-last-in-US-in-spending-per-pupil-2-again.html

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705319578/Utah-dead-last-in-per-pupil-spending-2-again.html

Such Negativity, you un-believers. Utah is number one in:

Multi level marketing scams
Book of Mormon studies
Priesthood members per household
Meetings per capita
Pamphlets
Glossy junk mail
Unpaid (volunteer) labor
Harried, pill-swallowing wives
Over-reaching dupes in off the rack suits
Jug-headed four wheelers in Jeeps
Mouth breathers
Beady-eyed Danes
Doughy Glenn Beck fans
People who hate the president (not because he's black, we swear)

No wonder I eagerly left the state after my last two years in college at YBU! And this was in the mid 1980s! LOL

Or gold digging Mormon women trying to snag an old rich guy like Larry King. There is also enormous pressure to look "perfect."

I don't live in Utah, but was told by a family member who does, that in her area a common gift for girls graduating from high school is a boob job to help them snag a returned missionary. No facts or data to back that up, just a comment by a family member.

Sad when a girl that young starts down that path.

jello choking incidents
sweat stinking polyester suits
snoring while sitting up
inadequately cleaned toilets in meeting houses
middle aged men alone in rooms with teen boys asking them if they masturbate.

Does Utah lead the world in blind gullibility?

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/mil_tot_mil_rec_arm_nav_air_for_percap-navy-air-force-per-capita

Utah is at the very bottom on several sites for several years when I've looked. I suppose it is missions, but it seems at odds with the conservative philosophy prevalent in the state.

There were 366 lost in Vietnam from Utah out of 58,193. I don't know the population of Utah from back then so I don't know if this is lower than most states.
http://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics.html#state


Also, there was an article in Feb 2010 in the SL Tribune about Utah's very high rate of poisoning. The article has oddly disappeared and I can't find much on it.

Fantastic list, thank you.

Adding:

Utah is dead last in higher education for women:

Statistics show that Utah has the lowest rate of women enrolled in college and other institutions of higher education than any other state in America... and when women in Utah do attend college, they still major in traditionally ‘gender appropriate majors’ that lead to the lowest paying jobs.
-From Research and Policy Brief, Women and Higher Education in Utah: A Glimpse at the Past and Present by UWEP (Utah Women & Education Project.)
http://www.uvu.edu/wep/pdf/UWEB%20Two%205-25-10.pdf

and thanks to DNA, who provided this link on another thread -
"Utah has more child abuse cases than 40 other states, and that's good news!"
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,162632,162781



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2011 04:12PM by AngelCowgirl.

that the student : teacher ratio was one of the worst in the nation.

Rod, you sent me hunting!

From the 2008-09 data put out by the National Center for Education Statistics, it looks like Utah was VERY LAST in overall total student/teacher ratio (23.7); second to last for kindergarten ratio (40.9) only ahead of Kentucky; very last for elementary ratio (33.9); 45th for secondary (16.2).
There are also stats for the ratio to other staff, not just teachers, but I didn't look at those because I'm already feeling glum enough!
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/snf200708/tables/table_04.asp

AngelCowgirl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Rod, you sent me hunting!
>
> From the 2008-09 data put out by the National
> Center for Education Statistics, it looks like
> Utah was VERY LAST in overall total
> student/teacher ratio (23.7); second to last for
> kindergarten ratio (40.9) only ahead of Kentucky;
> very last for elementary ratio (33.9); 45th for
> secondary (16.2).
> There are also stats for the ratio to other staff,
> not just teachers, but I didn't look at those
> because I'm already feeling glum enough!
> http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/snf200708/tables/table
> _04.asp


Every district is different-for example, my son attends a brand spankin new school, in fact his 3rd here in Alpine, but yet they don't have books for the kids, and each of his classes has at least 40 students, some up to 48 per class!!

I think this is unexcusable, and while this is 8th grade, elementary steadily got worse till there were 35 in his 6th grade class. There are so many damn kids they build a couple schools each year out here, still not enough. I wish he would go to a charter school, my UVU courses have less than 25 pepole per class.....

... not that I haven't had confirmation of my testimony over and over again as to why it was a GREAT decision of mine to ski-daddle out of Utard some 15 years ago.

Please ... someone ... keep this list updated and documented (with additions in this thread as well as other future "fruits" of Morgdom).

Thank God I live out in the mission field. Ironically, I have a NEVERMO younger sibling out there with their family. How the hell they staand it is beyond me. O_o



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2011 04:53PM by imalive.

This is a great thread. It should become a "stickY" thread. If it is one thing that Mormons hate it is facts that don't show their State (Utah) or state of "Mind" in a good light. Oh wait there is one thing Mormons hate more..... Facts with references!

Adding two more -

I know Jim mentioned that Utah has the highest rate of antidepressant use, but it looks like they also have the highest overall rate of prescription drug abuse:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/660200893/Utah-No-1-in-prescription-drug-abuse.html
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705358409/SMART-takes-aim-at-prescription-abuse.html

I didn't find the original sources that these articles are going off of, but hey, it's the DesNews - that's on par with the Ensign to a TBM, right?

AND...

Utah rates of domestic violence against women is FAR higher than the national average:
"Utah's rate of females murdered by males in one-on-one incidents was 23% higher than the corresponding national rate. (2004 Utah Domestic Violence Annual Report, p. 16). Nearly half... were slain by husbands or boyfriends..."
http://nomoresecrets.utah.gov/Annual%20Reports/nms_annualreport_2004.pdf

I love living in Utah! The city life in Salt Lake City is great and the outdoor opportunities in the mountains are amazing. On Sundays half the population is home, leaving the rest of us to experience ski resorts, campgrounds, parks,restaurants, coffee shops, cultural events, entertainment, hiking trails,.... at a premium less crowded way. Often gentiles are afraid to move here keeping the populationgrowth lower than it would be otherwise. Mormons are nice neighbors and co workers.