Utah
Where are Utah’s ‘blue zones’ — places people are living the longest?
A “Blue Zone” is an area where people are known for living to extreme ages such as Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Loma Linda, California; and the entire country of Costa Rica. There is a whole cottage industry of associated books about what those places are doing right lifestyle-wise, generally revolving around good diets and family/community involvement.
Utahns tend to live a long time, too, even though Utah is not typically listed on Blue Zone lists. A child born in Utah has an expected lifespan of 78.6 years, which is the ninth highest in the nation, in between Vermont and Connecticut.
Utah is a varied, diverse place, too, of course, with both highly impoverished communities as well as highly affluent Salt Lake suburbs. This means that a baby born in some areas can expect a much longer life than a baby born in others. These stark differences are reflected in the Census Bureau’s U.S. Small-area Life Expectancy Estimates Project, which calculated the life expectancy of Americans at the census tract level using 2010-2015 data.
Based on this data, the specific area of Utah with the highest life expectancy is rural Duchesne County (Census tract 9406, to be precise), with a life expectancy of 90.4 years, which is higher than any country in the world. That’s also 54th out of the 67,199 census tracts in the U.S. with life expectancy estimates.
That doesn’t mean Duchesne as a whole is higher than every other county, since there are areas of Duchesne that have noticeably lower life expectancy — as well as some suburb areas that are higher too. (A county-level analysis would reach different conclusions, with this one more focused on specific census tracts.)
That being said, there are some patterns evident. When data is cut up this small there is enough statistical fuzziness that Duchesne is in a statistical tie with a number of other long-living areas in Utah — with other “Blue Zones” in the state including rural areas of Garfield and Wayne counties in southern Utah (life expectancy at birth: 89.6 and 89.3 years, respectively). Two North Salt Lake City neighborhoods also stand out, including the area by Emigration Canyon (88.9 years) and the area just north of Ensign Peak (86.9 years).
And what about areas of Utah where people live relatively short (and presumably harder) lives? The lowest life expectancy in Utah is the inner city area by Pioneer Park. Although only a few geographic miles from the “Blue Zone” of North Salt Lake, the life expectancy there is approximately 24 years less, at 66.1 years. Other shorter life expectancy areas include downtown Ogden, with life expectancies in the area between 68.9 and 70.8, and the eastern part of downtown Price, with a life expectancy of 71.3.
Income matters, of course — with North Salt Lake being relatively wealthy. Race seems to matter too, with racial minorities tending to live shorter lives.
On any characteristic where Utah sticks out, of course, people are quick to connect it to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sometimes this is warranted; sometimes it is not. To really parse out a religious effect by county would require more intensive analyses controlling for race and income, which this particular dataset makes difficult.
But there are at least two older studies that have examined Latter-day Saint life expectancy in depth. Using data from 1980 to 2004, two non-Latter-day Saint researchers at UCLA found that “active” California Latter-day Saints had “total death rates that are among the lowest ever reported for a cohort followed 25 years.”
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also had “among the longest life expectancies yet reported in a well-defined U.S. cohort.”
Another study published by a BYU professor using 1994-1998 data compared Utah members with other groups in terms of adjusted life expectancy estimates — finding that although differential tobacco use explains some of the higher life expectancy in Latter-day Saints, it only accounts for about 1.5 years of the 7.3 year difference for males and 1.2 years of the 5.8 year difference for females.
Other factors that appear to be involved include better physical health, better social support and healthier lifestyle behaviors, the study noted, with religious activity also potentially having an “independent protective effect against mortality.”
While these are older studies, the lifestyles, dietary factors and dynamics they have identified as contributing to longer Latter-day Saint lives have not changed. Famously, Loma Linda in California is a “Blue Zone” because of the clean-eating, religiously involved and active Seventh-day Adventist community there, and it is likely that the Latter-day Saint influence similarly has at least something to do with Utahn’s longer life span.
That being said, as shown by downtown Price and other areas where lives are shorter, having Latter-day Saints in your neighborhood doesn’t automatically raise the life span overall. Most of us can clearly do better.
While most Latter-day Saints seem to be good about the prohibitions in the Word of Wisdom — a revelation in one of our books of scripture — there is likely room for improvement among most people in focusing on the positive, good elements of the same standard. For example, Utahns may take a page from Adventist pagebook and eat more fruits and vegetables — and maybe less hamburgers.
While people quibble about this or that dietary principle, the literature on the health benefits of eating eating your fruits and vegetables (or “every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof” as Doctrine & Covenants Section 89 puts it) are non-controversial and indisputable. As soon-to-be-centenarian President Russell M. Nelson has shown us with his own example, we may then receive even more the Doctrine & Covenants Section 89 promises, “the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them.”
Utah has all the potential for a bona fide Blue Zone: healthy food, families, outdoor activities, strong communities, and the sense of purpose provided by religion — if Utahns are willing to take advantage of them.
It would be a mistake to boil down these differences exclusively to income or race. And these differences are not simply a matter of lifestyle either — with lower-income people living much shorter lives on average. While people who live in longer-lifespan areas might pat themselves on the back for all the exercise and home-cooked, vegetable-based meals they have the time for, they should be aware that, sometimes a few miles away, there are people who are not so fortunate.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah athletics is making a notable change to the Huntsman Center gameday setup, but the move is about more than where the team sits.
The Runnin’ Utes are moving the team bench from the east side of the Jon M. Huntsman Center to the west side, returning the bench to the side it occupied during the Rick Majerus era. The change will also move the MUSS and band from the west side to the east side.
The shift is part of a larger effort by Utah Athletics to improve the student-section experience, create a more consistent setup inside the Huntsman Center and better connect the arena to the university’s growing College Town Magic initiative.
Enhancing The MUSS And Fan Experience
Nowlin said the primary motivation behind the change is improving the MUSS and the overall fan experience.
“The reason we’re doing this is we want to enhance the MUSS,” Utah’s Deputy Athletics Director & Chief Revenue Officer, Patrick Nowlin said. “As an ongoing effort, we’ve been working on for the past two years, how do we enhance the fan experience?”
One issue Utah identified was that the MUSS had been located in different areas for different events. Moving the student section and band to the east side gives the department a more consistent location to build around.
“We wanted to create a better fan experience,” Nowlin said. “We wanted to be able to have one spot that we can build on, which means we can brand. We can enhance everything about it.”
The move also ties directly into College Town Magic. Nowlin said the area around the Huntsman Center will include more than 2,900 total beds, including more than 1,400 new beds, giving students a direct path from nearby housing to the student-section entrance.
“There’s over 2,900 new beds that are right there, which will be right at the branded entrance, right where the student section is,” Nowlin said. “They don’t have to go far at all. So it’s just a walk straight down from the dorm, right in the door.”
And according to Utah’s Patrick Nowlin, the move is not limited to men’s basketball.
“It’s not just men’s basketball. It’s all Huntsman Center events,” Nowlin said.
A Nod To Utah Basketball History
While the move is primarily about fan experience, there is also a clear basketball-history component.
The west-side bench location is where Utah sat during the Majerus era, when the Runnin’ Utes were one of the top programs in the country and the Huntsman Center had a different level of edge. Alex Jensen was part of that era as a player, and now, as Utah’s head coach, the move reconnects the current program with one of its most successful periods.
Nowlin said the historical connection was part of the conversation, even if it was not solely Jensen’s decision.
“Yeah, it’s a nod to history,” Nowlin said. “I think Alex, him being here, he’s a steward of the program. There’s a lot of history to having it on that side.”
Still, Nowlin made clear the change was not simply pushed through by Jensen.
“It wasn’t a push from him,” Nowlin said. “It was a concerted effort from everybody to where, how do we create an area that the MUSS can have, but also how do we lean into our history, but still move forward in a way that we can honor that, but create an unbelievable environment.”
That is the heart of the move. Utah is trying to bring back a piece of its basketball identity while also reworking the building for the future.
How Fans Will Be Impacted
The change will affect some season-ticket holders, donors and fans seated near the current bench, MUSS and band areas, but Utah tried to limit the disruption.
Nowlin said the department spent months working through the seating impact and expects fewer than 200 accounts to be directly affected. Those accounts are in sections T, U and V.
“This wasn’t something that just came about,” Nowlin said. “We’ve been working on this for a few months now, and we wanted to find a way that we could minimize the accounts that were directly impacted, but still create the fan experience change we were after.”
Utah’s plan is to work individually with affected fans and mirror their seat location as closely as possible on the other end of the court.
“If you’re on one end and now you’re going on the other end, we will work with you to get you in the seat that is similar to where you were and allow you to have the same experience you’ve had, just on the other end of the court,” Nowlin said.
Utah will also hold a virtual seat-selection process from July 7-17, allowing fans who want to move to choose from available options.
“We’re going to take care of everybody, but we’re also going to allow people the choice and the freedom to be able to make the changes they want to make,” Nowlin said. “We want to create every opportunity we can to give our fans opportunities to choose their own experience.”
Not Part Of The Huntsman Renovation
The bench and MUSS move is not directly tied to the larger Huntsman Center renovation discussions. Nowlin said the change is instead connected to College Town Magic and Utah’s effort to improve the student and fan experience inside the building.
“It does not have to do with the renovation, but it does have to do with College Town Magic,” Nowlin said.
The move could create some new seating and premium opportunities, particularly around courtside and floor seating. Nowlin said Utah is still evaluating those possibilities.
“By doing this, this will create additional opportunities for us on courtside and floor,” Nowlin said. “We’re also looking to how do we enhance our premium experience across the board. So this is a step in a process that will continue.”
The Bottom Line
Utah’s bench move is not just a nostalgic callback to the Rick Majerus era, and it is not just a seating chart adjustment. It is part of a broader effort to reshape the Huntsman Center experience.
The team bench is moving back to the west side, where Utah sat during some of the program’s most successful years. The MUSS and band are moving to the east side, where Utah believes it can build a stronger, more consistent student-section identity tied to College Town Magic.
For Utah Athletics, it is another step toward rethinking how the Huntsman Center looks, sounds and feels on game day. For Jensen, the move reconnects the program to its winning past.
The symbolism will matter to longtime Utah basketball fans. The logistics will matter to students, band members and season-ticket holders. But the larger goal is simple: make the building feel more intentional, more connected and more like home again.
Steve Bartle is the Utah insider for KSL Sports. He hosts The Utah Blockcast (SUBSCRIBE) and appears on KSL Sports Zone to break down the Utes. You can follow him on X for the latest Utah updates and game analysis.
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SALT LAKE CITY – The San Juan County assessor has resigned partway through his second term, following a recommendation that he be removed from office.
Rick Meyer’s resignation became effective on Monday, according to San Juan County Commissioner Lori Maughan. A copy of Meyer’s resignation letter was not immediately available.
This comes after the Utah State Tax Commission determined that Meyer had failed to follow the law and was “unfit to perform his duties.” In a letter last week to San Juan County commissioners, the tax commission recommended “the immediate removal of the San Juan County assessor from office to protect the public interest and restore the integrity of the property tax system in San Juan County.”
Among other things, Meyer was accused of failing to tax agricultural buildings, misclassifying property, and giving property tax exemptions to certain parcels, including vacant land, when he shouldn’t have.
The recommendation to remove Meyer from office was the first under a recent state law giving the Utah State Tax Commission more power to take corrective action against county assessors who aren’t doing their jobs properly. Assessors play a major role in the property tax process by determining the value of property throughout their counties.
Yet, it was unclear whether the San Juan County Commission could have actually removed Meyer from office had he not stepped down.
With Meyer’s resignation, the San Juan County Assessor’s Office has just one employee left. Deputy assessor Nathan Pitts will run the office until the San Juan County Republican Party recommends a replacement and the County Commission appoints one.
“It’s me holding down the fort here,” Pitts told KSL on Thursday, noting that he has spoken with the Utah Association of Counties and the state tax commission about plans for this interim period. “Everybody’s on board to assist and try to make it the best as we can, (but) I’ve definitely got my work cut out for me.”
Pitts said he does not plan to run for county assessor to replace his old boss.
“That is not my intention at all,” he said. “I’m quite content as a deputy assessor.”
Meyer was first elected as San Juan County assessor in 2020 and won reelection in 2024. His current term was set to conclude in 2029.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
FLAGSTAFF, AZ (AZFamily) — The Rock Canyon Fire, burning in northern Arizona near the border with Utah, doubled in size overnight to 4,512 acres and was 5% contained.
The fire has caused firefighters to evacuate hikers and campers in the area, and some roads in the Kaibab National Forest are closed.
People in Jacob Lake — less than 20 miles from the Rock Canyon Fire — say the new fire is stirring up anxiety after last year’s devastating fire season. They say they’re confident in firefighters, but after the trauma, they’re still holding their breath.
Memories of last year’s fires
For over 100 years, Jacob Lake Inn has been serving cookies to guests who want to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon or explore the Kaibab National Forest. Melinda Rich Marshall’s family has owned the inn since 1923.
Last year, they were evacuated during the White Sage Fire that burned close to 60,000 acres, and then the Dragon Bravo Fire, which destroyed nearly 150,000 acres, shut down the North Rim.
Now the Rock Canyon Fire has already burned thousands of acres north of the inn.
“I mean, honestly, our reaction was not again,” Rich Marshall said. “I mean, that’s really what it was.”
Rich Marshall said last year was hard enough, so once they heard about this new fire, it brought back bad memories.
“I’d say we have a little PTSD from it, seeing smoke and smelling smoke and all those things,” she said.
Fire burning in old burn scar
The Rock Canyon Fire was sparked over the weekend by a lightning strike.
Parts of it are burning in the White Sage burn scar. Bureau of Land Management spokesperson Dolores Garcia said old burn scars will usually slow down a new fire, but this time it’s actually fueling the flames.
“In some of those areas, we’re seeing quite a bit of fuels,” Garcia said. “We’re not seeing that the burn scar is helping much, especially with the winds as strong as they’ve been in some days and as dry as it’s been, those fuels are just tender and cured and really flammable.”
She said firefighters are attacking it from the ground and the air, but the high winds are limiting their ability to make water drops.
Hikers and campers were evacuated from the area. Garcia said she knows how stressful this must be to the surrounding communities after last year’s fires.
“We still understand that, it’s still a very fresh wound to many of the people who live up there, who’ve recreated up there for years,” she said. “That’s definitely at the forefront of our minds.”
Rich Marshall said while it’s scary, they have full trust in the firefighters.
“We’re really just grateful to see them and know the work that they are doing,” she said.
Rich Marshall said this is usually their peak season, but they’ve seen a bit of a slowdown even after the North rim reopened. She said people can support them by staying there or even just stopping in and getting some of their famous cookies.
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