More Marriage, Better Educational Outcomes, Even in Utah 

Utah is an exceptional state in terms of family demographics, state spending on education, and student educational achievement. Among U.S. states, Utah ranks second only to Minnesota in the proportion of 15-17-year-olds who live with both married birth parents throughout their childhood.¹ In the 2016-2020 time period, 83% of Utah mothers of elementary and secondary students were currently married, compared to 71% nationwide. Only 5% had never married, compared with 15% in the U.S. as a whole.²

Despite spending less on public education than the average U.S. state,³ and much less than states like New York, Vermont, or Massachusetts,⁴ it has a higher-than-average high school graduation rate.⁵ Utah pupils also score above-average on tests of reading, math, and science achievement administered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).⁶ Utah clearly gets more educational “bang” for each taxpayer “buck” than do most other states.

Yet even within Utah, school districts that have higher proportions of married, two-parent families also have better educational outcomes. In the Beaver School District, for example, 92% of students’ mothers were currently married, whereas in the Grand School District, only 71% were. The high school graduation rate in Beaver was 95% in 2019, while in Grand, it was 73 percent.

Across all Utah districts, there is a significant positive correlation⁷ between the proportion of married parents and the high school graduation rate. The relationship is lower⁸ but remains significant when it is adjusted for cross-district disparities in racial and ethnic composition and parent education levels. (See Appendix Table 1.)  

Source: Authors’ analysis of data from National Center for Education Statistics, Education Demographic
and Geographic Estimates, 2016-2020, and Utah School Grades, Utah Board of Education. 

Higher proportions of married, two-parent families are also associated with larger percentages of students meeting proficiency standards on state achievement tests in English, math, and science. For example, in the Logan City District, the proportion of married mothers is 75%, whereas it is 88% in the North Summit District. The proportions of students meeting math proficiency standards is 24% in Logan and 57% in North Summit. Across districts, there is a significant positive correlation between the proportions of married parents and students proficient in math.⁹ However, when combined in a regression equation with parent education levels and the racial and ethnic makeup of a district, the proportion of parents with bachelor’s degrees or more proves to be a better predictor of math proficiency than family structure. (See Appendix Table Two.) 

Utah clearly gets more educational “bang” for each taxpayer “buck” than do most other states.

Despite Utah’s commendable educational performance, the state has two persistent problem areas that plague all the other states of the Union as well. One is continuing accomplishment gaps across racial and ethnic groups. Though Utah has relatively few Black, Asian, or American Indian students,¹⁰ it has a substantial Hispanic minority (17%). The high school graduation rate for Hispanic students in Utah (80%) is 10 percentage points lower than the rate for non-Hispanic white students (90%).¹¹ The proportion of Hispanic students in a school district is negatively related to the overall high school graduation rate in the district.¹² It is also negatively related to the proportion of married female parents in the district.¹³ Nevertheless, note the non-Hispanic white-Hispanic gap in the high school graduation rate shrinks by 51% when we control for family structure.¹⁴

The other problem shared with other states is that many students seem to be graduating from Utah high schools with achievement test scores that are below levels deemed “proficient” or even “basic” by the State Education Department or the U.S. Department of Education. In the push to award more students with high school diplomas, there has been a loosening of standards in too many schools regarding what those diplomas represent in the way of student knowledge and skills. Efforts to tighten graduation requirements and ensure that high school diplomas indicate that students have mastered basic educational goals would seem to be in order. 

Overall, however, the results presented in this analysis tell us that school districts with more married parents in Utah are more likely to be successful in graduating students from their high schools. These findings are consistent with research on family and education indicating that children from intact, married families are more likely to get good grades and avoid behavioral problems in school. That’s because children in stable, two-parent homes usually benefit from greater income, more attention, and less drama on the home front, compared to children in single-parent homes. The patterns we see here suggest that those family patterns do not just influence individual children but extend to school districts across the Beehive State. In other words, what happens in the home doesn’t just stay in the home—it radiates out into the entire school district. That’s true even in a state with some of the highest rates of family stability in the nation: Utah.

Nicholas Zill is a research psychologist and a senior fellow of the Institute for Family Studies. He directed the National Survey of Children, a longitudinal study that produced widely cited findings on children’s life experiences and adjustment following parental divorce.

Editor's Note: This article has been updated to include one figure.

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1. As of 2009, 56.5% of 15-17-year-olds in Utah had grown up with married birth parents, as had 57% in Minnesota. By contrast, only 37% had done so in New Mexico and 38.4% in Georgia. The proportion was 45.8% for the Nation as a whole. Fagan, P.T. & Zill, N. (2011) Second annual index of family belonging.  Washington, DC: FRC.

2.  The Census count of currently married mothers include those in birth parent-stepparent and adoptive families. Utah is also exceptional in having large proportions of white families and families affiliated with the Latter-Day-Saints religion.

3. In Fiscal Year 2020, per-pupil public education expenditures for Utah were $8,287, with expenditures for instruction comprising $5,226. The averages across all states were $13,489 and $8,158, respectively.

4. In FY 2020, New York spent $25,273 per pupil; Vermont; $22,124; and Massachusetts, $19,447.

5. The adjusted cohort graduation rate in 2018-19 was 87% in Utah and 86% in the U.S. as a whole. Graduation rates were 88% in Massachusetts, 85% in Vermont, and 83% in New York.

6. In 2022, Utah 4th and 8th Graders tested above national averages in math, reading, and science. 

7. r = .49, p < .05.

8. Regression coefficient = .39. Multiple R = .58, p < .02. Proportion of variance accounted for = 34%.

9. r = .34, p < .05.

10. In the time period 2016-2020, Asian students made up 1.5%, Black students 1.3%, and American Indian students, 0.8%, respectively, of enrolled public and private elementary and secondary school students in Utah.

11. The comparable national high school graduation rates are 82% for Hispanic students and 89% for non-Hispanic white students.

12. Beta coefficient = -.38, p < .05.

13. Beta coefficient = -.62, p < .05.

14. The beta coefficient for Hispanic ethnic origin goes from -.37 to -.14 when family structure is controlled.

Appendix