The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey is a representative survey of 10,000 women conducted by the U.S. Center for Disease Control, generating what is widely regarded as the highest-quality data on sexual violence in the country. In both its 2012 and 2016/2017 data releases, statistical comparisons of respondents show that the state of Utah had some of the lowest sexual violence rates in the nation.
That doesn’t mean Utah does not have a problem with sexual violence, which is a heartbreaking epidemic throughout the U.S. and world. It just means the best data in the nation has shown repeatedly that the Rocky Mountain state appears to be doing measurably better than other states in the country.
Despite this data coming out 8 years ago, this still isn’t something widely known. One year ago, when the Deseret News compiled available data documenting areas where Utah was leading the nation in a positive way, nothing was included about abuse and sexual violence.
That’s because for years, we’ve heard that Utah stands out in a particularly troubling way when it comes to different kinds of violence against women.
It wasn’t until this spring that we began to look more closely into these numbers ourselves. We came to realize that certain data sources were often being overlooked in public discourse, while problematic FBI data continues to be widely cited as a reliable measure to compare states.
But the biggest discovery came when we reviewed the state-by-state comparisons available in The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey — an “ongoing, nationally representative survey that assesses experiences of sexual violence, stalking and intimate partner violence among adult women and men aged 18 years old or older in the United States.”
How Utah measures against other states
This CDC survey “provides critical state-level violence victimization prevalence data that are not available elsewhere,” says Kathleen Basile, associate director for science in the Division of Violence Prevention at the CDC, who was involved in administering the survey. Compared with other surveys that may only have a question or two on sexual violence, Basile calls this survey is “the most comprehensive look at this problem.”
The Utah-specific findings were especially striking. According to this comprehensive data set, Utah women had the lowest “lifetime prevalence of sexual violence victimization” (36.9%). That was six points lower than the next lowest state of Texas (42.7%), 17 points lower than the national average (54.3%), and as many as 28-30 points lower than Wyoming (63%), Alaska (65.4%) and Washington D.C. (67.1%).
In more specific examinations across the United States, the lifetime prevalence among Utah women were:
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Eighth lowest for contact sexual violence by an intimate partner — rape, sexual coercion, and/or unwanted sexual contact (15.5%). This was 4 points lower than the U.S. average (19.6%) and over half as much as the highest state, Nevada (32%).
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Third lowest for attempted or completed rape of any kind (15.8%) after North Dakota and South Dakota (14% and 14.6%). This was 11 points lower than the national average (26.8%) and 26 points lower than the highest state, Wyoming (42.1%).
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Fourth lowest for completed alcohol/drug-facilitated rape (8.1%) among the 40 states that monitor this variable, tied with Kansas (with Idaho being the lowest at 5.4%). Utah’s percentage is 4 points lower than the U.S. average (12.2%), and over half as much as the highest state, Arkansas (17.7%).
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Broader analyses of sexual aggression found the lifetime prevalence among Utah women was:
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Second lowest for unwanted sexual contact (32.4%), after North Dakota (31%). This was 15 points below the national average (47.6%) and nearly half the rate of the highest state, Alaska (62.5%).
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Sixth lowest for sexual coercion (17.6%). This was 6 points lower than the U.S. average (23.6%), and over half as much as the highest state, Nevada (36.8%) and the District of Columbia (39.5%).
The statistics for Utah women across different types of physical violence were also striking, including the fact that Utah women had a lifetime prevalence that was:
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Lowest in the nation for any physical violence by an intimate partner (26.4%). This was 16 points below the national average (42%) and 30 points below the rate of the highest state, Nevada (56.8%).
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Lowest of any state for being slapped, pushed or shoved (23.3%). This was nearly 15 points below the U.S. average (38.9%) and more than half as much as the highest state, Nevada (54.3%).
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Fifth lowest for stalking by an intimate partner (8.7%) and third lowest for stalking victimization generally (21.9%). This was 5 to 10 points lower than the respective U.S. averages (13.5%/31.2%) and 13 to 26 points lower than the highest states of Georgia and Arkansas.
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Lowest of any state for severe physical violence by an intimate partner (17.7%). This was 15 points below the national average (32.5%) and 32 points below the highest state, Nevada (49.2%).
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In terms of emotional and verbal abuse, the lifetime prevalence among Utah women was:
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Lowest in the nation (34.9%) for any psychological aggression by an intimate partner. This was 15 points lower than the U.S. average (49.4%) and 29 points lower than the highest state, Arkansas (63.6%).
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Lowest in the nation for the subtype of “expressive aggression” — more spontaneous, impulsive violence “driven by emotions, such as anger, rage, or frustration.” Utah women’s rate of victimization (19.5%) was 10 points below the national average (29.4%) and more than half the rate of the highest state, Alaska (42.4%).
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Lowest in the nation for the subtype of “coercive control and entrapment” (32%). This was 14 points below the national average (46.2%) and 29 points less than the highest state, Arkansas (60.7%).
When the data for all these different violence types are combined, here are the findings:
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Utah women experienced the lowest rates in the nation for physical violence, stalking victimization by an intimate partner, and/or contact sexual violence (rape, sexual coercion, and/or unwanted sexual contact). The rate at which Utah women surveyed said they experienced any of these types of violence (31.7%) was 15 points lower than the national average (47.3%) and 30 points lower than the highest state, Nevada (61.8%).
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Utah women were also lowest in the nation for the combined “related impact” of these different types of intimate partner violence (including “being fearful, concerned for safety, any post–traumatic stress disorder symptoms, etc.” This rate of 27.1% was tied with Hawaii (27.2%), while being 14 points lower than the U.S. average (41%) and 29 points lower than the highest states of Arkansas (55.9%) and Nevada (56.1%).
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In addition to asking women about their experiences as adults, researchers asked women to reflect on experiences when they were younger. In terms of the prevalence of earlier sexual violence, Utah women were:
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Seventh lowest for first contact sexual violence before age 18 (25%), which includes rape, sexual coercion, and/or unwanted sexual contact. This rate was 6.5 points lower than the national average (31.5%) and 19 points lower than the highest states of Alaska (43.7%) and Arkansas (43.8%).
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Ninth lowest for first rape attempt or completed rape victimization before age 18 (9.2%). This was 4 points lower than the U.S. average (13.1%) and nearly a third of Arkansas (28%).
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Eighth lowest for first victimization of either physical violence, stalking by an intimate partner, or contact sexual violence before Age 18. The Utah women’s rate (10%) was 3 points lower than the national average (12.8%) and half of the highest states, Nevada (19.8%) and Alaska (20.1%).
In sum, every state-wide abuse prevalence chart in the survey showed Utah among the lowest 10 states — with only one exception. The measure of “Lifetime Prevalence of Verbal Sexual Harassment in a Public Place” confirmed Utah women were the 12th lowest at 26.3%, 6 points lower than the national average (30.4%).
When considered all together, no other state performs so well across these various sub-scales. The next closest states with relatively lower sexual violence rates are Kansas, Hawaii, Iowa, South Dakota and Texas.
None of this is to minimize the staggering scope of the sexual violence problem facing every state in the country, including Utah. In this rapidly growing Rocky Mountain state with a population of over 3.5 million, even conservative estimates suggest that many thousands of teenage girls and adult women currently living in Utah have experienced some form of sexual violence.
“Either way,” emphasized Susan Madsen, the founding director of the Utah Women & Leadership Project, “whether we’re above or below the national average, if there’s anybody that is experiencing violence, we need to be concerned.”
Madsen is right. These numbers do not “give Utah a pass,” even if they do clarify the scope of the problem. “You can’t change violence rates until you shine a light on the problem,” she added.
Why so different from FBI data?
Deseret News interviewed two of the main researchers at the CDC behind this national survey to understand why its findings are so different compared to the FBI data on sexual violence.
Sharon G. Smith, a behavioral scientist with the CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention, explained that a criminal justice question like “Were you ever raped?” can be harder to answer than people may realize.
That’s why the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey uses “behaviorally-specific questions,” she said, which don’t rely on participant interpretation, and which “can facilitate disclosure and improve the accuracy of the estimates.”
Kathleen Basile, also part of the CDC’s Center for Injury Prevention and Control explained, “So if you ask one question, they may say, ‘I don’t know if that happened,’ but if you ask three or four or five, they start remembering, ‘oh yeah, something happened back when I was younger.’”
Compared with asking about only recent victimization, Basile also emphasized the value of asking about someone’s lifetime experience “because sometimes people are more comfortable talking about something that happened in their past rather than something that happened just recently in the last year or so.”
“It’s hard for someone to admit that ‘yes, I was a rape victim,’” agreed Julie Valentine, a University of Utah professor and longtime forensic nurse who has worked with rape survivors for decades and led the creation of one of the world’s best sexual assault archival databases.
Valentine, who is called to the hospital to speak with victims, said often victims won’t even use the word “rape.” Instead, they’ll say “something really bad happened to me on my date last night. And then they’ll describe what happened, but it’s very rare that a victim would say those words.”
“So, there are different reasons,” Basile said, why this survey “would have more disclosure.”
Anonymity is huge
Leslie Miles, a professor in the BYU nursing department who has studied sexual violence for years, also emphasized that “the FBI is only looking at police reports. And there’s a lot of shame, a lot of blame, and (victims) don’t disclose.”
Given how fearful many are of “public shaming,” Miles added, “it’s going to skew your FBI data.” By comparison, she added, “people are more likely to disclose on a survey where it’s anonymous.”
“That’s the difference in what you have in numbers,” Miles said, referring to the contrast in FBI and CDC numbers.
According to experts we’ve interviewed for this report, it’s this anonymity above all — without any required identification, public disclosure, legal complexity and involvement in the criminal justice system — that makes these national datasets especially reliable compared with arrest rates.
“People will acknowledge that they have been victims of a crime to an anonymous survey, even if they did not report the crimes to police,” noted an early report of the The National Criminal Justice Commission, citing Samuel Walker and other criminologists. (Earlier anonymous surveys of sexual violence in Utah in 2005 and 2007 were likewise celebrated for having “provided confirmation of the limitations of relying upon officially reported statistics”).
“You always have to look at the methodology,” agreed Madsen when asked about the same discrepancy. “It’s just the way people are measuring things.” Depending on whether something is reported or anonymously gathered, she tells Deseret News, “you tend to see some different things.”
2012 survey findings on Utah
These are not anomalies from a single CDC survey in 2016-2017. From the same national survey in 2012, here are some of Utah’s findings:
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4th lowest lifetime prevalence of specifically sexual violence victimization with someone a person knows (31.1%). This was five points lower than the U.S. average (36.3%) and 16 points lower than the highest state of Oregon (47.5%).
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Lowest of all the states for any type of completed or attempted rape (12.2%). This was 7 points below the national average (19.1) and more than half of Oregon’s rate (26.3%).
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Lowest out of 46 states who recorded completed drug/alcohol-facilitated rape (4.6%). This was half the national average (9%) and one third the rate in the highest state of Oregon (15.4%).
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7th lowest for sexual coercion (10.3%). This was 3 points lower than the U.S. average (13.2) and half as much as Oregon (20%).
It is too early to know if 2025 data from the same national survey will show similar patterns.
BYU professor Justin Dyer said the results are not a surprise.
“It fits with other things we know about Utah — the benefits of faith and family generally — including other research about violence and religiosity. So, none of this is particularly surprising.”
Madsen has also spoken about Utah becoming “a national leader in how to implement positive change for girls and women.” In the recent interview with Deseret News, she shared her her aspiration that the state will pursue even more opportunities to be “different than any other state,” even “a place where more girls and women can thrive in any setting.”
These findings above also align with the broader international research on vulnerabilities for sexual violence against women and children.
A Deseret News review of 500 studies found that sincere, healthy religious faith — and the habits spirituality often promotes, such as lower alcohol and drug use, fewer risky sexual behaviors, and greater emphasis on marriage, education, and financial responsibility — can have a protective effect. Many of these patterns are more common in Utah.
Understanding conflicting data
Not all data aligns with this understanding of Utah. That begins with the FBI numbers on sexual violence, which shows Utah consistently in a tier of states with comparatively higher rates of rape.
It’s these official crime numbers — usually without any mention of The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey — which have been the central focus of public discourse on sexual violence in Utah over the last decade, showing up regularly in public and media conversation, academic reviews and reports, and even on official state websites and documents.
Utah isn’t the only state whose FBI statistics paint a different picture than the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey. Kansas, North Dakota, Kentucky, South Carolina, and New Mexico are all in the 20 lowest states in terms of sexual violence on this survey, but in the FBI data, they join Utah as some of the worst.
The FBI “strongly discourages” comparisons of locations based on these numbers. The discrepancies could reflect that certain states are more successful than others in encouraging disclosure, accountability and reporting.
Yet there are two other high-quality studies showing contrary results with child sexual abuse. That includes data from the 2020 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System showing Utah 3 points higher than the national average in sexual-related “adverse childhood experiences”. And the nationally representative 2021 CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey data also shows shows Utah 3.5 points higher than the national average in teenage girls who reported having “experienced sexual violence by anyone” in the past year.
This latter gap, that showed up during pandemic data collection, mostly went away in 2023. Drilling down to “sexual dating violence” and “forced sexual intercourse” in 2021, instead of relying on the broad umbrella figure, also shows Utah lower than the national average in 2021.
In the earlier 2020 survey, Utah also had a uniquely high level of ACEs responses submitted — with 9,155 respondents willing to share about past abuse representing the 3rd highest of any state. Utah’s response rate of 55.5 was also higher than most, with only six states better.
Similar to the FBI rape data, this suggests Utah could perhaps be having more success in measuring what’s actually happening. Utah has a dedicated in-house survey center at the Department of Health and Human Services that averages 10,500 completed Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys in each of the last 5 years, according to department data experts. Their experience in survey design and interviewing, they told Deseret News, “plays a significant role in our ability to get high numbers of completed surveys compared to other states.”
The importance of this proactive data apparatus in Utah may be heightened at a time when it’s become “increasingly difficult to collect data in U.S. national surveys including the YRBS,” according to Columbia University researcher John J. Santelli and colleagues, who highlight “steady declines in school and student response rates” to federal surveys over a 12-year study period.
During this same period, Utah made notable strides in raising awareness of sexual violence (especially this last decade), which may lead to increased willingness to disclose in surveys, particularly among youth.
Having said all this, we cannot rule out the possibility that Utah is protecting adult women better than younger girls. That would be a puzzling contrast with both the risk factor and NSVIS numbers already reviewed, but ought to be held with humility and openness.
As a final qualifier, it’s important to note that Utah respondents in each survey above may also be describing abuse elsewhere earlier in their life. Adverse Childhood Experience analyses, for instance, “reflect the experiences of adults living in that jurisdiction, but do not necessarily represent the jurisdiction in which the ACE occurred.”
This is true of the national CDC survey as well, but may be especially influential in surveys asking people to reflect back on their childhood. Utah is a popular destination for new residents, with high rates of domestic migration compared to many other states, particularly in recent years.
Sexual violence is a problem everywhere
In the end, how Utah compares to other states matters far less than the fact that sexual violence remains a very serious and ongoing problem for individuals, families and communities virtually everywhere, including in Utah.
“We all need to work together on this,” said Madsen, underscoring the urgency of “moving heaven and earth to protect women and children.”
That’s where our focus should be — gathering people of all backgrounds, liberal and conservative, religious and nonreligious, to work together unitedly for the eradication of violence against women and children.
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual violence, confidential support is available 24/7:
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Utah Rape & Sexual Assault Crisis Line: 1-888-421-1100
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Utah Domestic Violence LINKLine (also offering sexual violence support): 1-800-897-LINK (5465)
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National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN): 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), rainn.org
