SALT LAKE CITY — The vast majority of Utahns are the product of a public school education, and you want to believe that your neighborhood districts provide the best opportunities for your children, too.

A recent WalletHub study ranked schools from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and the Beehive State checked in at No. 16.

That might be surprising when you consider how much flack Utah receives for being among the lowest spenders per student – 50 out of 51, only ahead of Idaho.

But Utah’s ranking is better than every other state in the West. So how did we land so high on the list?

Wallet Hub ranked every state and DC based on 32 metrics in two categories — quality and safety.

This was a comprehensive look at things like dropout rate, math and reading scores — Utah landed in the top 5 for reading.

It also considered ACT and SAT scores and Blue Ribbon school rankings.

On the safety side, the study considered how common are violence school shootings and drugs on campus, along with COVID-19 concerns and access to technology during the pandemic.

No one would argue that classroom size is always a concern, along with the number of skilled teachers and competitive salaries.

Those issues aside, Utah ranked in the top 30% of states in a pretty thorough survey.

Is there room for improvement? Yes. But are there things to build on and be proud of? Also, yes.