Blog

Utah Thrives Podcast | Social Capital in Utah

Written by: Dan Bammes

Listen to our latest episode of Utah Thrives, where we set the stage for our upcoming series of reports on social capital. We revisit a clip of our interview with Robert Putnam in 2019 and hear an overview of our social capital project by Research Intern Laura Pacheco. We also interviewed Silvia Castro Bennett of Suazo Business Center and Bill Crim of United Way Salt Lake to understand how their organizations leverage social capital to … Continued

Significant Statistics | Utah Iron, Tariffs, and Economic Uncertainty

Written by: Ella Sjoblom

Utah Iron and Operations Suspension On April 7, 2025, Utah Iron announced that it would be suspending its operations. The company’s press release stated that “significant changes in global markets have created an unusual and strenuous amount of uncertainty for buyers and sellers.”[1] One of the largest employers in Iron County, Utah Iron’s operations support over 175 full-time jobs and at least 323 indirect or induced jobs.[2] These jobs yielded more than $20 million in … Continued

Significant Statistics | Good News for Utah’s Teachers

Written by: Shawn Teigen

Good news for Utah teachers. A new National Council on Teacher Quality study finds that “Between 2019 and 2025, housing costs increased by 47–51% on average, far outpacing the average 24% growth in beginning teacher salaries.”* How is that good news? Well, the study’s two Utah school districts, Jordan and Granite, seem to be doing a bit better than the nation. While Utah’s home price growth and rents outpace the national average, so do teacher … Continued

Significant Statistics | Utah Last in Education Spending per Student, However…

Written by: Shawn Teigen

It is fairly common knowledge that Utah has, for decades, been near the bottom in per-pupil spending on K-12 education. The U.S. Census Bureau shows that Utah had pulled into the second-lowest, ahead of Idaho, from 2019 to 2021.1 However, the Department of Education disagrees. Its latest research shows that Utah has been and remains dead last.2 The Utah Foundation prefers the measure of education spending effort, or the amount spent on education per $1,000 … Continued

Utah Thrives Podcast | Healthcare Price Transparency

Written by: Dan Bammes

Federal law requires hospitals to post the prices of medical and surgical procedures on their websites in the hope that health care consumers will be able to make informed decisions about which providers to go to. The intention was to allow market forces to reduce the cost of health care and to empower patients and their families to make better decisions.   The Utah Foundation has been studying these issues and recently published a report, … Continued

Utah Thrives Podcast | Education Beyond High School

Written by: Dan Bammes

In this edition of Utah Thrives, we look at issues in post-secondary education detailed in the Utah Foundation’s new research reports. Utah Foundation President Shawn Teigen sets the stage for a discussion of goals and governance for Utah’s public colleges and universities. Tim Sheehan, Vice President of Government and Community Relations for Salt Lake Community College, talks about how the Utah system is meant to provide critical employment skills for students, and President Brad Mortensen … Continued

Significant Statistics | Women are powering labor force recovery

Written by: Christopher Collard

The pandemic caused a massive number of Americans to leave the workforce. As a result, the U.S. labor force participation rate was the lowest since the 1970s.1 Women played a critical role in the post-pandemic recovery of the U.S. labor force participation rate.2 Women power post-pandemic labor force participation recovery. Figure 1: U.S. Labor Force Participation Rate by Gender, indexed to April 2020 What about Utah? The data are more limited and consequently not as clear. … Continued

Significant Statistics | Successes and Shortcomings in Post-Secondary Education

Written by: Ella Sjoblom

Nearly 62% of Utahns between the ages of 25 and 64 possess a college degree or other quality post-secondary credential, surpassing Lumina Foundation’s nationwide attainment target of 60%.1 Utah does not currently have a statewide post-secondary educational attainment goal. However, in 2013, Governor Herbert adopted an ambitious 66% target by 2020.2 Between 2013 and 2020, Utah’s post-high school educational attainment increased by nearly five percentage points and three more by 2023.* This is a far … Continued

Utah Thrives Podcast | Top Research Findings of 2024

Written by: Christopher Collard

In this podcast, Utah Foundation staff members Christopher Collard, Ashley Marshall-Cantor, and Shawn Teigen talk about the top research findings of 2024. They cover the Utah Priorities Project, taxes, and housing. Listen below!  

Significant Statistics | Utah’s 8th-grade reading slips on the Nation’s Report Card

Written by: Shawn Teigen

Bad news: Utah was one of eight states where 8th-grade students’ reading scores were lower in 2024 than in 2022. Worse news: No states saw any improvement on the 4th-grade reading or 8th-grade reading or math scores. Better news: Utah’s 4th-grade reading and math scores and Utah’s 8th-grade math scores remained unchanged (in terms of statistically significant differences).  Good news: 15 states improved in 4th-grade math. And Utah remains better than the nation on all four tests (though … Continued