Demographics

Significant Statistics | Growth Part IV: Should Utah Limit Population Growth?

Written by: Christopher Collard

Population Growth – Should we Stop It? Attitudes around limiting grow vary according to religious affiliation. Figure 1: Whether voters agreed or disagreed with the statement, “Utah Should Take Action to Slow its Population Growth in Urban Areas” As outlined in Part III, much of the Utah Foundation’s work directly or indirectly addresses the problems created by Utah’s population growth. We often examine ways to address these problems. However, in the Utah Priorities Project survey, … Continued

Significant Statistics | Growth Part III: How Utah is Addressing Growth Pressures

Written by: Christopher Collard

Growth and Transportation Infrastructure Utah has a history of robust investment in transportation infrastructure. Utah’s investment in transportation went to a new level after 2020; the state budget for transportation in 2022 is nearly twice that of its 2012-2020, even after accounting for inflation and population growth. While traffic decreased during the pandemic, it recovered by January 2021, and while Utah is among the top five states for remote workers, it is not clear to … Continued

Significant Statistics | Growth Part II: Priorities for Addressing Growth

Written by: Christopher Collard

Utah’s rapid growth means the state can expect to continue seeing a growing economy and increased national prominence. But it would be a mistake to assume that this growth can come without a price. Certainly, survey respondents to the Utah Foundation’s 2020 Utah Priorities Project have concerns. When thinking about population growth, most Utah voters were concerned about infrastructure for roads and water. Those that were more concerned with roads tended to be affiliated with … Continued

Significant Statistics | Growth Part I: The Nation’s Fastest Growing State

Written by: Christopher Collard

In the decade preceding 2020, Utah grew by 18.4%, making it the fastest-growing state in the nation. This news comes despite births in Utah continuing to decline in a trend beginning in 2008, meaning that although Utah still has one of the highest fertility rates in the nation, more and more of its population growth comes from migration. It is expected that by 2031 Utah will have added an additional half million people to its … Continued

Significant Statistics | Are Californians to Blame for Salt Lake’s Rising Housing and Rental Rates?

Written by: Christopher Collard

The Utah Foundation has released a series of Significant Statistics on the relative importance of housing affordability among Utah voters, noting the steep increases in housing prices and rental prices. Why are we seeing these increases? The Utah Foundation has looked at whether it might be due to an influx of Californians. That does not seem to be the whole answer. When looking at Utah’s larger metropolitan areas, the recent rate of people moving in … Continued

Significant Statistics | Which area of the Wasatch Front has the highest income inequality?

Written by: Staff

Earlier this month, Utah Foundation held a Breakfast Briefing looking at income inequality. Utah Foundation has also dedicated multiple Significant Statistics posts to looking at how income inequality varies across the state. We found that urban counties in Utah have the same levels of inequality when compared to more-rural counties (though income baselines varied significantly). However, the broad analysis obscures some of the detail, showing wide variation in inequality among counties and regions. Similarly, looking … Continued

Significant Statistics | Income Inequality in Utah: Urban Versus Rural

Written by: Staff

Income Inequality in Utah: Urban Versus Rural Last week, Utah Foundation held a Breakfast Briefing on income inequality in Utah. One question that the briefing didn’t address is what income inequality looks like off of the Wasatch Front. While last week’s Significant Statistic looked at inequality by county and region, this week’s post looks more directly at the urban/rural divide.[1] Utah Foundation sorted Utahns by urban and more-rural counties, dividing each into five evenly-sized groups … Continued

Significant Statistics | What’s the income distribution in your corner of Utah?

Written by: Staff

Income Inequality in Utah: Comparing Counties and Regions UTAH CAN CLAIM both one of the nation’s least unequal income distributions and one of the highest measures of social mobility. However, it has not been immune to national trends of growing income inequality. According to one of the panelists at a June 30 Utah Foundation Breakfast Briefing, the bottom 10% of income earners in Utah saw their real income decline between 1990 and 2014 and the … Continued

Significant Statistics | One group of Utahns is more likely to contract – but also survive – the coronavirus

Written by: Staff

  HISPANIC/LATINO UTAHNS REPRESENT 14% of the state’s population, but comprise 42% of the coronavirus cases recorded in the state. Conversely, non-Hispanic white Utahns represent 78% of the population, but comprise only 34% of the state’s cases. Thankfully, Utah still has a small number of deaths, but some notable trends are emerging. While Hispanic Utahns are more likely than their non-Hispanic white counterparts to contract the coronavirus, they are substantially less likely to die from … Continued