Utah Foundation Significant Statistics

Revenue Report: Utah’s Consensus Projections Approach

Written by: Christopher Collard

Utah estimates the state’s future tax revenues using a consensus approach. It is undertaken by the Utah’s Revenue Assumptions Working Group – a collection of economists and experts from the Governor’s and Legislature’s staff, the State Tax Commission, and state academic institutions and departments.1 This approach is not the way all states estimate revenue. In other states, such as New Jersey, the Governor’s staff creates one revenue estimate and the legislature’s staff creates a differing … Continued

Significant Statistics | Utahns’ “Misery” Increases, but is Still Below the Nation

Written by: Staff

In addition, Utah consistently fares as well as or better on the Misery Index than its neighboring states. In 2021, Utah was second only to Wyoming in the Mountain States, due to that state’s rebounding growth, with Idaho and Montana very close behind. In 2022 however, Utah was outperformed by Colorado and Idaho, with the latter faring better than the entire country in Index terms. This is due to Idaho’s recently high (but declining) GDP … Continued

Significant Statistics | Utah College Enrollment Trails Nation Due to Gender Differences

Written by: Shawn Teigen

Data source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 5-year sample. Note: The Utah Foundation used the 5-year sample for comparison due to the margins of error for Utahns. When looking at the 1-year sample for the U.S., the decrease in enrollment over the period is much more pronounced: 42.3% to 40.9% – with a 2.0% drop for men compared to a 0.7% drop for women.

Significant Statistics | The Price of Prosperity – Rents and Construction

Written by: Staff

Growth and prosperity are likely to be serious issues facing Utahns over the coming decade. We can see this in the drivers of recent rent increases along the Wasatch Front. Further, there is a good chance that current financial market conditions will sharply push up rents again in the future. Rents on the Increase Rapid rent increases are neither entirely recent nor purely COVID-related – as illustrated by the rent increases seen between 2010 and … Continued

The Revenue Report: Utah’s Projections Process

Written by: Christopher Collard

In our upcoming Revenue Report we will examine recent projections for Utah and how they compare to eventual outcomes.       [1] Utah Constitution, Article XIII, Section 5, Use and amount of taxes and expenditures. [2] Utah Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget, Utah’s Budget Process, https://gopb.utah.gov/budget-operations/utahs-budget-process/ [3] Utah Governor’s Office, News Release: Legislature and Governor’s Office Release Updated Budget Estimates, February. 21, 2023, https://governor.utah.gov/2023/02/21/news-release-legislature-and-governors-office-release-updated-budget-estimates/. And Executive Appropriations Committee, Revenue Estimates – February 2023 … Continued

The Revenue Report: Income and Sales Tax Surprise

Written by: Staff

The State will be re-forecasting revenues after one more monthly collections report – due in the middle of February. Legislators will consider these numbers before making final budget decisions for the 2023 General Session. Interestingly, if the current growth rates were to hold throughout the remainder of the fiscal year (June 30th), the state would end the year with $1.9 billion more than forecasted. In this edition we highlighted how actual revenues can sometimes far … Continued

Significant Statistics | How is Utah performing on the Nation’s Report Card?

Written by: Shawn Teigen

In Utah, students slipped back to their 2013 scores for the 4th and 8th grade reading tests, and back to their 2011 scores for 4th and 8th grade math tests. On the bright side, Utah students in 2022 are statistically better than the nation in all but 4th grade math. That said, the difference all but disappears when accounting for household income. The gap between higher and lower income households persists, and even widened in … Continued

Significant Statistics | The Pursuit of Happiness in Utah: How are We Doing?

Written by: Shawn Teigen

The Utah Foundation recently released its Personal Quality of Life Index. It shows that Utahns’ well-being is on the downward slide, declining from a score of 82 in 2018 to 76 in 2022. But how might Utah compare to other states? We don’t have a national version of our Quality of Life survey, but we can get a glimpse from other indicators. For instance, WalletHub’s recent “Happiest States” rating shows that Utah comes in at … Continued

Significant Statistics | Salt Lake Remains Second Highest Metro for Home Price Increases

Written by: Shawn Teigen

The Utah Foundation’s 2022 Quality of Life project shows that Utahns’ perception of community quality of life is in decline. Housing affordability and other costs of living accounted for nearly two-thirds of the overall decrease in community quality of life from 2018 to 2022 The Federal Reserve increased interest rates four times in five months (March, May, June and July) in part to slow inflation. That seems to be having an impact in the housing … Continued