Utah Foundation Significant Statistics

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

Significant Statistics | 40% of Utahns Delaying Health Care

Written by: Staff

NEW CENSUS DATA SHOW that massive numbers of Utahns have been delaying health treatment. As of June 2, 2020, an estimated 830,000 Utah adults reported having delayed getting medical care in the previous four weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic. That represents 40% of the adult population of the state. This is in line with national numbers, with 41% of U.S. adults reporting a delay of medical care.[1] This finding is supported by accounts from … Continued

Significant Statistics | Wasatch Front area takes lightest jobs hit among large U.S. metros

Written by: Staff

A NEW CBRE ANALYSIS has revealed that the Wasatch Front area was the least hit for year-over-year April job losses among 40 large U.S. metro areas studied. The area from Ogden to Provo saw its unemployment level at 6.6% higher than April 2019.[1] Phoenix and Dallas areas were tied for second best at 7.6% higher. April’s unemployment levels vary across Utah, but tourism-dependent counties have taken the hardest hits.[2] Grand County, which contains Moab, saw … Continued

Significant Statistics | Housing Permits Plummet

Written by: Staff

UTAH HOUSING BUILDING PERMITS decreased from 3,070 in March to 2,089 in April, a 32% decrease.1 Interestingly, this came just after a March in which the greater Salt Lake City area (MSA) saw the highest number of housing permits in decades, and perhaps ever – over 1,500. The next month, they plummeted: April saw a decrease to just over 800.2 Meanwhile, regional housing start3 estimates across the West indicate a dramatic dropoff, from 325,000 in … Continued

Significant Statistics | Utah Ranks Lowest in Unemployment Claims as a Percentage of Workforce

Written by: Staff

THE LATEST NATIONAL TAX FOUNDATION NUMBERS comparing unemployment claims put Utah in a favorable position relative to her 50 sisters: as of May 16, the Beehive State had the nation’s lowest unemployment claims as a percentage of the civilian workforce, at 5.7%. Contrast Utah’s situation with the five states with the highest percentage of claims, including three states in our neighborhood: Washington (31%), Nevada (25%), Oregon (24%), Hawaii (24%) and Florida (23%). The figures reflect … Continued

Significant Statistics | Transit Ridership Falls 70+ Percent

Written by: Staff

FROM EARLY MARCH TO LATE APRIL, Utah Transit Authority ridership plummeted. UTA’s fixed bus route and light rail ridership settled into a new weekday low in early April, with the decline hovering near the 70% to 75% range until the end of the month. The declines for Utah Valley Express, Frontrunner and paratransit were even steeper, settling into more than an 80% decline. UTA has stepped up sanitary efforts. It is currently surveying riders to … Continued

Significant Statistics | Utah Hits 150,000 New Unemployment Filings in Seven Weeks

Written by: Staff

UTAH EMPLOYMENT NUMBERS ARE BLEAK, but not as bleak as the national numbers. From February to March, state unemployment increased by 1.1% to 3.6%. This is the second largest monthly increase in the past 45 years. Only in late 2008 was there a larger monthly unemployment increase (1.4%).1 The state’s unemployment rate will jump much higher for April. In February, the U.S. unemployment rate hit a 50 year low (3.5%). Nationally, unemployment jumped from 4.4% … Continued