Utah sees record-level population increase

Absolute and Percentage Changes in County Population, 2021-2022. Photo: Utah Population Committee, Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute

UTAH —According to new estimates from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah, Utah has grown by over 61,000 people in the last year, putting the state’s population at 3.4 million.

The report, authored by Eric Albers, research associate, Mallory Bateman, director of demographic research, and Emily Harris, senior demographer at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, states that Utah is seeing its highest boom in population growth since 2006. Of the estimated 61,242 new residents, 38,141 or 62% came from net migration (the difference between the number of immigrants and the number of emigrants in a year), the highest level in Utah state history.

The remaining 38% of new residents came from natural increase, the number of annual births minus annual deaths.

“This shift from natural increase to net migration driving the majority of growth in the past two years is a combination of increased deaths from COVID-19, decreasing births since 2008, and increasing net migration annually since 2015,” said the report.

From July 1, 2021, to July 1, 2022, Summit county grew by 426 residents, while Wasatch County grew by 1,362, making it the second-fastest growing county in the state with a growth rate of 3.8%

With a growth rate of just 1%, Summit was one of six counties to have a net migration share lower than the state alongside Grand, Cache, Davis, Weber, and Salt Lake counties.