Demographics of Utah


Utah is the 30th most populous state in the United States with a population of about 3.3 million, according to projections from the US Census Bureau's 2017 estimates. The state has also been characterized by a tremendous amount of growth in the last decade, with the highest percent increase in population of any state since 2010. Utah has a surface area of 84,899 square miles, though around 80% of its population is concentrated around a metropolitan area in the north-central part of the state known as the Wasatch Front.

Population

The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Utah was 3,205,958 on July 1, 2019, a 16.00% increase since the 2010 United States census.
The center of population of Utah is located in Utah County in the city of Lehi. As of April 1, 2010 the 2010 census indicated that Utah had a population of 2,763,885. In 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau determined Utah was the fastest-growing state in the country.
Much of the population lives in cities and towns along the Wasatch Front, a metropolitan region that runs north–south with the Wasatch Mountains rising on the eastern side. Growth outside the Wasatch Front is also increasing. The St. George metropolitan area is currently the second fastest-growing in the country after the Las Vegas metropolitan area, while the Heber micropolitan area is also the second fastest-growing in the country.
Utah contains five metropolitan areas, and four micropolitan areas.

Birth data

Note: Births in table do not add up, because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number.
Race20132014201520162017201820192020202120222023
White39,401 39,433 38,473 37,791 36,492 34,303 33,363 33,145 33,789 32,461 31,629
Asian1,785 1,850 1,875 1,185 1,233 1,131 1,092 1,146 1,187 1,210 1,155
Black728 740 823 523 569 521 580 576 594 606 653
Pacific Islander.........401 469 468 460 518 475 575 580
American Indian792 713 699 467 445 418 357 341 360 303 342
Hispanic 7,706 7,764 7,876 7,966 7,832 8,133 8,139 8,160 8,358 8,920 9,236
Total50,957 51,154 50,778 50,464 48,585 47,209 46,826 45,702 46,712 45,768 45,019

  • Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

    Ancestry

According to 2010 United States census projections, the racial and ethnic makeup of Utah are as follows:
The largest ancestry groups in the state are:
Utah County has the largest Icelandic American population, while Sanpete County is about a fifth Danish American. Swedish Americans and Norwegian Americans outnumbered English Americans or British Americans ancestry in Central Utah. Finnish Americans, Polish Americans, Russian Americans and Ukrainian Americans are significant in number throughout the state. The Wikipedia article Utah Italians describes the state's small but established Italian-Americans community. And the percentage of persons of Spanish Americans ancestry including those of Basque descent are also present.
Most Utahns are of Northern European descent.
In the 2010 census estimates, 89.2% of the state population is white and European American.
Hispanics are the next largest group with 13.0%, followed by Asians at 1.7% and Native American at 1.3%. The largest Latino group is Mexican.

Native American tribes

According to U.S. census data, people identifying as American Indian and Alaska Native make up about 1-1.6% of the state’s residents. In San Juan County, nearly half the population is Native American.
Utah is the traditional homeland of several Indigenous peoples, including the Ute, Shoshone, and Navajo. Some of their languages, like Shoshone, are still spoken in Utah.

Languages

Although English is the predominant language in Utah, around 15% of the population speak a language other than English at home. Spanish is the most common non-English language, followed by other languages like Portuguese, Chinese, and various Native languages.

Religion

As of 2020, 60.68% of Utahns are reported as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The LDS Church has historically reported membership numbers for the state of Utah but did not do so in 2021; a church spokesperson said this was because the numbers they had did not "accurately reflect membership numbers and trends" so the current number of members that the LDS church claims in Utah is unknown.
Latter-day Saints make up about 49% of the population in Salt Lake County, making it the fifth minority LDS county in the state, joining Carbon, San Juan, Summit, and Grand. Salt Lake County Latter-day Saints mainly reside in the southern part of the valley. Rural areas tend to have larger proportions of LDS, but nearly all counties have seen decreasing percentages affiliated with the church since 2009. Several explanations have been given to explain this decrease, such as relocation, members resigning, and a decreasing birth rate in the state. However, contrary to the declining membership trend, Utah County, home of Brigham Young University, has seen a modest uptick in membership since 2009 to nearly 85%, making it second only to Morgan County at 86.1%.
Though The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially maintains a policy of neutrality in regards to political parties, the church's doctrine has a strong regional influence on politics. Another doctrine effect can be seen in Utah's high birth rate. The Latter-day Saints in Utah tend to have conservative views when it comes to most political issues and the majority of voting-age Utahns are unaffiliated voters who vote overwhelmingly Republican. John McCain polled 62.5% in the 2008 presidential election while 70.9% of Utahns opted for George W. Bush in 2004.
In 2000, the Religious Congregations and Membership Study reported that the three largest denominational groups in Utah are Latter-day Saint, Catholic, and Evangelical Protestant. The LDS Church has the highest number of adherents in Utah, followed by the Catholic Church with 97,085 members reported and the Southern Baptist Convention, reporting 13,258 adherents. According to a report produced by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, the self-identified religious affiliations of Utahns over the age of 18 as of 2014 are:
2012 Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life SurveyMormons U.S. Avg.
Married75%52%
Divorced or separated5%13%
Children at home 2.61.8
Attendance at religious services 88%40%

Recently, Utah has experienced an in-migration of population from other U.S. states which served to change the state's sociocultural/political character. The percentage of Utah residents who are LDS has declined while the number of the religiously unaffiliated has increased.
The warmer climate and temperate of mid-elevation areas, like Iron, Juab, Millard, Sanpete and Washington counties, recorded increased population growth rates from the 1980s to early 2010s.
The state witnessed some splits, and sects of Mormonism are evident—Bickertonites, Church of Christ and ex-Mormons, and the FLDS fundamentalist communes—in rural communities, like Hildale, or the nearby Arizona towns of Colorado City and Fredonia adjacent to the Arizona Strip on the state boundary with Arizona.
Utah has seen recent growth of its resident LGBTQIA+ community, which is most concentrated in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, but present in other cities and towns, as well, such as Ogden, Logan, Herriman, Cottonwood Heights, Park City, and areas of South Jordan. According to a Gallup poll, Salt Lake City ranks among the top-ten American cities with the highest number of people identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender ; at around 4.7%, this is slightly more than even larger cities, including Los Angeles, California.
Utah has a high total birth rate, and the youngest population of any U.S. state.
In 2000, 49.9% females and 50.1% males constituted the gender makeup of Utah.