BUSINESS + ECONOMY

Utah leads nation in economic growth

SALT LAKE CITY — Economic recovery from the pandemic is slowly improving across the nation, and Utah is leading the growth effort.

The Salt Lake Chamber’s Roadmap to Prosperity Coalition, in partnership with the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, recently updated their Economic Dashboard, which tracks Utah’s path to a complete economic recovery from the pandemic recession. 

According to Derek Miller, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber and Downtown Alliance, “Utah’s consumer confidence continues to climb as the broader U.S. confidence dips for another month.”

The Salt Lake Chamber cites three essential insights from the March 2022 Roadmap to Prosperity Dashboard.

1. Utah’s unemployment rate is the lowest in the nation. Utah’s February unemployment rate of 2.3% is the lowest in the nation, tied with Nebraska.
2. Utah home prices continue to rise. Utah’s home prices have risen drastically over the last year with a median home sale price of $486,000 in January 2022.
3. Consumer Confidence increases in Utah. January and February saw upticks in Utah’s consumer confidence while confidence nationwide continued to fall.

“This new economic dashboard highlights the positive effects of real job growth and returning consumer confidence,” said Natalie Gochnour, director of the Gardner Policy Institute. 

The Roadmap to Prosperity Coalition is used to help business leaders understand how Utah is recovering. The dashboard receives updates monthly and tracks different metrics, including the unemployment rate, job change, consumer confidence, median home prices and more.