FILE: Residential neighborhoods in Orem are pictured on Tuesday, Dec 1, 2020. (Photo credit: Jeffrey D. Allred/ Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — Over the last year, when people made the decision to move to Utah (or move to a different place within Utah) more of them chose to live in Utah County. And Salt Lake County is a close second.
That’s according to the Utah Population Committee, with the Kem C. Gardener Institute (the Institute) at the University of Utah. Their latest population report shows that almost 4 out of every ten new Utahns chose Utah County between the summers of 2021 and 2022.
On the other end of the spectrum is Dagget County, Utah’s smallest county bordered by Wyoming and Colorado. Dagget County lost six residents.
“But when you only have 956 residents, those six people make a big impact,” Mallory Bateman, the state data coordinator at the Institute, told KSL NewsRadio’s Jeff Caplan.
Bateman said that this year, like last year, most of the population growth in Utah was due to net migration, or people moving from county to county or from out of state. That net migration accounted for 62% of Utah’s recent growth.
Utahns adding to the population by natural increase, in other words, by having babies, accounts for 38% of the state’s new growth.
Citing a slowing housing market, Bateman predicts population growth in Utah will continue but more than likely at a slower pace.
“There were a lot of things that happened in the summer, in this last half of the year that we’re going to, maybe, see in the 2023 estimates. A little bit more clearly.
“But that July 1 date was kind of the lead-up, where things were still looking pretty bright,” Bateman said. “So, continued growth but a little more moderated.
And whether population growth slows or keeps up at this pace, Bateman and the Institute predict that by 2060, 5.45 million people will call Utah home. Furthermore, she said a lot of that increase will be net migration, as people currently in Utah age and stop having children.