Construction continues to change the look of the valley.
SALT LAKE CITY – Depending on who’s doing the counting, Utah is either 8th or 10th among the top states in population growth in the past year.
Either way, slower population increase is bound to be considered good news, since growth is starting to be viewed as a dirty word by many Utahns.
Between July 1, 2021 and July 1, 2022, Utah’s population grew by more than 1.2 percent (more than 41,000 people), according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
“This is the lowest Census Bureau population growth for Utah in recent history,” said Emily Harris, a senior demographer at the Ken C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah.
“These estimates show Utah’s main source of population growth was natural increase (e.g. births) at 25,541,” Harris notes, “while a net migration of 18,312 was much lower than 2021’s net migration of 31,734.”
That puts Utah ranking 10th in percentage population increase for a total of slightly more than 3.3 million people now living in the state, the Census says.
Population growth estimates from the policy institute differ somewhat, however, due to differing methodologies, Harris explains.
The institute’s Utah Population Committee (UPC) estimates the Beehive state’s growth as exceeding 61,000 people in the past year, putting it 8th among the top 10 states in percentage growth with a total population of more than 3.4 million.
“A difference in methodologies causes these differences in the estimates,” Harris says. “While the Census Bureau estimates are the best resource for state comparisons, we are confident in the UPC estimates as a reliable resource for Utah-focused purposes.”
The main difference in these estimates, she added, was in net migration figures. The Census demographers estimated total population growth at 41,000 people while the UPC estimated that growth at exceeding 61,000.
Whichever estimates are correct, Utah officials must view every new resident as contributing to ever-growing statewide problems with available resources ranging from affordable housing to water supplies.
Census experts in the bureau’s Population Estimates Branch say that Utah led all states in percentage of population growth in the decade between 2010 and 2020.
Then came the coronavirus pandemic, which halted U.S. population growth in its tracks.
But the Census Bureau saw a rebound of national population growth and international net migration in the past year. As of July 1, the U.S. population had grown by nearly 1.3 million to more than 333 million.
The bureau attributes that rebound to an increase in net international migration of more than 1 million people, coupled with the first year-over-year increase in total births since 2007, according to Census demographer Kristie Wilder.
Census officials say the top 10 states in percentage of growth in the past year are (in descending order) Florida, Idaho, South Carolina, Texas, South Dakota, Montana, Delaware, Arizona, North Carolina and Utah.