Blog Post

Insight: 2019 Subcounty Estimates Share City, Tract Population Changes

By: Natalie Young

Note: The opinions expressed are those of the author alone and do not reflect an institutional position of the Gardner Institute. We hope the opinions shared contribute to the marketplace of ideas and help people as they formulate their own INFORMED DECISIONS™.

Apr 6, 2020 – Our new subcounty estimates report provides annual population and housing estimates from 2010 to 2019 for every city and census tract in Salt Lake and Utah counties. Both counties experienced their largest growth in housing units (2018-2019) of any year this decade. Population growth in the past year was highest in Herriman, Lehi, South Jordan, Eagle Mountain, and Saratoga Springs—cities in the core growth area of southwestern Salt Lake County and northern and northwestern Utah County. These five cities contributed 63% of combined growth in the two counties.

The top five cities grew through strong owner-occupied housing construction. However, renter-occupied/apartment construction dominated the housing growth in Salt Lake City, and also provided the majority of new growth in American Fork. These were the 6th (American Fork) and 7th (Salt Lake City) highest-growth cities this year. The top 10 growth cities are rounded out by Spanish Fork, Bluffdale, and Vineyard.

Be sure to visit the visualization on our website to see total population, growth, or percent growth by county (Salt Lake or Utah Counties), city, or census tract (access it with a desktop computer for best functionality). Three separate tabs allow you to rank all areas in the study, explore the map of census tract results, or track annual trends in a selected city. Several other housing and population variables are also included.

The report discusses and maps 2018 to 2019 population changes and shares the estimation methodology. These estimates correspond to the 2019 state and county population estimates.

Contact Natalie Young (natalie.young@utah.edu) with feedback and questions about this research.

Natalie Young is a research analyst at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.