Blog Post

By: Pamela S. Perlich and Mike Hollingshaus

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™.

Today we are pleased to share Utah demographic state and county profiles that summarize our detailed population estimates. These profiles distill the most essential and recent population data for each county in one convenient place. We have included those charts, tables, and data points that users most often request. Intensive data users can access our full estimates dataset online.

Each profile consists of two pages of county-specific narrative, graphics, and tables. Data include population by age and sex for 2018, summary changes since 2010, and race/ethnic distributions. We also included contextual information about the major industries, employers, and other characteristics that influence population size and composition.

This new product completes our 2018 vintage population estimates suite. The first release was last December when we produced county population totals and components of change (births, deaths, and net migration) for July 1, 2018. We produced these estimates in collaboration with the Utah Population Committee (UPC), as stipulated in Utah code.

This past year, we expanded upon UPC’s foundational population numbers with additional detail, using supplementary data and statistical models. The resulting sequence of county products included population estimates by single year of age and sex, which were further disaggregated by race and ethnicity. We also produced subcounty population, household, and housing unit estimates for Salt Lake and Utah counties. This subcounty work is available for places and tracts in our two most populous counties, which are home to 56% of the state’s population.

We refer to the entire suite of estimates as our 2018 vintage. This December, we plan to publish new UPC totals for 2019, launching the next vintage.

If you are interested in Utah demographics, we recommend you start with these county profiles. They contain the most important information. You can also easily compare the same data and graphs across each of the 29 counties, and the state as a whole, to learn about Utah’s diverse characteristics. We work for the people of Utah, and hope these new products will aid policy makers, planners, and other community members to make Informed Decisions.

Pamela S. Perlich is the director of demographic research at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.

Mike Hollingshaus is a demographer at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.