Blog Post

By: Natalie Gochnour

Originally published in Utah Business

The New Year is a great time to take stock and learn new things. I am often asked what is the best source for information about the Utah economy. Thanks to a wonderful collaboration between the David Eccles School of Business and the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, you can learn all of the latest and greatest facts about the Utah economy in a single report. The 2015 Economic Report to the Governor, released this month, provides the single best compendium of information about Utah demographics, employment, income, taxes, exports, prices, major industries and other indicators. If you want to gain a better understanding about the Utah economy, go online and download your copy today.

Just to whet your appetite, here are some of my favorite factoids included in this year’s report:

Utah is moving up in size.

Many think of Utah as a small state, but 18 other states (including the District of Columbia) are smaller than Utah. In fact, Utah just passed Kansas as the 33rd largest state in the country. At 2.9 million people Utah is larger than every New England state, but Massachusetts, and larger than Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico and West Virginia, to name just a few. The next state we will leapfrog will be Arkansas. Currently trailing by just 58,500 people (roughly the size of South Jordan), Utah will outrank Arkansas by as early as 2015.

Births trump in-migration.

Net in-migration is the norm in Utah. Every year people move in and move out, but in net terms Utah has experienced in-migration for 27 of the past 35 years. The last time Utah experienced net out-migration was in 2009 at the peak of the Great Recession and that was just a sliver (325 people). Other than this small blip, the only other period of net out-migration in recent history was during a particularly rough patch in the 1980s when we had seven consecutive years. But don’t be confused. Utah’s real source of growth is ourselves. Last year Utah births added 51,721 residents and 80 percent of our growth came from natural increase (births minus deaths).

Doubling up.

Household size in Utah is not only the largest in the country, but on the rise. Persons per household in Utah increased from 3.10 in 2010 to 3.17 in 2013. This may not seem like a lot, but statically speaking it is a big deal. Most analysts attribute this to the “double-bunking” effect caused by the Great Recession. Think about your own household or those in your neighborhood. Many young adults are living longer with their parents. There are also many “boomerang kids”—children who left home, only to return. This drop in new household formation has a softening effect on Utah’s homebuilding industry and is a trend to watch.

Hong Kong emerges as Utah’s largest export destination.

For years Utah exported more goods to the United Kingdom (UK) than any other country. Not any more. In 2013 Hong Kong beat out the UK by a sizable margin. Utah exported $5.5 billion worth of merchandise to Hong Kong in 2013. Approximately 96 percent of these exports were primary metals (mostly gold) from Utah’s mining industry.

Education and time spent with children.

The benefits to society of increased education are well known and documented. Usually these benefits are viewed in terms of increased lifetime earnings or lower unemployment rates. The 2015 Economic Report to the Governor includes fascinating data from the American Time Use Survey that shows that mothers with increased levels of education spend more time (measured in terms of minutes per day) with their children than mothers with less education. That’s good news on all fronts. We need more women in leadership positions and we need mothers spending more time with their children. Education gets us both.

Income disparities.

Summit County’s 2012 per capita income of $77,468 is more than double the state average of $35,430. Summit County is important to the state for lots of reasons, but the county’s high income means sizable contributions to Utah tax coffers. By way of contrast, San Juan County, located in the Four Corners’ region, has the lowest per capita income in the state at $22,818.

As you can see, the Economic Report to the Governor is packed with details about Utah’s vibrant, diverse and occasionally quirky economy. Contributors include the University of Utah, Utah State University, CBRE, The Cicero Group, Utah Foundation, Economic Development Corporation of Utah, Utah Nonprofits Association, and a variety of state offices and departments. You can download the tables and charts in Microsoft Excel or PowerPoint format and use in your own research and analysis.

In the New Year commit to learning more about the Utah economy. The Economic Report to the Governor is a great place to start.

Natalie Gochnour is the associate dean of the David Eccles School of Business and the director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.