Latest Research
Fact Sheet: Outdoor Recreation and Utah Business
Utah’s tech sector is the fastest growing industry in the state while offering well-paying jobs that often encourage a healthy work-life balance. Access to year-round outdoor recreation is the most important factor to tech employees when deciding to locate or stay in Utah. A companion study of Utah businesses found the outdoor lifestyle helps with locating and expanding operations in Utah, employee recruitment and retention, and the desirability to do business in the state.
Retail Sales and the Pandemic: A Most Remarkable Year
This research brief examines 2020 retail trade sales in the context of long-term historical trends in sales activity. A seemingly straightforward comparative analysis of yearly sales, however, was complicated by data comparability issues. Hence, care was taken to ensure an “apples to apples” approach, which required some discussion of evolving tax reporting and remittance requirements
Ivory-Boyer Construction Report, First Quarter 2021
Construction activity continued its record-setting pace in an unconventional economic environment. Through the first three months of 2021 total permitted construction value reached $3.4 billion, a record and a 37.1% increase over the same time period from 2020. The record-breaking quarter was led by a surge in residential construction activity. Residential construction value reached $2.0 billion in the first quarter of 2021, surpassing last year’s record by 32.2%. Nonresidential construction value surged by 47.1% from Q1 2020 to $0.8 billion. Additions, alterations, and repairs permitted values increased 41.5% from 2020 to $0.6 billion, also a record.
Moving Past Net Migration: Demographic Characteristics of Utah’s Recent Migrants
Migration is becoming a more reliable component of Utah’s population growth. Migrants are demographically different from the rest of Utah, contributing to the changing demographics of the state.
Back to Baseline: Utah’s Tourism Economy Rebounds Post-Pandemic, 2021
One year since the arrival of COVID in the U.S. and Utah’s tourism economy is back on track. Leisure and hospitality employment in southern Utah rebounded “back to baseline” last fall, while the rest of the state began catching up this spring. Statewide, hotel occupancy rates returned to 2019 levels this April, while transient room tax revenue surpassed 2019 levels this February and March.
Fertility in Utah Fact Sheet: Recent Changes
Despite having the highest total fertility rate in the nation for many years, Utah’s total fertility rate is now the 3rd highest in the nation, behind North Dakota and South Dakota. Increases in fertility rates for mothers age 30 and over in the Dakotas, combined with substantial decreases in fertility rates for young mothers in Utah, have driven this shift.
June 2021 Utah Consumer Confidence
Our survey finds consumer sentiment among Utahns held steady from May to June. A similar survey by the University of Michigan, but concerning all Americans, measured a gain in sentiment over the same time period.
Utah Outdoor Partners Survey of Tech Sector Employees
The most important factor for Utah’s tech sector employees deciding to move to or stay in Utah is access to outdoor recreation and wilderness.
Diversity in Utah: Race, Ethnicity, and Sex Data Book
This report provides data and information to help state and community leaders make progress in their equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts. Gov. Spencer Cox’s One Utah Roadmap, the Utah Legislature’s policies to extend opportunity to all, and business and community leaders’ Utah Compact on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion provide three significant examples in the past year of Utah’s commitment. The data and context provided in this report shed light on existing disparities; help people understand the complexities of these measures; and help provide a starting point for evaluating future progress.
Diversity in Utah: Race, Ethnicity, and Sex Data Book (Analysis in Brief)
Utah ranks as the 34th most racially and ethnically diverse state in the nation, with 22% of the state identifying as other than non-Hispanic White. This places Utah’s racial/ethnic diversity just below Pennsylvania and above several larger states like Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin. Utah’s minority share of the population is expected to increase to one in three Utahns by 2060.