SALT LAKE CITY — To mark “10 years of impact,” the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute has issued a report highlighting key research on a wide range of Utah issues over the last decade. The report commemorates the 10-year anniversary since the institute’s doors first opened in September 2015. The man that the institute was named after — prominent business man and community leader Kem Gardner — said these words 10 years ago at an event celebrating its launch: “I believe firmly that this policy institute can make life better for our state and for our children,” the Deseret News reported at the time.

Hosting the 2002 Winter Olympics allowed Utah to smash down the accelerator on growth in both its population and its economy. With the 2034 Games just over eight years away, the state again has the opportunity to harness the international event as a vehicle to propel it toward a more prosperous future.

SALT LAKE CITY — Families in rural Utah have limited access to labor and delivery care, and the problem could get worse. New research from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute shows seven Utah counties, concentrated in the north and southeast, do not have a birthing hospital. For five of those, the nearest location is over an hour’s drive away.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah homebuyers are grappling with prices that refuse to fall. According to the latest data from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah, the median sales price for all housing types in Utah — which includes single-family homes, townhomes and condos — is $520,000.

SALT LAKE CITY — It's not bust, but Utah's boom is cooling--and high housing prices may be one reason why. “If people don't feel they can buy a home, they may look to another state that might seem more affordable to them,” said Emily Harris, senior demographer at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s health care landscape has its own song this summer, and the beat relies heavily on the scrape of shovels, the pounding of jackhammers and the general clatter of construction. The Beehive State’s population is growing, creating need for expanded facilities and health care services.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's housing and rental prices stabilized somewhat in 2024, but they also remained among the 10 highest in the nation, according to a new report analyzing the situation. The average median sale price of a single-family home was about $547,700 in the final quarter of last year, up less than 1% from 2022, after a slight decline in 2023.

SALT LAKE CITY – For the third year in a row, Salt Lake City saw the largest population growth in the state, according to a new report. Utah's capital added 4,450 new residents between 2023 and 2024, a 2.1% jump in the total number of people, according to figures compiled by the University of Utah's Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.

SALT LAKE CITY – A new report from the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute released Wednesday breaks down who owns what in the Beehive State. Titled “Utah’s Land Ownership Legacy: A History and Inventory of Utah’s Lands,” the 20-page report examines how federal, state, tribal, and private land ownership impacts economic development, public finance, recreation, culture and conservation.

SALT LAKE CITY – A nonprofit focused largely on this community has initiatives tied to helping people increase their odds of upward mobility. Millennials identifying as Hispanic or Latino made more at 27 than their Generation X counterparts, according to data from the Opportunity Atlas, an analysis by Harvard-based Opportunity Insights and the U.S. Census Bureau.