News Release

 March 6, 2024 (Salt Lake City) – Utah’s consumer sentiment decreased by 1.3% in February to 80.3, according to the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute’s Survey of Utah Consumer Sentiment. However, it’s worth noting that this decrease was not deemed statistically significant. A similar survey by the University of Michigan found that sentiment declined 2.7% among Americans as a whole during the same time.

“Although the Utah consumer sentiment declined in February, Utah sentiment continues to exceed the U.S. sentiment, indicating Utahns have more confidence in the economy than their peers across the nation,” said Phil Dean, chief economist at the Gardner Institute. “Utahns’ expectations for general economic conditions in Utah and the U.S. over the next five years results in scores of 122 and 84, respectively, suggesting an optimistic outlook among Utah residents for the state’s economy compared to the broader national landscape.”

The full results are now available online.

Utah’s survey of consumer sentiment includes seven questions concerning current and expected future economic conditions. Five of the questions are identical to those included in the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumer Sentiment in the U.S. Two of those questions refer to business or economic conditions in the country (rather than in one’s home state, for example).