News Release

December 5, 2024 (Salt Lake City) – Utah’s consumer sentiment significantly increased in November (by 9.1%, from 80.7 in October to 88.1 in November), according to the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute’s Survey of Utah Consumer Sentiment. November sentiment in Utah shows the second-largest growth since November 2020. A similar survey by the University of Michigan found a much smaller change (1.8% increase) in sentiment among Americans during the same time (from 70.5 to 71.8).

“The large monthly change in Utah consumer sentiment appears to be correlated with the presidential election,” said Phil Dean, chief economist at the Gardner Institute. “Analysts will closely watch these variations to see if they are temporary or long-lived.”

The full results are now available online.

Utah’s consumer sentiment survey 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).

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