News Release

March 2, 2023 (Salt Lake City) – Utah’s consumer sentiment decreased from 75.6 in January to 70.4 in February, according to the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute’s Survey of Utah Consumer Sentiment. A similar survey by the University of Michigan found sentiment rose from January (64.9) to February (67.0) among Americans as a whole.

“Utahns continue to express uncertainty about the economy,” said Gardner Institute Chief Economist Phil Dean. “The long-standing trend of higher Utah sentiment compared to U.S. sentiment remains consistent with the Utah economy outperforming the U.S. economy coming out of the pandemic. But the relatively low index level, including a one-month decline, suggests consumer uncertainty remains even after several months of increases.”

The Utah Consumer Confidence Survey uses key questions from the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers. These questions measure residents’ views of the present economic situation and their expectations for the economy in the future. Data gathered from the key questions are used to create the consumer confidence index for Utah. Demographic questions are included in the questionnaire to allow for additional analysis of the data and to assess the representativeness of the sample.

The full results and methodology are now available online.

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