Utah Population Statistics 2026 | Demographics, Growth, Cities & Facts

Utah Population in 2026

Utah’s population reached an estimated 3,551,150 people as of July 1, 2025, according to the Utah Population Committee, chaired by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute — the most authoritative and current official figure available before this year closes. The state added 44,351 residents over the preceding twelve months, continuing a growth streak that has made Utah one of the fastest-growing states in America for more than a decade. With a median age of just 30.3 years, the highest birth rate in the nation for years running, and a population still expanding through both natural increase and in-migration, Utah’s demographic story remains distinct from most of the country’s aging, slower-growing states.

This report compiles the key verified statistics on Utah’s population in 2026, covering statewide growth trends, age structure, religious and racial composition, and city-by-city and county-by-county population data. Sources include the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute’s Utah Population Committee, the US Census Bureau, the Utah Department of Health, and the Health Resources and Services Administration’s state demographic overview. Because Utah’s newest subcounty-level population estimates, released for the first time in May 2026, use a different methodology than prior Census Bureau city estimates, this article notes which figures come from which source.

Interesting Facts About Utah’s Population 2026

Source: Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, Utah Population Committee, December 2025 release; US Census Bureau; HRSA Title V Needs Assessment, Utah 2025; World Population Review, 2026

The numbers above confirm that Utah’s demographic engine remains fundamentally different from most of the country’s. While a majority of US states now depend primarily on migration for whatever growth they see, Utah continues to combine strong natural increase — driven by that 7th-highest fertility rate in the nation — with sustained in-migration, a combination that has kept the state’s growth rate well above the national average for over a decade. The median age of just 30.3 years places Utah among the youngest state populations in America, a demographic dividend tied directly to the state’s historically high birth rates and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ cultural emphasis on family formation.

What stands out most is the milestone captured in Utah’s brand-new subcounty population estimates, released for the first time in May 2026: for the first time in the state’s history, more than half of all Utahns now live in cities with populations of 50,000 or greater, confirming a decisive shift from Utah’s rural, agricultural past toward a state whose growth is now overwhelmingly concentrated in an expanding urban and suburban corridor along the Wasatch Front.

Utah Population Growth Trend 2026

UTAH POPULATION GROWTH — RECENT YEARS
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
2020 (Census)              ████████████████████████  3,271,616
2024 (Census Bureau est.)  ████████████████████████████  3,503,613
2025 (Gardner Institute)   ██████████████████████████████  3,551,150
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
2010–2020 decade growth: +18.4% (+507,731 people) — among the fastest of any state

Source: Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, December 17, 2025; US Census Bureau Population Estimates Program; USCanadaInfo Utah Population report, January 2026

Utah’s growth trajectory over the past 15 years places it consistently among the top five fastest-growing states in the country, a distinction the state has held through multiple economic cycles, including the post-pandemic migration wave that reshaped population patterns across much of the Mountain West. The 18.4% growth rate recorded between the 2010 and 2020 Census counts — adding more than half a million residents in a single decade — reflects a combination of factors rarely found together in one state: a young population with high fertility, a strong and diversified economy anchored by technology, healthcare, and finance sectors along the Wasatch Front, and sustained appeal to interstate migrants seeking outdoor recreation access and relatively affordable housing compared to neighboring Colorado.

The gap between the US Census Bureau’s July 2024 estimate of roughly 3.5 million and the Gardner Institute’s more current July 2025 figure of 3,551,150 illustrates the value of Utah’s state-level demographic tracking, which tends to incorporate more granular local administrative data — building permits, school enrollment, driver’s license registrations — than the Census Bureau’s national estimation methodology alone. Both figures point toward the same underlying conclusion: Utah’s population is now firmly on a trajectory toward 3.6 million and beyond by the time 2026 draws to a close.

Utah Age Structure and Fertility Data 2026

Source: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Title V Needs Assessment, Utah State Overview, 2025; Utah Department of Health Vital Records

Utah’s fertility rate ranking tells a story of gradual convergence toward national norms even as the state retains its historical distinction as one of America’s highest-birth-rate states. The slide from 1st place nationally in 2014 to 5th in 2021 and 7th in 2022 reflects the same broader demographic forces reshaping fertility across the country — rising education levels, delayed marriage and childbearing, and increasing cost-of-living pressures — even as Utah’s fertility rate of 61.3 births per 1,000 women remains meaningfully above the national average of 59.7. This gradual decline in relative ranking, combined with five consecutive years of falling raw birth numbers through 2020, suggests Utah’s historically exceptional fertility advantage is narrowing over time rather than disappearing outright.

The state’s remarkably young median age of 30.3 years — nearly nine years below the national median — remains one of Utah’s most distinctive demographic features nationally, trailing only a small handful of states for the youngest overall population. This youthful age structure has direct economic implications: a larger working-age-to-dependent ratio, strong school enrollment growth in fast-expanding suburban districts, and a labor force pipeline that continues to support Utah’s rapidly growing technology and healthcare sectors along the Wasatch Front.

Utah Racial and Religious Composition 2026

UTAH POPULATION BY RACE/ETHNICITY (2020 CENSUS)
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
White (non-Hispanic)     ████████████████████████████████████  75.36%
Hispanic/Latino          ████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  15.07%
Two or more races        ██░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  3.68%
Asian                    █░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  2.40%
Black/African American   █░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  1.14%
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Source: 2020 US Census; Health Resources and Services Administration BRFSS data, 2020–2022; HRSA Title V Needs Assessment

Utah’s racial growth patterns between 2010 and 2020 reveal that essentially all of the state’s diversification is occurring among minority populations growing far faster than the white majority: the Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander population grew 50.4%, followed by Asian residents at 45.5% and Hispanic/Latino residents at 37.6%, compared to just 8.1% growth among the white population over the same decade. Projections cited in Utah’s official demographic overview suggest racial and ethnic minorities will make up 35% of the state’s total population by 2060, a substantial shift from the current roughly 25% minority share, driven by both differential birth rates and continued in-migration to Utah’s growing metropolitan job centers.

The decline in LDS Church membership share from 52.2% in 2020 to 47.7% in 2022, based on Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey data, marks a notable shift for a state whose identity has been closely tied to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since its 19th-century settlement. Even as this share declines gradually, Utah remains home to the world headquarters of the LDS Church, and religious attendance in the state remains the highest of any US state, with 53% of Utah adults reporting weekly worship attendance — a figure that continues to distinguish Utah’s civic and cultural life even as its raw denominational composition shifts modestly over time.

Utah’s Largest and Fastest-Growing Cities 2026

UTAH'S LARGEST CITIES — 2026 ESTIMATED POPULATION
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Salt Lake City   ████████████████████████████████████████  222,706
West Valley City ████████████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  137,047
West Jordan      ████████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  116,737
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Fastest growing: Saratoga Springs +7.67%/yr | West Haven +7.36%/yr | Eagle Mountain +6.33%/yr

Source: World Population Review, Utah Cities 2026; Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, Inaugural Subcounty Population Estimates, May 5, 2026

Salt Lake City’s growth rate of 1.96% annually, pushing its population up 10.95% since the 2020 Census to an estimated 222,706 residents, reflects a broader pattern researchers have specifically flagged in Utah’s capital: rather than sprawling outward, much of the city’s recent growth has come from dense multifamily construction, with roughly one in five new housing units added along the entire Wasatch Front between 2023 and 2024 located within Salt Lake City itself. Demographer Megan Rabe has also noted that the relocation of the Utah State Correctional Facility from Draper to Salt Lake City in 2022 added thousands of residents to the city’s official count, a factor worth understanding when interpreting the capital’s growth figures.

The suburban growth story is even more dramatic: Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain, both in rapidly expanding Utah County, added 4,682 and 4,169 people respectively in just the single year between 2024 and 2025, according to the Gardner Institute’s inaugural subcounty estimates — the first time Utah has ever produced a comprehensive, place-level population dataset covering all 255 incorporated cities and towns statewide. Notably, this same dataset found that mid-sized cities with populations between 5,000 and 19,999 residents recorded the fastest average growth rate of any city-size category at 1.5% between 2024 and 2025, led by Salem (9.1%), Mapleton (8.9%), and Nibley (8.1%) — suggesting Utah’s fastest relative growth is increasingly happening in smaller, established communities rather than only in headline-grabbing exurban boomtowns.

Utah County-Level Population Distribution 2026

Source: World Population Review, Utah 2026; Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute Subcounty Population Estimates, May 2026

The contrast between Washington County’s 16.4% growth and San Juan County’s 1.8% decline, both measured since the 2020 Census, captures the geographic unevenness beneath Utah’s strong statewide growth numbers. Washington County, anchored by St. George in Utah’s southwestern corner, has become one of the state’s premier retirement and lifestyle-migration destinations, drawing residents from California and other high-cost Western states with its warmer climate and lower cost of living relative to comparable Sun Belt destinations. San Juan County, by contrast, Utah’s largest county by land area at 7,820 square miles, remains sparsely populated and rural, illustrating the same rural-versus-urban divergence pattern found across most fast-growing Western states.

The finding that 172 of Utah’s 284 tracked communities grew between 2024 and 2025, while 100 experienced population decline, offers useful nuance to the state’s overall growth narrative: even amid Utah’s strong aggregate numbers, a genuinely substantial minority of the state’s smaller towns and rural communities are shrinking, a pattern consistent with the broader national trend of population increasingly concentrating in larger metropolitan and suburban areas at the expense of smaller rural communities. For readers interested in how this pattern compares to states experiencing the opposite demographic trajectory, our Alaska State Population report documents a state managing modest growth despite 12 consecutive years of net out-migration, offering a useful contrast to Utah’s much stronger and more broadly distributed expansion.

Utah Migration and Regional Comparison 2026

Source: Utah State University Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy; TradingEconomics/Utah Population data, 2025; The World Data, Wyoming Population 2025

Placed alongside its Mountain West neighbors, Utah’s growth trajectory stands out for combining both strong natural increase and continued in-migration, a dual-engine growth model that distinguishes it from states like Wyoming, where population expansion depends almost entirely on migration due to a much older age structure and lower birth rate. Our Wyoming Population report documents that Wyoming’s natural increase contributed just 403 people to its population growth in the most recent year, compared to migration’s 2,146-person contribution — a stark contrast to Utah, where births continue to substantially outpace deaths thanks to the state’s much younger population and higher fertility rate.

This distinction matters for long-term demographic planning: states relying primarily on migration for growth, like Wyoming, are inherently more vulnerable to economic downturns or shifting migration preferences, while Utah’s stronger natural-increase component provides a more stable underlying growth floor, even as in-migration continues to add meaningfully to the state’s overall expansion. For broader national context on how migration patterns have shifted the makeup of fast-growing states like Utah in recent years, our US Immigrant Population Statistics report documents the national immigration trends that continue to shape state-level population dynamics across the country, including in destination states experiencing Utah’s kind of sustained economic and demographic growth.

Data Reliability Notes for Utah Population Statistics 2026

Source: Cross-referenced Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, US Census Bureau, and HRSA data, current as of mid-2026

Because Utah’s state-level demographic tracking through the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute typically runs slightly ahead of the US Census Bureau’s own national estimates in both timeliness and geographic granularity, this report prioritizes the Institute’s July 2025 figure of 3,551,150 as the most current authoritative statewide population count. Readers should note that the first-ever statewide subcounty (city-by-city) population estimates, released in May 2026, currently cover only the single year of change between 2024 and 2025, meaning multi-year city-level growth trend comparisons in this report draw on a combination of this new dataset and earlier Census Bureau city population estimates where noted.

Disclaimer: This research report is compiled from publicly available sources. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is given as to the completeness or reliability of the information. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions, losses, or damages of any kind arising from the use of this report.

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