SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s most populated city accounted for about 1 in every 5 new housing unit between 2023 and 2024, which likely helped it claim its title as the fastest-growing city along the Wasatch Front.
That’s one of the findings of a Wasatch Front housing report published by the Utah Population Committee and the University of Utah Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute on Monday. Davis, Salt Lake, Utah and Weber counties added nearly 18,000 new housing units between July 1, 2023, and July 1 of last year, helping the region gain 36,730 residents over that time.
Nearly 3,700 of the new housing units were built in Salt Lake City alone, while Salt Lake County as a whole added a little more than half of the new units. Another one-third of the new units were built in Utah County, which still accounted for the largest population increase among the four counties, according to the report.
The total number was a drop-off from over 28,000 new units added in 2022. High interest rates and rising project costs were a few reasons why building permits likely slowed down, institute officials reported in February.
Salt Lake City gained the most residents over the analyzed period, adding about 4,450 new residents — although new units don’t always result in higher populations. New units can range in household size and don’t account for occupancy or vacancy rates, as well as any potential unit loss caused by demolition.
It wasn’t much of a surprise that Salt Lake City topped the list, though, as it matches U.S. Census Bureau estimates released in May. It’s also the third-straight year it led the region in the committee’s data. The city’s pull includes holding 1 in every 4 jobs in the state on top of building more units, Natalie Gochnour, director of the Gardner Policy Institute, explained back in May.
“Salt Lake City is on the leaderboard for activity, for dynamism (and) for things happening,” she said at the time.
The Utah Population Committee’s data mirrored other federal population estimates, despite differences in how population data is tracked between the two sides. Both listed Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain as the second- and third-fastest growing cities in the region between mid-2023 and mid-2024.
American Fork and Magna rounded out the Utah Population Committee’s Top 5, while Lehi and American Fork rounded out the Census Bureau’s Top 5. Lehi was sixth in the committee list, while Herriman and Spanish Fork also landed Top 10 among both lists.
The two sides differed on a few cities, as Highland and West Valley City landed in the Top 10 of the committee list. Syracuse, Vineyard and Riverton were among the 10 fastest-growing cities on the Census Bureau list when only counting the Wasatch Front region.
Magna led in population percentage growth within the committee report, a category led by Vineyard within Wasatch Front communities in the Census Bureau data. Both sides also come to the same conclusion, which is that the Wasatch Front continues to be the largest population magnet in the state.
“The communities along the Wasatch Front … (accounted) for 72.9% of the state’s growth,” Gardner Policy Institute researchers wrote. “This growth was distributed among 77 incorporated cities and towns and the four unincorporated portions of each county.”
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