Utah Demographics

The center of population of Utah is located in Utah County in the city of Lehi [17]. As of 2005, Utah has an estimated population of 2,469,585, which is an increase of 48,877, or 2.0%, from the prior year and an increase of 236,387, or 10.6%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 186,411 people (that is 254,433 births minus 68,022 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 16,173 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 49,995 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 33,822 people.

Much of the population lives in cities and towns along the Wasatch Front, a metropolitan region that runs north-south with the Wasatch Mountains rising on the eastern side. The rest of the state is mostly rural or wilderness. Utah has a higher percentage of people sharing a single religious denomination than any other state.

Utah contains 5 metropolitan areas (Logan, Ogden-Clearfield, Salt Lake City, Provo-Orem, and St. George), and 5 micropolitan areas (Brigham City, Heber, Vernal, Price, and Cedar City).

The St. George metropolitan area is currently the second-fastest growing in the country after the Las Vegas metropolitan area, while the Heber micropolitan area is also the second-fastest growing in the country (behind Palm Coast, Florida).[13] Rural agricultural areas of Juab and Millard counties have seen rapid-growth in population as well.[citation needed]

The largest ancestry groups in the state are:

• 29.0% English
• 11.5% German
• 6.8% American (Mostly British Descent)
• 6.5% Danish
• 5.9% Irish
• 4.4% Scottish
• 4.3% Swedish

Most Utahns are of Northern European descent.[14] The state has the largest percentage of residents who claim British ancestry and the largest percentage of residents of Danish ancestry in the nation[citation needed]. Anglo-Utahns are the largest group in every county except for San Juan County, which has a large Navajo Indian population. Chinese form the largest Asian group followed by other Asian groups (i.e. Japanese-Americans, Koreans, Indians and Pakistanis), and Tongans form the largest Pacific Islander group, the majority are Mormons converted in the south Pacific under LDS missionary work programs.[citation needed] Hispanics are rapidly growing in the state, especially in Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Orem/Provo area from recent immigration from Latin America, mostly from Mexico but some Central American and South American groups.[citation needed] Despite its relatively scarce black population, Utah does have African-Americans and a sizable proportion of new Utah residents are blacks, usually made up of middle-class professionals from California, while there's a small black community in southern Salt Lake city and Ogden near Hill Air Force Base.[citation needed]

A majority of the state's residents are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes called the Mormons or the LDS Church. As of 2004, the percentage of Utahns that are counted as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is 62.4% of the state's population,[4] which represent less than 50% of the population in urban areas and over 90% in rural areas.[citation needed] The only other state in the nation in which a majority of the population belongs to a single religious body is Rhode Island. There is a large and increasing number of Catholics in Utah as a result of immigration from Mexico, along with previous waves of Catholics from Italy, Austria, Germany and Ireland. Other Christian faiths in the state are mostly made up of Protestants, including Baptists, Lutherans and Methodists, which comprise about one-quarter of Utah's population. [citations needed] The Salt Lake Tribune has projected that Latter-day Saints may no longer be a majority in the state, not just the case in Salt Lake City, as early as 2030.[4]

The religion known as Mormonism has historically had a strong regional influence and has contributed to the state's restrictive attitude towards alcohol and gambling, while also contributing to its high birth rate (25% higher than the national average; the highest for a state in the U.S.).[15] Before the 1890 Manifesto, the Church's teachings of plural marriage had led to confrontation with the U.S. federal government in the Utah War.[16] The Mormons in Utah tend to have conservative views when it comes to most political issues and the majority of Utahns are registered Republicans. But the state's Mormons have shown they are moderate in certain social/moral issues[citation needed] and the early Mormon settlers in the 19th century had more registered Democrats, a common trait in farmers in the Midwestern US where most Mormons briefly lived at the time. Historically, the founders of the LDS church considered the importance of socialism in the Mormons' tradition of social welfare provided by the church and Mormon values in family, community and assistance, or "looking out for each other" would placed them in the liberal category in terms of theology.[citation needed]

The self identified religious affiliations of adults (note that numbers below do not include children, thus the disparity with the percentage identified above) living in Utah are:[17]

• Latter-day Saints - 62%
• Roman Catholics - 6%
• Episcopalians - 3%
• Baptists - 2%
• Other Christians - 3%
• Evangelicals - 1%
• Presbyterians - 1%
• Lutherans - 1%
• Methodists - 1%
• Non-religious - 17%
• Refused to identify - 4%
• Other - 3%
• Muslim - 1%

Totals are rounded. Pentecostal, Judaism, Church of Christ, Non-denominational, United Church of Christ, Jehovah's Witness, Assemblies of God, Buddhist, Church of God, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church each represent less than .5% of the population.

Due to its high total birth rate (highest of any state in the U.S.), Utah has the youngest population of any state.

The age distribution in Utah is:

• 9.4% under age 5
• 32.2% under age 18
• 59.3% ages 18 through 64
• 8.5% 65 or older

The gender makeup of Utah is:

• 49.9% female
• 50.1% male

Utah Population Density Map

Utah county boundaries

The Great Salt Lake