PRICED OUT: Is Utah too expensive?

• Position: DEVELOPMENT

Utah's population has been growing steadily for quite a while, but in the last few years, that growth has shifted into overdrive for some areas of the state.

The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah reported that from July 2020 to July 2021, the state's population grew by 58,729 people--a 1.8 percent growth. And for some counties, that growth has been even more drastic.

Iron and Washington counties in southwestern Utah had respective growth rates of 6.2 and 4.0 percent. But the county that perhaps stands out the most is Utah County, which saw an increase of 19,367 people over a year, according to the Gardner Policy Institute. According to the US Census Bureau, from 2010 to 2018, Utah County's population grew by roughly 102,000 people.

And that growth isn't just the result of more births than deaths. In 75 percent of Utah's counties, net migration accounted for most population growth over the last year. The Gardner Institute report claims it's too soon to know if this is the start of a more significant trend or a temporary pandemic effect.

Regardless, the population of Utah Valley will almost certainly see a significant increase going forward. By 2060, the Gardner Institute projects that Utah County will gain 673,964 residents, which would account for 30 percent of the state's total projected growth during that period.

California 2.0

Rapid population growth can bring challenges. It requires lots of new housing, can put strains on growing school districts, and create environmental issues. Finding solutions for all three of these challenges is among the 12 priorities the Salt Lake Chamber listed for 2022. It's challenging to rank the challenges of a growing region, but it ultimately starts with housing, Salt Lake Chamber President and CEO Derek Miller says.

"People have to have a place to live, and right now, the trajectory that we are on as far as our skyrocketing housing prices is simply not sustainable," he says. "We risk becoming a place like a San Francisco, or a Silicon Valley, or a Seattle--that prices people out of the market in such a way that it damages the balance of the economy because you no longer have people that can afford to live in the place that they work ... And the trajectory that we are on is leading in exactly that direction. We have to do all we can to bend that curve and change that trajectory."

Gordon Jacobson, EVP of Development Services for Colliers, says that he has clients from California's...