Unveiling Utah's New Neighbors: Not just Californians

In recent years, Utah has emerged as the fastest-growing state in the United States. A new report from the University of Utah's Kem G. Gardner Policy Institute sheds light on the origins of these migrants, providing valuable insights into Utah's migration patterns. According to the study, Utah gained an average of 121,000 new residents every year between 2015 and 2019, most of whom came from other U.S. states, but which states in particular did these new residents come from? 

Top Origin Locations For People Moving To Utah:

1. Clack County, Nevada = 3,916 New Residents
2. Maricopa County, Arizona = 3,730 New Residents
3. Los Angeles County, California = 3,714 New Residents
4. King County, Washington = 2,273 New Residents
5. Madison County, Idaho = 2,098 New Residents

The study confirms previous research indicating that migrants primarily come from Western states such as Arizona, California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Outside the region, Texas and Florida make significant contributions to Utah's population growth.

Per County Migration:

• Bear River Region (Box Elder, Cache, and Rich Counties): Major sources of migration include international locations, Idaho, Arizona, and California.
• Central Utah (Juab, Sanpete, Sevier, Millard, Piute, and Wayne Counties): Significant migration is observed from Arizona, California, international locations, Colorado, and Nevada.
• Southeast Utah (Carbon, Emery, Grand, and San Juan Counties): Notable migration sources are Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Nevada.
• Southwest Utah (Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane, and Washington Counties): Migrants primarily come from California, Arizona, Nevada, international locations, and Washington.
• Uintah Basin (Daggett, Duchesne, and Uintah Counties): Major sources of migration include Colorado, Texas, California, Arizona, and Oregon.
• Wasatch Back (Morgan, Summit, and Wasatch Counties): California, international locations, New York, Colorado, and Georgia contribute significantly to migration patterns.
• Wasatch Front (Davis, Salt Lake, Tooele, Utah, and Weber Counties): The top sources of migrants are California, Idaho, Texas, Arizona, and Washington.

Where Utahns Moved In-State:

The new report also looked at migration patterns within Utah, which found that while Utah County gained the most residents from other states, Tooele County's growth "overwhelmingly" came from other parts of the state. Garfield, San Juan and Uintah counties also ended up with negative out-of-state but positive in-state migration growth between 2015 and 2019.

Meanwhile, some areas of state growth aren't bringing as many residents from inside the state. Salt Lake County and Washington County, for example, each lost more residents to other parts of the state than gained in-state residents. The same goes for eight other counties that had net out-of-state migration growth.

Only Carbon, Iron, Juab, Sanpete, Sevier, Utah, Wasatch and Weber counties ended up with growth in both in-state and out-of-state migration between 2015 and 2019, while Beaver, Box Elder, Davis, Duchesne and Grand were the only counties with losses in both categories.

Where Utahns Moved Out-Of-State:

Conversely, Utah lost residents to pretty much the same places people were moving from. That said, the number of people leaving isn't as much as the number moving in, which is why Utah boasts a strong net migration overall.

The new report finds that many Utah residents who left the state ended up in either Arizona, California, Idaho, Texas or Washington. Researchers also found that about 75% of all Utahns who move out of the state come from the Wasatch Front and southwest Utah regions.For instance, while 14,350 Californians came to the Wasatch Front every year between 2015 and 2019, an average of 7,836 residents in the Wasatch Front moved out to California. Utah also sent an average of 5,580 residents to Maricopa County, Arizona, between 2015 and 2019, which was the most of any individual county — nearly 80% of whom came from the Wasatch Front.The top five destinations for people leaving Utah every year between 2015 and 2019, are listed:

1. Clark County, Nevada (3,733)
2. King County, Washington (1,822)
3. Los Angeles County (1,617)
4. Ada County, Idaho (1,223)