Newly released data from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute gives a comprehensive look at Utah subcounty population changes for the first time.
According to the report, for the first time in state history, over half of Utah’s population resides in cities with populations over 50,000. The data also show large cities in Utah and Washington counties had strong population growth from 2024 to 2025, while long-established communities are seeing population declines.
Institute Director Natalie Gochnour said this can be seen through Utah’s fastest-growing communities with 20,000 residents or more. Magna in Salt Lake City ranks sixth, Tooele City in Tooele County ranks eighth and Cedar City in Iron County rounds out the list.
“We're used to seeing St. George, and we're used to seeing, you know, the Wasatch Back, Midway, places like that, but Cedar, Tooele and Magna really popped for me,” Gochnour said. “It shows you that proximity to the urban core is still really valued, and has been able to create an environment that attracted some of this new growth.”
Heber City also made the list, coming in as Utah’s seventh-fastest-growing community with 20,000 or more residents. It added almost 700 residents from 2024 to 2025, an about 3.5% increase.
Hideout saw a 5% population increase, while unincorporated Wasatch County saw a 1% increase.
The population growth follows housing unit increases for the most part. Heber City saw an almost 7% increase in units from 2024 to 2025, Hideout an 11% increase, and unincorporated Wasatch County a 3.5% increase.
Midway had a 2.1% increase in housing units, but its population declined slightly.
Mallory Bateman, the Gardner Institute’s director of demographic research, said population declines may be due to changing household size.
“You've got just some older, more established communities where dynamics in the household are changing,” Bateman said. “I think about my parents in their community, they are still living in the house that we moved into when it was my sister and I and there were four of us. Now, there's two of them living in that household.”
Along with an aging population, Bateman said households are also smaller because families are having fewer kids and people moving to the state are typically younger adults.
Summit County has a similar pattern to Wasatch. Coalville saw the highest percent change in population with an almost 2% increase from 2024 to 2025, or about 28 residents. Unincorporated Summit County had a 0.3% increase in its population.
Both communities also saw housing unit growth, with a 2.8% increase in Coalville and a 1.3% increase in Unincorporated Summit County. Francis, Park City and Kamas also added housing units despite small population decreases.
Gochnour said the data can be used for planning and informed decision-making.
