Over 85,000 people attended the 2025 Sundance Film Festival in Park City and Salt Lake City, according to an annual economic impact report commissioned by the arts nonprofit.
That marks a 17% increase in visitation when compared to the 2024 festival. In-person attendance, however, is down nearly 40% since the 2020 event, which took place weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic rattled the U.S.
The report says about one-third of visitors to the 2025 festival came from out of state.
California residents make up 34% of that group, followed by New York at 10% and Texas with 7%. Colorado, the new home of Sundance starting in 2027, accounted for 3% of out-of-state visitors.
A plurality of non-resident visitors reported a household income of $300,000 or more. Those who traveled to Sundance were also more likely to spend time in Park City than Salt Lake City. Sixty-one percent of nonresidents attended between two to five days of the festival.
Eighty-two percent of Utahns spent only one or two days at the event. A majority of in-state attendees came from Salt Lake County, followed by Summit County at 21% and Utah County at 9%.
Over three-fourths of Sundance attendees said they didn’t plan to ski or snowboard during the festival.
The report indicates a majority of the audience were women, who accounted for two-thirds of the 2025 crowd.
Sundance officials announced earlier this year that the annual film festival will move to Boulder, Colorado in 2027 after calling Utah home for over four decades.
The report estimates that Sundance 2025 contributed nearly $200 million to Utah’s economy and supported over 2,600 jobs. The survey’s authors note that most of the economic impact is “due to spending brought in by visitors to the state.”
