Ninety-nine percent of Wasatch County renters cannot afford to buy a median-priced home. It’s about the same in Summit County, where 97% of renters are priced out.
That’s according to a report on Utah’s housing market published Wednesday, Sept. 9, by the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.
Homeownership is less attainable for renters in the Wasatch Back than in the state as a whole. Overall, 91% of Utahns who rent can’t afford the median home, according to data from the first quarter of 2026.
Wasatch Back households must earn far more than the area median income to afford a 10% down payment and mortgage, according to the report.
Summit County has the highest median household income statewide, at $138,114, but the income required to buy the median home is more than triple that: $427,000.
Wasatch County’s median income is Utah’s third highest, $117,608. Annual earnings of $305,000 are required to buy a home.
Sales prices in the two counties are the highest in Utah, with a median price of $2.2 million in Summit County and $1.2 million in Wasatch County for the first quarter of this year.
