The Summit County government added a new data tool to its belt this year, Placer.ai. According to Economic Development and Housing Director Jeff Jones, it tracks visitation, among other trends.
“They utilize cell phone signals and the use of, say, when somebody opens an app on their mobile phone, or Bluetooth signals,” he said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” back in May. “They get this data from a variety of sources, and they dump it into a hopper, and they start to separate it out.”
Placer.ai is anonymous but can distinguish between tourists, commuters and full-time residents.
Jones published data July 16 tracking visitor activity each year from 2019 to 2025.
It shows that the number of employees and inbound commuters grew more than 40% during that time, while the number of out-of-market visitors and non-resident visits declined slightly.
“I'm finding that the tool seems to be very reliable as a trend and comparison tool, and maybe not as accurate when you're looking at one, specific site location,” Jones said.
Placer.ai data shows visitors are now spending, on average, 20% less time in Summit County than they did in 2019.
Staff say the data makes Summit County look “increasingly like a workday/day-trip destination and less like a place people linger.”
Anecdotally, locals say they’re spending more time looking at taillights in traffic, especially in Kimball Junction.
Jones’ data suggests those cars don’t hold as many out-of-staters or visitors from the Wasatch Front. They’re full of a growing number of workers serving a thinner contingent of tourists.
Summit County’s full-time population has been mostly flat since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, even shrinking some years.
The Utah Division of Workforce Services estimated in March that 21,000 people work in Summit County but live elsewhere.
Jones shared the data and insights with fellow members of the Economic Development Advisory Board July 16. The data informs how the committee disburses state grant money to help both businesses and the workforce.
