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Utah's population hit a new high last year. It topped 3.5 million in 2024.

Natural growth — the balancing of births to deaths — and migration were about equally responsible for the population increase, Lois Collins reported.

The numbers reveal the population has stabilized into a more normal pattern compared to what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic — a time when more migration than natural increase was a major factor in the rapid growth.

“Honestly, we’ve been anticipating slowing growth for a while,” Emily Harris, senior demographer at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute told the Deseret News. “When I look at the numbers now, they look very similar to what we were estimating in terms of raw numbers kind of pre-pandemic. So it feels like we are on the other side of the pandemic fully now.”

Read more about Utah's population growth.

The battle for Utah’s public lands

Utah has a significant amount of public lands within its borders — the second-most federally owned land in the entire country at approximately 64.9%.

The state's argument

The state is arguing that the land isn't being used effectively and could be better managed at the state level. The Supreme Court has refused to hear the case, but the state continues to seek legal solutions that would put land ownership under the state.

Are there opponents to giving the state more control of the land?

The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance filed a response lawsuit last December accusing Utah's state leaders of violating Article Three of the Utah Constitution in their bid for the lands. Article Three states that the people of Utah will “forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands within (its) boundaries” in favor of the U.S. government, Emma Pitts reported.

Utah business and philanthropy titan Spencer F. Eccles honored by MountainWest Capital

On Thursday, Spencer F. Eccles, 90, was honored with the MountainWest Capital Network’s Entrepreneur of the Year award and celebrated by family, friends, state officials and colleagues from a wide array of arenas including business, academia and philanthropy at an event in downtown Salt Lake City, Art Raymond reported.

Here are some quotes about the titan of Utah business:

Gov. Spencer Cox: “Inevitably I get to a point in that conversation when I talk about people who are not a part of government. I realized very quickly that the difference between Utah and my fellow governor’s states ... is they don’t have Spencer F. Eccles, or people like him, who are constantly giving back to make our state a better place.”
University of Utah President Taylor Randall: “Spencer Fox Eccles is a builder of individuals, he is a builder of organizations and, finally, we all know and the reason we are here today is Spencer is a builder of our community. You can go anywhere in the state and see arts organizations or nonprofits that are building our community because of the generosity of the Eccles Foundation."
His son Spencer P. Eccles: “Business is in his DNA. That’s an anchor for everything he’s done and, in many ways, it’s stemmed from being an Alpine ski racer. It taught him hard work, grit and competition, learning through success and learning through failures.”

🗓️ Events Calendar

We put together a calendar list of events and activities going on around the state of Utah during the next month. Check it out and let us know if we are missing anything!

Here are some highlights for events in Utah today:

Kanab Balloons and Tunes Roundup
Symphony of Love | Eccles Theater
“The Secret Garden” | Randall L. Jones Theatre - Southern Utah University, Cedar City
“Matilda the Musical” | Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, Salt Lake City
BYU women’s gymnastics vs. West Virginia | 7 p.m.
Weber State men’s tennis vs. San Diego State | 11:30 a.m.
UVU wrestling vs. Northern Colorado | 7 p.m.
SUU women’s gymnastics vs. Stanford University | 6:30 p.m.
Utah Tech baseball vs. Northern Colorado | 4:05 p.m.

Please reach out to me at sgambles@deseretnews.com if you have any thoughts, feedback or ideas you would like to share!

✨ Cheers ✨

— Gambles

More in Utah

Utah business and philanthropy titan Spencer F. Eccles honored by MountainWest Capital

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🗓️ Events Calendar