Poll: A third of Utahns say housing costs are so expensive they’ve considered moving out of state

The price of housing is causing a significant number of Utahns to consider leaving leaving the state for some place that’s more affordable, according to a new poll.

Even though a majority of Utahns, 56%, say housing is too expensive but they aren’t going anywhere, a third agreed with the statement, “Housing is so expensive that I’ve considered moving out of state.”

That sentiment was strongest among Utahns under 30, with 58% of those in that age group looking at a possible move to find affordable housing. The numbers were also higher among those who weren’t born in Utah, or who have lived here less than 20 years.

Just 6% of Utahns overall say housing is affordable in the state and another 5% aren’t sure, according to results released Friday from a Utah Public Opinion Pulse Poll conducted by Phoenix-based Noble Predictive Insights

The nonpartisan public opinion polling, market research, and data analytics firm said a total of 609 Utah registered voters were surveyed March 11-13 and that the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

“The storm cloud in these numbers is that young voters and newer transplants — who drive economic progress and keep the state lively — say they’re most likely to move,” David Byler, chief of research for Noble Predictive Insights, said.

But, he added, “The silver lining is that they don’t want to move — and that people will stay if the state can get housing prices under control.”

Keeping Utah’s younger generations from having to leave the state to buy homes has been a priority of Gov. Spencer Cox and other state leaders. The governor’s housing adviser, Steve Waldrip, has said housing has “become a moral issue.”

Affordable housing is the top issue for 21% of Utahns polled, ahead of every other option including inflation, health care, education, taxes, immigration, climate change and abortion. A majority of Utahns, 53%, selected affordable housing as one of their top three concerns.

“Cost is the key economic concern right now,” Byler said. “Not unemployment. Not taxes. Cost. And voters are telling us that housing prices are driving the cost crisis.”

The poll results were less decisive when it came to proposed solutions.

Asked if they’d be willing to move further from their work if new, less expensive housing was built, 43% of Utahns said an additional half-hour commute was an acceptable tradeoff, but 35% said they wouldn’t move and 22% weren’t sure.

And 49% of Utahns said they’d support building new apartments nearby to lower housing costs, but 32% were opposed and 19%, unsure. Support was higher in Salt Lake County, the poll found, but lower in Utah County.

Byler said it’s younger voters, newer transplants and families thinking about moving away from Utah due to housing costs who are “the most willing to relocate within the state and/or support new apartment construction for more affordable housing.”

Another poll, released by Envision Utah in January, showed more than two-thirds of Utahns believe the state is dealing with serious or even crisis-level housing issues. But there was disagreement over the cause, with only just over a third blaming the short supply.

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