Latino population still motoring Utah’s population growth, as in rest of the nation

SALT LAKE CITY — Once again, the Hispanic population motored growth across Utah, accounting for nearly half of the state’s population growth between 2023 and 2024, paralleling the national trend.

Likewise, Hispanic people were key to growth in the state’s largest counties, including Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Utah counties, according to new population estimates for 2024 released late last week by the U.S. Census Bureau.

 

According to the new numbers, which break down population estimates at the county level by race and ethnicity, Utah’s estimated population for 2024 totaled 3.5 million, up from 3.44 million for 2023, a 1.75% increase.

• The number of Latinos grew by 29,822 in the one-year span, accounting for 49.4% of the overall statewide population increase of 60,391.
• Non-Hispanic white people accounted for the next largest increase, growing by 15,843, 26.2% of overall growth.

At the national level, Latinos accounted for 58.8% of the overall U.S. population increase of 3.3 million to 340.1 million in 2024. The non-Hispanic white population across the country fell by 226,000.

Latinos similarly powered growth in Utah between 2022 and 2023, as on the national level.

• As of 2024, Latinos accounted for 16.9% of Utah’s total population, up from 16.3% in 2023.
• Non-Hispanic white people accounted for 74.4% of Utah’s population as of 2024, down from 75.2% a year earlier, according to the updated estimates.
• Here’s a look at the estimates for some selected Utah counties:
  

  Salt Lake County

  The Latino population grew by 12,172, accounting for 77.4% of Salt Lake County’s overall population increase of 15,730. The Asian population increased by 27%, or 4,241 people, while the non-Hispanic white population fell by 3,172.

  White people accounted for 65.9% of the county’s population as of 2024. Latinos accounted for 21.9% of the total, up from 21.2% a year earlier, and Asian people, the third-largest ethnic or racial group, accounted for 5.1% of the total.

  The county’s total population as of 2024 was 1.22 million.