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Utah’s average household has more buying power than anywhere else in the nation, according to research from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute . That’s despite rising housing costs and reflects the Beehive State’s strong economic growth, Gardner Institute economists said.
Utah had the highest-growing gross domestic product of any state in the country last year and is considered the top economy by a conservative, nonprofit group focused on limited government. When evaluating the state’s economic growth using income as a metric, Natalie Roney, a research economist at the Gardner Institute, noted that this approach also makes Utah look good. Larger households up income potential The state has the eighth-highest median household income in the nation, based on data from the U.
S. Census Bureau . Utah’s rating is high largely because its typical household has more people than in other states.
“We just have more workers per household, meaning there’s more income potential in our average household,” Roney said. Utah jumps to the top spot when using U.S.
Bureau of Economic Analysis data to adjust for cost of living. Roney said that while Utah’s low cost of living might surprise some people due to current housing costs, there are reasons the state’s expensive market doesn’t have as much of an impact. Housing costs are above the national average, based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis that Roney showed during a recent presentation.
But goods, utilities and other services are lower. Utilities, in particular, are much lower. Roney added that the cost-of-living data doesn’t capture higher housing costs in recent years because the average household already owns its home.
Below the national cost-of-living average Although Utah overall has a low cost-of-living index, regional price parity — or RPP – varies by county. Summit County has the highest RPP score, something Roney described as “not really surprising.” The county is home to Park City and some of the most expensive housing in the state and was the only county with a score above 100, a marker representing the national cost-of-living average.
Wasatch County has the second-highest score, followed by urban centers, like counties along the Wasatch Front and Washington County. The lowest cost of living is in Emery County, while other rural counties round out the bottom of the regional price parity scores. business-friendly In general, Utah is well-positioned for success, said Phil Dean, chief economist at the Gardner Institute.
“We often get asked, ‘Why is Utah experiencing this growth?’ It has been very robust, very strong,” he said. “I always go back to Utah’s very strong fundamentals.” Those fundamentals, he said, are a young and well-educated population, a diverse economy, business-friendly policies and the ability to talk to each other and work together – Utah’s “secret sauce.
” Consistently ranked top economy by nonprofit Other economists agree, including those who put together the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Rich States, Poor States report . The latest report, released earlier this month by the conservative group, again ranks Utah as the top state economy in the nation. The report has 18 iterations and has consistently recognized the Beehive State as having the best economic outlook based on 15 policy variables.
“Rich States, Poor States” particularly recognizes Utah’s lack of a state-level inheritance tax, the state’s right-to-work status and low federal minimum wages, though it notes that Tennessee and North Carolina could catch up The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC , is a nonprofit that brings together conservative-minded state lawmakers and corporations to draft model legislation. It describes its point of view as “dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets and federalism.” In Utah, Republican lawmakers Sen.
Lincoln Fillmore and Rep. Karianne Lisonbee serve as ALEC’s state chairs, according to the group’s website . Jonathan Williams , the organization’s president and chief economist, recalled coming to Utah after the first report, shortly after the state passed a flat tax, which made all taxable income subject to the same rate.
If Utah’s Republican supermajority hadn’t passed additional conservative legislation in the years since, he said, ALEC projects the state would have been ranked 23rd this year instead of first. The state’s advantage, Gov. Spencer Cox believes, is that leaders look ahead to make sure they are “planting trees not for our shade but for the shade of a future generation.
” House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, paraphrased Wayne Gretzky — the Canadian hockey legend who celebrated Donald Trump’s return to the White House at Mar-a-Lago on election night — by saying lawmakers know they need to “skate to where the puck is going to be,” and that gives him optimism. Megan Banta is The Salt Lake Tribune’s data enterprise reporter, a philanthropically supported position . The Tribune retains control over all editorial decisions.
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