Guiding our Growth

A statewide conversation about Utah's future

About

Guiding our Growth is a statewide conversation about how we can keep Utah a great place for our families and communities as we grow. It is a broad effort to explore what actions make sense in the face of our ongoing population increases.

The effort started in Fall 2021 when the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget (GOPB) was asked to work with community partners to develop a proposal for a statewide growth conversation. The project team included GOPB and additional organizations from all over the state, providing a variety of perspectives and expertise areas. These groups include the state’s seven associations of government, Utah League of Cities and Towns (ULCT), Envision Utah, Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, Utah Land Use Institute, and the Department of Workforce Services.

The effort was funded by the generous support of the Utah State Legislature, and Utahns provided input via the Guiding Our Growth survey in the middle of 2023. Leaders are now using the survey results to guide policy decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to frequently asked questions about the Guiding Our Growth initiative can be found below.

Educate Utahns on growth facts.
Help Utahns explore and understand the effects of different growth options on our state’s water, housing, transportation, and open space.
Solicit input on community growth preferences and potential solutions to manage growth.
Generate a series of “Big Ideas” (strategic investments or policy direction) for decision-makers to guide our growth and preserve what makes Utah special.
Support local and regional planning efforts by sharing public input and perception information.

Last decade, nearly two-thirds of Utah’s growth came from natural increase (more births than deaths).
In the near future, natural increase will account for more of our growth. Starting in the 2040s, our growth will primarily come from outside the state. This is due to the demographic changes in our population and Utah’s great economy.
Utah is growing because it has a prosperous economy and a high quality of life.
Our children tend to stay, and others join us.

What makes Utah great is also what makes it grow.
According to public opinion surveys, existing Utahns choose to stay here and new people join us because of:
- A strong economy that provides ample job opportunities
- Utah’s natural beauty
- Well-maintained infrastructure
- Affordable cost of living and doing business
- A safe, neighborly culture
- Convenient access to open space and recreation
Limited tools are available to stop or slow population growth in Utah. And, if implemented, such strategies would likely have negative impacts on many of the reasons Utahns choose to stay, like the strong economy and job opportunities.

Like any commodity, housing costs are tied to supply and demand. If Utah communities were to stop approving and building new housing, there would be an unmet demand, and housing costs would increase.
Housing costs may reach a threshold where demand decreases because most people will be priced out of the market and will look elsewhere for housing.
Existing homeowners would build wealth from increased home and property values. However, stopping housing construction would mean that many Utah households, especially those who are younger or lower-income, would need to double up (e.g., live in their parents’ house) or move out of state to find housing they can afford.

Not promoting economic development or offering incentives would only slow growth to the extent that it would weaken our economy and make Utah a less attractive place to live — both for those who grew up here and for those who might otherwise move here.
Typically, businesses bring jobs to the state rather than employees. Supplying Utah’s natural growth with opportunities for high-paying jobs means our kids and existing residents can continue to live here.
Businesses choose to locate in Utah because we have a hard-working, highly educated, and talented workforce. Attracting high-paying jobs for those who attend school in Utah is the greatest return on investment.
Sixty-six percent of businesses that state economic development organizations work with on expansion and retention are already operating in Utah.
Recent changes to Utah’s business incentive program provide more opportunities for companies to expand outside the Wasatch Front by offering a higher incentive in rural areas. This change has prompted many companies to look first to more rural areas of the state for doing business.
Utah’s business incentive programs allow us to attract the attention of the very best projects that offer high-paying jobs, complement our state’s goals, facilitate good partnerships, and promote responsible stewardship. Giving up the incentives program could mean we would not have a tool to be selective about the types of projects being added to our community.
Utah’s economy has benefited from being the fifth most diverse in the nation for types of industries represented. This provides resilience and more stability during economic downturns.
States that have adopted unfriendly business policies have found it very difficult to backtrack and regain the trust of business owners. If a downturn in the economy occurs and Utahns decide they would like to see more growth again, it would take time to rebuild a business-friendly environment and reputation.

Over the last 10 years, the Utah visitor economy has matured, and so has the marketing strategy. Today’s visitor economy is about having the right mix of marketing and destination management that will continue to create economic benefits while protecting quality of life for Utah residents.
Some may argue that everyone knows about Utah, and we don’t need to market, but the purpose of marketing is to attract the right visitors to the right destinations in the right seasons with the right preparation. The Utah Office of Tourism works to attract quality visitors who will respect Utah land and invest in our local communities.
States lose millions of dollars when they cut back on tourism marketing. According to Tourism Economics, in 2009 Pennsylvania was spending $30 million annually on tourism marketing. By 2015, the tourism marketing budget had been reduced below $7.5 million annually. The state saved $125 million in marketing funds but lost $7.7 billion in visitor spending which once generated $449 million in state tax revenue.
Many Utah communities, particularly in rural areas, depend heavily on tax revenues from visitor spending to fund local needs including schools, highways, counties, cities, special services districts and cultural arts centers.
Tourism contributes $10.56 billion in annual traveler spending which generates $1.81 billion in state and local tax revenue and supports 130,600 jobs for Utahns. These contributions help fund improvements to our infrastructure and new community amenities.
Visitors contribute to building Utah outdoor recreation. A Statewide Transient Room Tax (lodging tax) established in 2015 earmarks funds to expand outdoor recreation infrastructure throughout the state for the benefit of residents and visitors alike. More than $35 million has been allocated.
Many parts of the state have tourism-dependent economies and businesses. These include Utah-owned hotels, recreation outfitters, guide services, and restaurants. Declining visitation means fewer resources available to these communities, causes an economic hit and hurts locally-owned businesses, and ultimately affects quality of life for residents who also rely on businesses supported by tourism in their communities.
The Utah Office of Tourism’s Red Emerald Strategic Plan focuses on community-led development, ensuring each unique Utah destination creates a visitor economy that is appropriate and customized for its needs. Shifts in visitation to destinations interested in growing their local visitor economies, and working to remove pressures from other areas where visitation may be too great at certain times of the year – these are all priorities for the Office and its partners.

Growth, persistent drought conditions, and warming temperatures require a reevaluation of how we use and manage water in Utah.
Utah water providers believe that if we are wise with our water resources and use less water per capita, we will have adequate water to accommodate population growth — along with robust agriculture, a healthy environment, and safe outdoor recreation.
The majority of Utah’s diverted water is allocated to agricultural irrigation.
Many Utah farmlands are likely to be converted to development over time. As that occurs, agricultural water rights can help meet the demands of new development.
As water becomes more scarce, its economic value will increase. Water scarcity will increase the cost of building homes, but this is unlikely to stop development.

More housing may create greater water consumption, but it depends on a variety of factors.
Indoor water use comprises roughly one-third of Utah’s total residential water consumption. That water is cleaned and returned to rivers. It can also become “secondary water” for landscaping.
Two-thirds of Utah’s residential water use is for outdoor irrigation.
Outdoor residential water consumption depends on three factors:
- Size of irrigated area. The larger the outdoor space to be irrigated, the more water it consumes.
- Landscaping plant choices. Turf grass uses far more water than native and drought-tolerant plants.
- Irrigation efficiency. Highly efficient irrigation delivers the right amount of water to the right plants and locations. Less efficient irrigation may lose water to evaporation or wind, or it may water areas that don’t need irrigation, such as driveways, sidewalks, drought-resistant plants, or areas that recently received rainwater.
As housing unit density increases with more homes per square mile, residents have smaller or no yards, so outdoor water use per capita decreases as a general rule.
As new developments are built where irrigated farmlands previously existed, water once used for agriculture will shift to new development use, leading to no net increase in water consumption, especially if new developments are designed to be water efficient.
A growing population and water resource uncertainty require all Utahns to do their part to consume less water.

Supporters

Organizations supporting the Guiding Our Growth initiative are listed below.