The Economy of Utah and Salt Lake City

The earliest exploration of Utah by an American was in 1824. The real history of modern Utah commences in 1847 with the arrival of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, popularly known as the Mormons. With the acquisition of the area by the United States at the conclusion of the Mexican War, the Mormon settlers started applying for statehood. They were successful only in 1896 with the Mormon Church's renunciation of polygamy.

More than three fourths of the population of Utah reside in the 100 mile strip from Ogden to Provo that includes Salt Lake City. The rest of Utah is sparsely settled and a high proportion is owned by the government, State and Federal. Altogether the Federal and State Government of Utah own about 70 percent of Utah.

Agriculture is highly dependent upon irrigation and three quarters of the income in agriculture come from stock raising. Mineral production, particularly of rare metals such as gold, silver, molybdenum, uranium and beryllium, is important. Printing, publishing, software, and high technology manufacturing are also important. Salt Lake City is a transportation hub and a regional market city.

About two out of three of the people of Utah are Mormon and the Church plays an important role in the political and cultural life. This shows up in the relatively strong emphasis given to education in Utah. Liquor sales are restricted and gambling prohibited.

Utah is growing rapidly and this is reducing the Mormon influence. Salt Lake City was selected to host the Olympic Games of 2002.

In the 21st century the economy of Salt Lake City has been doing very well.

With a GDP of perhaps $70 billion in 2008 Salt Lake City has an economy comparable to that of the whole nation of Vietnam.