Utah on pace to add 2 million people over the next 40 years, but is growth slowing?

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah remains on pace to add 2 million more people over the next 40 years, but the state’s rate of growth may continue to slide over the next few decades, according to a new projection of statewide population trends.

The Beehive State’s population, which recently surpassed 3.5 million , is projected to surpass 5.5 million by 2065, per the updated long-term planning projection released by the University of Utah Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute on Tuesday. It’s the institute’s first update to long-term projections since 2022 , when experts estimated Utah’s population could come close to 5.5 million by 2060.

Researchers project that Utah’s population growth may quintuple the U.S. average over the next 40 years, as its employment growth triples the national average.