Nearly 1 in 4 Utahns identifies as a racial or ethnic minority, new report shows

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Since the 1990s, Utah has grown and changed, becoming increasingly diverse. According to a new report, nearly one in four Utahns identifies as a racial or ethnic minority, and Hispanic Utahns now account for roughly 15% of the state’s population.

Published this month, the Utah Demographic Characteristics data book from the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute offers a snapshot of the state’s demographic profile, describing Utah as a “youthful, aging and predominantly urban state.”

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“The increasing racial and ethnic diversity … that’s been going on for a long time,” said Mallory Bateman, director of demographic research at Kem C. Gardner Institute.

She added: “We’ve had a lot of people moving into the state since the ‘90s, so we’re on our third decade of people moving in being a constant part of our change.”

Pulling from publicly available data, the 46-page booklet presents differences in income, education and housing as seen by age, race, sex, disability, and differences between urban/rural populations. The report also examines religious affiliation, in which Utah leads the nation.

What the report doesn’t do is try to explain or give causality to any of the differences that appear between groups, as significant gaps in income, educational attainment, and household ownership are apparent. Instead, the booklet is meant to serve as a tool to aid in decision-making and a springboard for deeper research and study.

“We just present the data, we don’t get into the ‘why’ behind any of these differences,” Bateman said. “They are pretty complex and tied to each other.”

Diversity

Per the report, the state’s diversity index — the likelihood that two people chosen at random will be from different ethnic backgrounds — was 39.0. That’s higher than 17 other states, including Ohio, Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri, and Wisconsin.

However, the figure was lower than the nation overall, which has a diversity index of 59.4.

South Salt Lake and West Valley City are the most racially and ethnically diverse cities in Utah, the report says. Only 10 states have higher diversity indexes than these cities. Among them are Hawaii, California and Maryland.

About 77% of Utahns identify as white, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. The second-largest segment is Hispanic Utahns, who account for one in seven of the state’s population.

The Gardner Institute projects that the state’s Hispanic population will increase to one in five Utahns by 2050. In that same time, the white population is expected to shrink to two in three Utahns.

The third-largest segment of the population in Utah is those who identify as “two or more races” (5.2%). Meanwhile, Asian Utahns account for 2.3% of the population, and Black Utahns make up 1.2% of the population. The percentage of the population that’s American Indian in Utah is 1%, the report says.

Income and Poverty

White and Asian populations ages 25 to 44 have the highest median personal income in Utah, the report shows. According to federal data, both these segments of the population make around $40,000 a year. The median income for the total Utah population is $38,400.

American Indian and Black populations are the two furthest below the state median, with median incomes of $26,000 and $29,000, respectively. Poverty rates for these two segments are the highest in Utah, with one in five individuals experiencing poverty.

One of the largest gaps in median income in Utah is between men and women ages 25 to 44. The median male income for this group is $54,700 while the median female income is $24,000.

Housing

Overall, Utah boasts high homeownership rates. According to the report, 70% of Utah families live in homes they own, compared to 64.6% nationally.

Yet, housing ownership status varies greatly when examined by racial and ethnic background. While 74% of white Utah families live in homes they own, only 27% of Black Utah families do, according to U.S. Census data.

Black and Hispanic Utahns also have the largest share of “cost burdens” when it comes to paying for housing. Per the report, about one in four Black, Pacific Islander and Hispanic renters pay 30% to 49% of their income for rent.

Meanwhile, Black households have the highest shares of severe housing burdens, meaning that they pay at least 50% of their income in housing.

Education

White and Asian Utahns obtain better educational outcomes than their counterparts from other racial and ethnic groups, the report said. These attainment gaps start in early education and persist through to the college level, and they in turn affect income levels and the educational attainment of the following generation.

Utah schools with a higher concentration of economically disadvantaged students tend to have worse educational outcomes, the report noted. Lower educational attainment led to lower earnings across the population groups. However, women and Utahns of color were found to earn less among those with the same level of educational attainment.

Life Expectancy

Asian Uthans live the longest, averaging 86.6 years, the report says. A more than 10-year difference exists between them and the group with the lowest life expectancy in Utah, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islanders, who live an average of 74.2 years.

White Utahns live 79.8 years on average, and that’s close to the state’s overall life expectancy of 79.5 years.

Per the report, higher shares of Utah’s minority populations suffer from chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma, depression and obesity. Of note, women in Utah suffer from depression at nearly twice the rate of men (32.1% vs 16.3%.), according to data from the Utah Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Black, Hispanic and Native America populations in Utah also have the highest uninsured rates.

Urban and Rural Populations

Nine out of 10 Utahns live in an area described as “urban” by the U.S. Census Bureau. However, these urban areas — most of which are along the Wasatch Front — account for just 1.1% of the state’s land.

As such, 11 counties in Utah are considered completely rural. These include Kane, Millard, Grand, and San Juan counties.

While lifestyles might be different between urban and rural Utahs, they share similar income levels, household types, and educational attainment levels.

Yet, the report shows that rural Utahns are less racially and ethnically diverse than their urban counterparts. They are also more likely to be without health insurance.

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