Salt Lake City sees decline in youth population
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Salt Lake City's youth population has declined to its lowest level in more than a century, according to a report by the University of Utah's Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute released this week.
The big picture: While Salt Lake City has gained nearly 20,000 new residents in the last two decades, the population of people under age 18 isn't keeping up.
- The city was home to 37,101 residents under 18 in 2020. The age group represented 18.6% of the total population at the time, per the report.
- That's compared to the 42,397 residents in 1920 that were younger than 18, accounting for about 36% of the city population, per Heidi Prior, a public policy analyst at the institute.
What's happening: Low enrollment numbers have forced the Salt Lake City School District to recommend four schools for closure.
- The district has attributed declining enrollment to families moving out of the city due to rising housing costs.
What they're saying: "The population [is] getting older, and it's a shift that I think has been a little bit postponed in Utah," Mallory Bateman, director of demographic research and state data center coordinator at the policy institute, told Axios
Details: Residents in west-side neighborhoods (Fairpark, Glendale, Poplar Grove, Rose Park, Westpointe) saw the largest drops in children under age 10.
Zoom out: The decline in young people over the last decade reflects trends seen in western cities including Boise, Idaho, Denver and Reno, Nevada, researchers noted in the report.
Yes, but: Utah remains the youngest state in the nation, with a median age of 31.9 years, per Census data.