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The center of population of Utah is located in Utah County in the city of Lehi. As of July 1, 2008 the Census Bureau estimated Utah had a population of 2,736,424. In 2008, the US Census Bureau determined Utah to be the fastest growing state in the country in terms of population growth.
Much of the population lives in cities and towns along the Wasatch Front, a metropolitan region that runs north-south with the Wasatch Mountains rising on the eastern side. Growth outside the Wasatch Front is also increasing. The St. George metropolitan area is currently the second-fastest growing in the country after the Las Vegas metropolitan area, while the Heber micropolitan area is also the second-fastest growing in the country (behind Palm Coast, Florida).
Utah contains 5 metropolitan areas (Logan, Ogden-Clearfield, Salt Lake City, Provo-Orem, and St. George), and 5 micropolitan areas (Brigham City, Heber, Vernal, Price, and Cedar City).
The largest ancestry groups in the state are:
Most Utahns are of Northern European descent.
A majority of the state's residents are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly referred to as the Mormons or the LDS Church. As of 2007, the percentage of Utahns that are counted as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is 60.7 percent of the state's population. Mormons are now a minority in Salt Lake City, while rural areas tend to be overwhelmingly Mormon. The Salt Lake Tribune has projected that by 2030 Latter-day Saints may no longer be a majority in the state as a whole. The LDS Church has disputed these findings, publicly reporting in January 2008 that 1.8 million (or 72 percent of total Utahns) are recorded on its rolls.
Though the LDS Church officially maintains an policy of neutrality in regards to political parties, the church's doctrine has a strong regional influence on politics. Historically a majority of Utah's lawmakers have been church members; the effect has contributed to the state's restrictiveness towards alcohol (sales and content) and gambling. Another doctrine effect can be seen in Utah's high birth rate (25 percent higher than the national average; the highest for a state in the U.S.). The Mormons in Utah tend to have conservative views when it comes to most political issues and the majority of voter-age Utahns are unaffiliated voters (60%) who vote overwhelmingly Republican.
The self-identified religious affiliations of adults living in Utah are:
Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism together number less than 0.5%
Utah has a high total birth rate, and the youngest population of any U.S. state. It is also one of the few non-Southern states that has more males than females.
In 2000, the gender makeup of Utah was:
Interstate 15 is the main interstate highway in the state, entering from Arizona and spanning the state north-south, entering Idaho near Portage. It serves the primary population centers of the state, running past St. George and its suburbs (collectively known as Dixie) and Cedar City, and then spans the length of the Wasatch Front north-south, past such major cities as Provo, Orem, Sandy, West Jordan, Salt Lake City, Layton, and Ogden.
Interstate 80 spans the northern portion of the state west-east. It enters from Nevada at Wendover, traverses Salt Lake City (briefly merging with I-15 west of Downtown), then crosses the Wasatch Range, entering Wyoming just before reaching Evanston. Interstate 84 splits from I-80 at Echo, heading west through the Wasatch Range and joining I-15 southwest of Ogden. The two interstates stay merged until Tremonton, where I-84 heads northwest, entering Idaho near Snowville.
Interstate 70 splits from I-15 at Cove Fort, heading east through the mountains, past Richfield, and then east into Colorado west of Grand Junction, traversing desolate desert terrain and serving the various national parks and national monuments of southern Utah. The 103 mile (165 km) stretch of I-70 between Salina and Green River is the longest stretch of interstate in the country without any services.
A light rail system in the Salt Lake Valley, known as TRAX, consists of two lines, both ending in Downtown Salt Lake City. The original line goes south to Sandy, and the other heads east to the University of Utah. The Utah Transit Authority (UTA), which operates TRAX, also operates a bus system that stretches across the Wasatch Front and west into Tooele, and also provides winter service to the ski resorts east of Salt Lake City. Several bus companies provide access to the ski resorts in winter, and local bus companies also serve Logan, St. George and Cedar City. The Legacy Highway is a freeway, that was completed in the summer of 2008, in southern Davis County to relieve congestion on I-15 through the area. A commuter rail line, named FrontRunner, began operation in spring 2008 between Salt Lake City and Ogden, with another station under construction in Pleasant View. FrontRunner is expected to eventually span the Wasatch Front from Brigham City in the north to Payson in the south. Amtrak's California Zephyr, with one train in each direction daily, runs east-west through Utah with stops in Green River, Helper, Provo, and Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City International Airport is the only international airport in the state and serves as a hub of Delta Air Lines. The airport has consistently ranked first in on-time departures and had the fewest cancellations among U.S. airports. As of August 2008, the airport had non-stop service to over 100 destinations throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico as well as daily non-stop service to Paris, France. Non-stop service to Tokyo, Japan will commence in June 2009. Canyonlands Field (near Moab), Cedar City Regional Airport, St. George Municipal Airport, and Vernal-Uintah County Airport all provide limited commercial air service. Ground has recently been broken on creating a new, larger regional airport in St. George, due to the rapidly-growing population and the lack of room for expansion for the current airport. Completion is expected in 2011. SkyWest Airlines is also headquartered in St. George.