And the wave of affluent retirees, except for Utah's southwest corner in St. George, has mostly gone elsewhere, remaking towns like Grand Junction, Colo., and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Compared with the economies of its five immediate neighbors — Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona — Utah's is least dependent on, or in a downturn least helped by, the "nonwage" income that retirees have to spend from annuities and investments, according to Headwaters Economics, a nonprofit research group in Bozeman, Mont.

And in what is perhaps the cruelest paradox of all, Utah spends less on health care than its neighbors, according to Headwaters, with healthy habits, fewer old people and abstention from alcohol and tobacco by practicing Mormons the biggest factors. Health care spending is usually one of the most stable sectors of all in a downturn.

Economists say the nation's economic turmoil is hitting differently around the country depending on the local mix of weaknesses and strengths.

Parts of the Midwest connected to the auto industry are getting smacked by continued troubles in Detroit, but are expected to be hurt least in the decline of new housing starts in 2008, according to Moody's Economy.com.

The Rocky Mountain West, partly led downward by Utah, is expected to have the biggest percentage decline in construction jobs and housing starts this year, while the Southeast is likely to suffer least in total job growth. The Northeastern states, the company's 2008 projections say, will take the biggest hit in total value of goods produced, called gross state product.

But some important old differences remain in Utah, too. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will spend more than $1.5 billion in Salt Lake City over the next few years on a complete renovation of several downtown blocks. That is going to happen no matter what, said Mark Knold, the senior economist for the Utah Department of Workforce Services. "The Mormon Church is recession-proof," he said.

And so, it would seem, is Ari Bishop. Bishop, a 27-year-old sales executive, has ridden the wave of economic life. He went into real estate when Salt Lake City was exploding with growth. He bought and sold a house and had two children with his wife, Bene.

Now he sells training packages to people learning to work a new growth sector: foreclosures and bank-owned properties. It was boom times here before, Bishop said, and now boom times again, sort of.

"It's a little different angle," he said. "But we're just going with the market."