Utah's suburban cities see population boom in past decade

Saratoga Springs' population is now 13 times larger than it was just a decade ago.

Nearby Eagle Mountain grew eight-fold. Herriman quintupled. Lehi more than doubled.

Those are examples of explosive population growth in northern Utah County and southwestern Salt Lake County, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released Tuesday.

In the final annual estimates before the 2010 Census provides more firm numbers, the Census Bureau estimated populations for all cities and towns nationwide, as of July 1, 2009. The new data also allows measuring growth in cities for the decade between 2000 and 2009.

Most of the fastest growth in Utah was in the suburbs of Utah and Salt Lake counties.

"Those areas are contiguous to major cities, and there is land left there for development. There's still raw land and affordable homes there," said Mike Mower, state planning coordinator. "They haven't yet reached capacity for build-out. Others cities reached that capacity decades ago, like Murray, South Salt Lake and Ogden."

Mower likes showing before-and-after photos of such suburbs. One satellite photo shows Herriman in the 1990s as mostly farmland. Another from 2006 shows the same area mostly covered with sprawling new subdivisions.

Herriman's population nearly quintupled from 3,246 in 2000 to 18,378 in 2009 — and that wasn't the biggest boom in the state. It was surpassed by such other far suburbs as Saratoga Springs (which had an 1,184 percent population increase in the decade) and Eagle Mountain (a 670 percent increase).

Nicole Martin, economic development director for Herriman, said growth came early in the decade because credit was easy, and that helped people afford the large tracts and large houses offered at the time in Herriman. Many of the homes then were in the $400,000 to $500,000 range.

When the recession hit, building slowed.

"We had our fair share of foreclosures," Martin said. "But those foreclosed subdivisions and homes are starting to be picked up, and I think things are turning around."

She added that most housing being built there now is "more entry-level and more affordable with smaller lots."