Utah's population grew fastest in nation

Utah's population grew faster than any other state last year, the Census Bureau said Monday.

It estimated that Utah's population grew by 2.5 percent between July 1, 2007, and July 1, 2008, or by 67,499 people. Meanwhile, the nation's population grew only by an estimated 0.9 percent — or a rate slightly more than one-third as fast as in Utah.

"We were No. 3 in the nation the year before, so we're not all that surprised" about leading the nation now, said Utah state demographer Juliette Tennert. "It's kind of exciting, though."

Ironically, state leaders say Utah's population growth actually slowed down last year compared to recent years — even though it was still the fastest among all the states.

Utah officials also figure that growth in the state was actually a little slower than what the Census Bureau figured, because of differences in methods that each uses.

"We have a little bit better handle on what is actually happening in Utah," Tennert said about estimates prepared by the Utah Population Estimates Committee last month. "The Census Bureau has to use criteria that works for every geography in the nation. We can use other criteria that works the best for us."

The Utah Population Estimates Committee last month figured Utah's population grew by 58,225 people in the last year to a population of 2.76 million, up 2.2 percent from the previous year. The Census Bureau on Monday said it figured Utah's population grew by 67,449 people in that year to a total of 2.74 million, an increase of 2.5 percent.

The Utah Population Estimates Committee bases its numbers on some localized data that could not be used well nationally. For example, state officials use a formula that considered such data as increases in LDS Church population in Utah (up 1.9 percent in the year), increases in the number of people whom Utahns claimed as exemptions on federal tax returns (up 5.8 percent), increased housing starts (up 2.2 percent) and increases in school enrollments (up 2.2 percent).

The census bases its estimates on such things as birth and death administrative records and survey data.

The census estimated that most of Utah's growth came from "natural growth," the difference of births and deaths in the state. It estimated that 56,991 births and 13,779 deaths occurred in the state in the year — for a "natural increase" of 43,212 people.

Meanwhile, it estimated that about 24,428 people immigrated to Utah last year — with 17,605 of them coming from other states and 528 from abroad.