Census bucks Utah's 'norms'

Everybody knows that single people are an endangered species in Utah, and that fewer women work here than in other states.

Utah CensusAdobe Acrobat.

It turns out everybody is wrong.

Census numbers released Tuesday show Utah bucking two of its most cherished stereotypes. The state tops the national average both for the percentage of residents who have never been married and the percentage of women in the work force.

Salt Lake City resident Casey Nelson, 24, finds it hard to believe more Utahns have never been married when the state's dominant religion, the LDS Church, emphasizes building families as a top priority.

"It just seems like it would be a main priority of young people," said Nelson, who is part of a growing number of Utahns who have never tied the knot.

Of Utah residents 15 years and older, 27.9 percent reported in 2000 they had never been married, compared to 27.1 percent nationally. And Utah's never-been-married population is growing. In 1990, it was 2.4 percent lower than its rate in 2000 — 25.5 percent.

E. Jeffrey Hill, associate professor of marriage, family and human development at Brigham Young University, suspects the increase may be because more Utahns are waiting to get married.

"People are getting married at an older age. They want to have a successful marriage, so they delay getting married," he said. "They want to be more careful."

The findings also showed that fewer Utahns were married in 2000 than were in 1990, and slightly more were divorced. But Utah still has more married people than the national average, with 58.8 percent of census respondents reporting they were currently married, compared to the national average of 54.4 percent.

While the number of Utahns who have never married may be surprising to some, the myth of a mostly male workplace has been dying for years.

Mark Knold of the Utah Department of Workforce Services says he is not at all surprised that the census reports more Utah women are working than the national average.

"That was there last census," he said.

However, he acknowledged that those who don't follow the numbers may be surprised simply because the LDS Church encourages mothers to stay home if possible.

Statewide, 61 percent of all women older than the age of 16 were in the work force in 2000, compared to 57.5 percent nationally. The percentage of women in the work force in Utah is up from 1990's 58.6 percent.