June 20, 2022(Deseret News) - High housing costs. Rapidly rising interest rates. Surging oil prices. Escalating inflation. If you don’t already own a home or if rising grocery costs don’t fit your budget, you might be excused for feeling a sense of dread. The American dream is built on homeownership and the idea that you can earn more in real dollars than your parents. But the elevated housing costs and surging interest rates are suddenly putting the first part of … Continued
June 01, 2022(Utah Policy) - Utah ranks near top on homeownership, other measures of social mobility but Beehive State tracks national decline in children outperforming parents Today, the Utah Foundation releases the seventh report in its Utah Social Capital Series with The Ladder of Success: Social Mobility in Utah. This installment focuses on the extent to which Utahns move up the socioeconomic ladder; the previous installments focused on civic engagement, social trust, community life, family life, social cohesion and the next generation. … Continued
June 01, 2022(Deseret News) - …Water districts may want to urge conservation through greatly increased water rates, adding an unpleasant, but necessary, new aspect to the inflation problem. In many Utah water districts, the true cost of water is blunted somewhat by property tax subsidies. Some districts rely on this tax base to fund long-term projects. That shouldn’t preclude them from instituting more aggressively tiered rate structures that greatly reduce overconsumption. At the same time, however, they should take care … Continued
May 16, 2022(Fox 13) - Utah’s birth rate continues to decline, impacting a number of other youth issues, according to a new report. The Utah Foundation released the report on Monday, highlighting a cascading series of policy impacts tied to the birth rate and the state’s youth. While Utah still has the highest birth rate, it has dropped by nearly a third since 2008, the report said. The entire United States reported a more modest decline. “The birth rate is … Continued
May 11, 2022(Salt Lake Tribune) - Few dividing lines in our nation are as bright as the line between those who have some form of post-secondary degree or certification and those who do not. A shortfall in post-secondary educational attainment diminishes both social capital and economic prospects. And the consequences echo through generations, as the children of those with low educational attainment are more likely to follow suit. Some of the steps to expanding post-secondary attainment involve long-term, bottom-up changes. But … Continued
May 11, 2022(Utah Policy) - Today, the Utah Foundation released a new Significant Statistic post on housing costs in Utah. Having recently completed our “middle housing” project, the Utah Foundation continues to track Utah’s housing issues. A recent find is the Carpenter Index. AEI’s Housing Center created its Carpenter Index as a way of tracking housing affordability in the country’s 100 largest metro areas. The Index looks at the income for the average carpenter-headed household as a proxy for blue-collar Americans’ incomes. The gist … Continued
May 06, 2022(The Epoch Times) - Within the arid landscape of Delta, Utah, the state’s largest coal-fired power plant is winding down toward retirement. The Intermountain Power Agency is moving forward with plans to transition the facility into a natural gas-green hydrogen plant by 2025. Utah has 22 coal units, 14 of which are scheduled for closure by 2030. From those existing resources, five coal-fired plants currently produce power. Energy generated from coal accounts for 61 percent of Utah’s electricity production. … Continued
April 27, 2022(Salt Lake Tribune) - …They diminish the voice of women — not just with shouts of “Sit down, Karen!” — but because data shows women are consistently underrepresented among the delegate pool. In 2016, the non-partisan Utah Foundation reported that less than a quarter of delegates to the Republican convention were female, even though they make up 56% of GOP voters…
April 22, 2022(KSL.com) - A new report by the Utah Foundation says the Beehive State has work to do when it comes to connecting Utah’s K-12 students with resources for postsecondary educational success. Unsurprisingly, the cost of postsecondary education is a major concern for Utah students. Last May, Envision Utah surveyed more than 7,600 high school students in the state about their perceptions of postsecondary barriers. Cost topped the list, followed closely by wanting better information about applying to … Continued
April 21, 2022(Utah Policy) - On Wednesday, the Utah Foundation released Broadening Horizons: Clearing an Early Path to Post-Secondary Success. When looking beyond high school, some Utah students face low expectations, a shortfall in post-secondary readiness, a lack of knowledge around post-secondary options and financial challenges. The report not only explores these challenges, but also seeks to reveal the network of supports that can help smooth the transition out of high school, broadening the educational horizons of Utah youth. (Read More)
April 20, 2022(The Signpost) - Another option would be to increase the financial aid given to students. The Utah Foundation released a report in February 2021 on the postsecondary success of lower-income, nontraditional and first-generation students. One of the report’s key findings addressed Utah’s changing population. “If the state’s postsecondary educational institutions do not respond to those changes, tens of thousands of Utahns may miss out on educational advancement in the coming decades,” the Utah Foundation found. One of the … Continued
April 19, 2022(Utah Policy) - During our May 17th Breakfast Briefing, we’ll discuss the pressures and incentives moving the public and private sector actors in Utah’s green economy, related job-creating opportunities and efforts to mitigate negative impacts from the economic changes underway, including ways to boost rural parts of our state. (Read More)
April 12, 2022(Deseret News) - …Along the Wasatch Front, the housing shortage could be impacted more by zoning ordinances or, as the Utah Foundation put it, the construction of more “middle housing.” This refers to “a variety of multifamily housing options focusing on neighborhood walkability and being affordable to various income levels,” a report by the nonprofit public policy organization said. This could include fourplexes, duplexes, townhomes and other multi-unit construction…
April 07, 2022(The St George News) - …The “Cedar City Council Agenda Item 8 Staff Information Sheet,” cites several studies in support of utilizing ADUs to relieve housing issues. According to a November 2021 study completed by the Utah Foundation, the state is short 45,000 housing units, a gap it said cannot be closed by apartment complexes alone…
April 04, 2022(NewsBreak) - …According to a new report from the Utah Foundation, Utah’s middle class is 54% of the state’s population, compared to 47% for the United States. The closest states are Wyoming and Idaho, where the middle class is 52% of the population…
March 30, 2022(Deseret News) - By Jay Evensen Nationally, the trend is clear. States that tend to vote Republican have less of a tax burden than states that vote Democratic. Except, that is, for a small handful of red states, and Utah is one of them. Utah, according to a new study, has the 15th highest tax burden in the nation. It’s got the third highest among Republican-leaning states, right behind Iowa (13th) and Kansas (14th). This is not a top-20 … Continued
March 29, 2022(Deseret News) - The nation’s middle class has gradually been shrinking. Fifty years ago, more than 60% of Americans were in the middle class. Now the percentage is less than 50%. It’s worth noting that the upper class grew during that time. But so did the lower class. In short, our nation is becoming increasingly stratified. This is particularly evident when we look at America’s major cities and the urban-rural divide. A robust middle class provides a pipeline … Continued
March 24, 2022(Utah Policy) - Today, the Utah Foundation releases the fifth report in its Utah Social Capital Series with The Soil of Common Ground: Social Cohesion in Utah. This installment focuses on social cohesion; the previous installments focused on civic engagement, social trust, community life and family life. The Soil of Common Ground presents data and analysis in three areas: economic stratification, language and the extent to which the population is homegrown. It looks at Utah’s performance on these measures over … Continued
March 24, 2022(Salt Lake Tribune) - The Tribune recently published a commentary by Utah Foundation president Peter Reichard in support of rezoning areas currently zoned for single-family housing to allow for building up to four-family units in an “overlay zone.” The Salt Lake City Planning Commission has also published an “Affordable Housing Incentives” document. Two different parties talking about the same issue? A realtor from a neighborhood targeted in the document verified that the average sales price there for a single-family … Continued
March 24, 2022(KSL News Radio) - The proportion of Utah’s population that could be considered middle class is over 50% and growing. And a new report from the non-profit Utah Foundation said it’s the highest in the country, well above the national average and even the second-place state, Wyoming. The report defines middle class as a household income between two-thirds and double the state’s median income. The report by the Foundation is the latest in a series of studies on the … Continued
March 24, 2022(KNRS) - Peter Reichard, President of the Utah Foundation, joins the program to discuss the group’s latest study on social cohesion in Utah.
March 24, 2022(KSL.com) - The proportion of Utah’s population that could be considered middle class is over 50% and growing. The latest report from the Utah Foundation shows Utah has the highest percentage — 54% — of middle-class citizens of any state in the country, well above the national average, even outperforming neighboring Wyoming and Idaho, both of which have 52% of the population in the middle class. “The nation’s middle class has gradually been shrinking, and some American … Continued
March 23, 2022(Fox 13) - The middle class made up the majority of the American economy a generation ago. Today, that’s changed, but Utah has bucked the trend consistently, according to a new report from the Utah Foundation. The Utah foundation report considers a strong middle class important for social cohesion. The idea is a society of haves and have-nots with few people in between is a recipe for trouble. Utah Foundation President Peter Reichard says a majority of Utahns … Continued
March 08, 2022(The Daily Chronicle) - Amid a housing crisis and on the last day of the legislative session, Utah legislators managed to pass a bill aimed to increase the state’s affordable housing. Homeowners and renters have been priced out of their homes. More than half of Utah’s households are “unable to afford the state’s median-priced home.” On Feb. 17, over 100 people were displaced from a homeless camp on the west side of Salt Lake City. Officials cited 45 new … Continued
