75 Facts About Utah

Utah is a landlocked U S state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its west by Nevada.

Utah has been inhabited for thousands of years by various indigenous groups such as the ancient Puebloans, Navajo and Ute.

Utah has a highly diversified economy, with major sectors including transportation, education, information technology and research, government services, mining, and tourism.

Utah has been one of the fastest growing states since 2000, with the 2020 U S Census confirming the fastest population growth in the nation since 2010.

Over time and influenced by climate change, droughts in Utah have been increasing in frequency and severity, putting a further strain on Utah's water security and impacting the state's economy.

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Name Utah is said to derive from the name of the Ute tribe, meaning 'people of the mountains'.

Southern Utah region was explored by the Spanish in 1540, led by Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, while looking for the legendary Cibola.

The city of Provo, Utah, was named for one Etienne Provost, who visited the area in 1825.

The city of Ogden, Utah, was named after Peter Skene Ogden, a Canadian explorer who traded furs in the Weber Valley.

Utah was Mexican territory when the first pioneers arrived in 1847.

Prominent settlements in Utah included St George, Logan, and Manti, as well as Parowan, Cedar City, Bluff, Moab, Vernal, Fillmore (which served as the territorial capital between 1850 and 1856), Nephi, Levan, Spanish Fork, Springville, Provo Bench (now Orem), Pleasant Grove, American Fork, Lehi, Sandy, Murray, Jordan, Centerville, Farmington, Huntsville, Kaysville, Grantsville, Tooele, Roy, Brigham City, and many other smaller towns and settlements.

Utah Territory was much smaller than the proposed state of Deseret, but it still contained all of the present states of Nevada and Utah as well as pieces of modern Wyoming and Colorado.

The detailed reports of life in Utah caused the administration of James Buchanan to send a secret military "expedition" to Utah.

The resulting conflict is known as the Utah War, nicknamed "Buchanan's Blunder" by the Mormon leaders.

Utah's book gives a witnessed account of life in Utah, both the good and the bad.

One of the conditions for granting Utah statehood was that a ban on polygamy be written into the state constitution.

Southern Utah became a popular filming spot for arid, rugged scenes featured in the popular mid-century western film genre.

In 1957, Utah created the Utah State Parks Commission with four parks.

Utah is known for its natural diversity and is home to features ranging from arid deserts with sand dunes to thriving pine forests in mountain valleys.

One of Utah's defining characteristics is the variety of its terrain.

Utah is home to world-renowned ski resorts made popular by light, fluffy snow and winter storms that regularly dump up to three feet of it overnight.

Western Utah is mostly arid desert with a basin and range topography.

Southeastern Utah is punctuated by the remote, but lofty La Sal, Abajo, and Henry mountain ranges.

Eastern Utah is a high-elevation area covered mostly by plateaus and basins, particularly the Tavaputs Plateau and San Rafael Swell, which remain mostly inaccessible, and the Uinta Basin, where the majority of eastern Utah's population lives.

Much of eastern Utah is part of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation.

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Utah is the only state where every county contains some national forest.

Previous studies have indicated a widespread decline in snowpack over Utah accompanied by a decline in the snow–precipitation ratio while anecdotal evidence claims have been put forward that measured changes in Utah's snowpack are spurious and do not reflect actual change.

Meanwhile, observed snow depth across Utah has decreased and is accompanied by consistent decreases in snow cover and surface albedo.

Weather systems with the potential to produce precipitation in Utah have decreased in number with those producing snowfall decreasing at a considerably greater rate.

Utah's temperatures are extreme, with cold temperatures in winter due to its elevation, and very hot summers statewide.

Utah is usually protected from major blasts of cold air by mountains lying north and east of the state, although major Arctic blasts can occasionally reach the state.

The only other reported tornado fatality in Utah's history was a 7-year-old girl who was killed while camping in Summit County on July 6, 1884.

Utah is home to more than 600 vertebrate animals as well as numerous invertebrates and insects.

Utah is host to a wide variety of arachnids, insects, mollusks, and other invertebrates.

Several spiders found in Utah are often mistaken for the brown recluse spider, including the desert recluse spider, the cellar spider, and crevice weaving spiders.

One of the most rare insects in Utah is the Coral Pink Sand Dunes tiger beetle, found only in Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, near Kanab.

Several thousand plants are native to Utah, including a variety of trees, shrubs, cacti, herbaceous plants, and grasses.

Utah has a number of named trees, including the Jardine Juniper, Pando, and the Thousand Mile Tree.

Utah contains five metropolitan areas, and six micropolitan areas (Brigham City, Heber, Vernal, Price, Richfield, and Cedar City).

Utah has the lowest child poverty rate in the country, despite its young demographics.

In 2011 one-third of Utah's workforce was reported to be bilingual, developed through a program of acquisition of second languages beginning in elementary school, and related to Mormonism's missionary goals for its young people.

In 2010 the Association of Religion Data Archives reported that the three largest denominational groups in Utah are the LDS Church with 1, 910, 504 adherents; the Catholic Church with 160, 125 adherents, and the Southern Baptist Convention with 12, 593 adherents.

Utah English is primarily a merger of Northern and Midland American dialects carried west by LDS Church members, whose original New York dialect later incorporated features from northeast Ohio and central Illinois.

Utah has the highest total birth rate and accordingly, the youngest population of any U S state.

Major industries of Utah include: mining, cattle ranching, salt production, and government services.

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In 2014, Utah was ranked number one in Forbes' list of "Best States For Business".

In terms of "small business friendliness", in 2014 Utah emerged as number one, based on a study drawing upon data from more than 12, 000 small business owners.

Utah collects personal income tax; since 2008 the tax has been a flat five percent for all taxpayers.

Utah has seen an increase in tourism since the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Minerals mined in Utah include copper, gold, silver, molybdenum, zinc, lead, and beryllium.

I-80 spans northern Utah east-to-west, entering from Nevada at Wendover, crossing the Wasatch Mountains east of Salt Lake City, and entering Wyoming near Evanston.

Utah government is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.

Utah granted full voting rights to women in 1870, 26 years before becoming a state.

Utah is one of the 15 states that have not ratified the U S Equal Rights Amendment.

In March 2018, Utah passed United States' first "free-range parenting" bill.

Notably, the constitution outlawed polygamy, as requested by Congress when Utah had applied for statehood, and reestablished the territorial practice of women's suffrage.

Utah's Constitution has been amended many times since its inception.

The Utah Indoor Clean Air Act is a statewide smoking ban that prohibits it in many public places.

Utah is one of the most Republican states in the nation.

Utah was the single most Republican-leaning state in the country in every presidential election from 1976 to 2004, measured by the percentage point margin between the Republican and Democratic candidates.

In 2008 Utah was only the third-most Republican state, but in 2012, with Mormon Mitt Romney atop the Republican ticket, Utah returned to its position as the most Republican state.

Ben McAdams was the sole Democratic member of the Utah delegation, representing the 4th congressional district, based in Salt Lake City, from 2019 to 2021, though he lost re-election to Burgess Owens, a Republican, in 2020.

For example, the Republican Party of Utah opposes almost all abortions while Utah Democrats take a more liberal approach, although more conservative than their national counterparts.

Utah is much more conservative than the United States as a whole, primarily on social issues.

Utah was the Republicans' best state in the 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2012 elections.

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In 1992, Utah was the only state in the nation where Democratic candidate Bill Clinton finished behind both Republican candidate George HW Bush and Independent candidate Ross Perot.

In 2004, Republican George W Bush won every county in the state and Utah gave him his largest margin of victory of any state.

Utah won the state's five electoral votes by a margin of 46 percentage points with 71.

Utah's population is concentrated in two areas, the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, with over 2.

Utah is the second-least populous U S state to have a major professional sports league franchise, after the Vegas Golden Knights joined the National Hockey League in 2017.

Utah has one minor league hockey team, the Utah Grizzlies, who play at the Maverik Center and compete in the ECHL.

Utah has seven universities that compete in Division I of the NCAA.

Utah has hosted professional golf tournaments such as the Uniting Fore Care Classic and currently the Utah Championship.

Rugby has been growing quickly in the state of Utah, growing from 17 teams in 2009 to 70 as of 2013 with more than 3, 000 players, and more than 55 high school varsity teams.

Utah is the setting of or the filming location for many books, films, television series, music videos, and video games.