# Morgan County, Utah

Morgan County is a county in northern Utah, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 12,295. Its county seat and largest city is Morgan. Morgan County is part of the Ogden-Clearfield, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Salt Lake City-Provo-Orem, UT Combined Statistical Area.

## History

An early route of the Hastings Cutoff ran through the Morgan Valley and down through a narrow gorge in Weber Canyon. The Donner Party avoided going through the Morgan Valley in order to speed up their journey. However, their alternate route proved more time-consuming.
In 1855, Charles Sreeve Peterson and his family became the first white settlers to take up permanent residence in the Morgan Valley after cutting a road through Weber Canyon. After others began settling in the rather limited planar areas of the mountainous territory, the Utah Territory legislature acted on January 17, 1862, to form a separate county from sections partitioned off Davis, Great Salt Lake, Summit, and Weber counties. The small settlement at Morgan was named the county seat. The town (and thus the new county) was named for the father (Jedediah Morgan Grant) of Heber J. Grant, who would serve as president of LDS Church from 1918 until 1945.

## Geography

The central core of Morgan County, the narrow East Canyon valley (now called Morgan Valley), is ringed by mountains. In its southern portion, Main Canyon Creek flows southward from Summit County to join East Canyon Creek, which flows northward from a different portion of Summit County. At their intersection, a dam has been installed to create East Canyon Reservoir and State Park. The combined discharge (now called East Canyon Creek) from the dam flows northwestward to Morgan, where it combines with Deep Creek to discharge into the Weber River, which also flows into the county from Summit and follows Lost Canyon to the Morgan Valley. The now-augmented Weber flows northwestward to Mountain Green, then turns west to exit the county through Weber Canyon. The terrain generally slopes to the north and west, with its highest point, Thurston Peak, at 9,706 ft (2,958 m) ASL. The county has an area of 611 square miles (1,580 km$^2$), of which 609 square miles (1,580 km$^2$) is land and 1.7 square miles (4.4 km$^2$) is water. It is Utah's third-smallest county by land area and smallest by total area.

### Major highways

* Interstate 84
* Utah State Highway U-65
* Utah State Highway U-66
* Utah State Highway U-158
* Utah State Highway U-167
Some county roads accessing the canyons are closed during winters.

### Adjacent counties

* Weber County - north
* Summit County - east
* Salt Lake County - southwest
* Davis County - west
* Rich County - northeast

### Protected areas

* Cache National Forest (part)
* East Canyon State Park
* Lost Creek State Park
* Round Valley Wildlife Management Area
* Wasatch National Forest (part)

## Demographics
### 2020 census

According to the 2020 United States census and 2020 American Community Survey, there were 12,295 people in Morgan County with a population density of 20.2 people per square mile (7.8/km$^2$). Among non-Hispanic or Latino people, the racial makeup was 11,562 (94.0%) White, 12 (0.1%) African American, 31 (0.3%) Native American, 57 (0.5%) Asian, 0 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 9 (0.1%) from other races, and 286 (2.3%) from two or more races. 338 (2.7%) people were Hispanic or Latino.
There were 6,289 (51.15%) males and 6,006 (48.85%) females, and the population distribution by age was 4,299 (35.0%) under the age of 18, 6,441 (52.4%) from 18 to 64, and 1,555 (12.6%) who were at least 65 years old. The median age was 33.6 years.
There were 3,574 households in Morgan County with an average size of 3.44 of which 3,084 (86.3%) were families and 490 (13.7%) were non-families. Among all families, 2,783 (77.9%) were married couples, 91 (2.5%) were male householders with no spouse, and 210 (5.9%) were female householders with no spouse. Among all non-families, 428 (12.0%) were a single person living alone and 62 (1.7%) were two or more people living together. 1,670 (46.7%) of all households had children under the age of 18. 3,176 (88.9%) of households were owner-occupied while 398 (11.1%) were renter-occupied.
The median income for a Morgan County household was $100,408 and the median family income was $101,572, with a per-capita income of $34,280. The median income for males that were full-time employees was $87,961 and for females $46,484. 1.7% of the population and 1.0% of families were below the poverty line.
In terms of education attainment, out of the 6,695 people in Morgan County 25 years or older, 145 (2.2%) had not completed high school, 1,350 (20.2%) had a high school diploma or equivalency, 2,630 (39.3%) had some college or associate degree, 1,548 (23.1%) had a bachelor's degree, and 1,022 (15.3%) had a graduate or professional degree.

## Politics and government

Morgan County traditionally votes Republican. In only one national election since 1948 has the county selected the Democratic Party candidate (as of 2024).
State elected offices :
| Position | District | Name | Affiliation | First elected |
| Senate | 18 | F. Ann Millner | Republican | 2014 |
| Senate | 19 | John D. Johnson | Republican | 2020 |
| House of Representatives | 53 | Kera Birkeland | Republican | 2020 |
| Board of Education | 1 | Jennie Earl | Nonpartisan | 2018 |
United States presidential election results for Morgan County, Utah :
| Year | Republican | Republican | Democratic | Democratic | Third party(ies) | Third party(ies) |
| Year | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % |
| 2024 | 5,300 | 76.26% | 1,256 | 18.07% | 394 | 5.67% |
| 2020 | 5,181 | 78.43% | 1,086 | 16.44% | 339 | 5.13% |
| 2016 | 3,188 | 61.05% | 577 | 11.05% | 1,457 | 27.90% |
| 2012 | 4,114 | 89.49% | 403 | 8.77% | 80 | 1.74% |
| 2008 | 3,311 | 79.06% | 689 | 16.45% | 188 | 4.49% |
| 2004 | 3,301 | 85.94% | 472 | 12.29% | 68 | 1.77% |
| 2000 | 2,464 | 77.70% | 553 | 17.44% | 154 | 4.86% |
| 1996 | 1,659 | 57.05% | 859 | 29.54% | 390 | 13.41% |
| 1992 | 1,339 | 45.54% | 520 | 17.69% | 1,081 | 36.77% |
| 1988 | 1,889 | 73.59% | 647 | 25.20% | 31 | 1.21% |
| 1984 | 1,934 | 79.59% | 481 | 19.79% | 15 | 0.62% |
| 1980 | 1,985 | 81.52% | 373 | 15.32% | 77 | 3.16% |
| 1976 | 1,356 | 62.95% | 701 | 32.54% | 97 | 4.50% |
| 1972 | 1,456 | 71.51% | 363 | 17.83% | 217 | 10.66% |
| 1968 | 1,020 | 59.89% | 551 | 32.35% | 132 | 7.75% |
| 1964 | 572 | 40.65% | 835 | 59.35% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1960 | 775 | 55.44% | 622 | 44.49% | 1 | 0.07% |
| 1956 | 905 | 67.39% | 438 | 32.61% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1952 | 862 | 64.86% | 467 | 35.14% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1948 | 587 | 46.40% | 670 | 52.96% | 8 | 0.63% |
| 1944 | 535 | 44.36% | 671 | 55.64% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1940 | 575 | 45.13% | 699 | 54.87% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1936 | 483 | 39.33% | 739 | 60.18% | 6 | 0.49% |
| 1932 | 568 | 48.34% | 602 | 51.23% | 5 | 0.43% |
| 1928 | 513 | 53.00% | 454 | 46.90% | 1 | 0.10% |
| 1924 | 482 | 54.10% | 360 | 40.40% | 49 | 5.50% |
| 1920 | 544 | 57.57% | 397 | 42.01% | 4 | 0.42% |
| 1916 | 464 | 48.54% | 484 | 50.63% | 8 | 0.84% |
| 1912 | 318 | 36.59% | 233 | 26.81% | 318 | 36.59% |
| 1908 | 494 | 58.19% | 306 | 36.04% | 49 | 5.77% |
| 1904 | 492 | 57.28% | 315 | 36.67% | 52 | 6.05% |
| 1900 | 391 | 51.72% | 363 | 48.02% | 2 | 0.26% |
| 1896 | 138 | 19.17% | 582 | 80.83% | 0 | 0.00% |

## Communities
### Cities

* Morgan (county seat)

### Census-designated places

* Enterprise
* Mountain Green

### Unincorporated places

* Croydon
* Littleton
* Milton
* Peterson
* Porterville
* Richville
* Stoddard
* Taggarts
* Whites Crossing

### Ghost towns

* Devils Slide