page_title: Salt Lake City
section_title: Demographics
hierarchical_section_title: Salt Lake City / Demographics
caption_attribution_description: Maps of racial and ethnic divisions in US cities, inspired by Bill Rankin's map of Chicago, updated for Census 2010. Red is White, Blue is Black, Green is Asian, Orange is Hispanic, Yellow is Other, and each dot is 25 residents. Data from Census 2010. Base map © OpenStreetMap, CC-BY-SA
context_page_description: Salt Lake City is the capital and most populous municipality of the U.S. state of Utah, as well as the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With an estimated population of 200,567 in 2019, the city is the core of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a population of 1,222,540. Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the Salt Lake City–Ogden–Provo Combined Statistical Area, a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along a 120-mile segment of the Wasatch Front, comprising a population of 2,606,548. It is one of only two major urban areas in the Great Basin.
  Salt Lake City is the world headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The city was founded in 1847 by followers of the church, led by Brigham Young, who were seeking to escape persecution they had experienced while living farther east. The Mormon pioneers, as they would come to be known, entered an arid valley and immediately began building, planning, and extending an extensive irrigation network which could feed the population and foster future growth.
context_section_description: US Census Bureau estimates for 2018 listed 200,591 people in Salt Lake City. The racial makeup of the county was 65.4% non-Hispanic White, 2.3% Black, 1.5% Native American, 5.4% Asian, 1.5% Pacific Islander, and 3.4% from two or more races. 21.6% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
  At the 2010 census, Salt Lake City's population was 75.1% White, 2.6% African American, 1.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 4.4% Asian, 2.0% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 10.7% from other races and 3.7% of mixed descent. 22.3% of the total population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. The city's population has historically been predominantly white. Between 1860 and 1950 whites represented about 99% of the city's population but this somewhat changed in the decades that followed.
  As of 2010, 37.0% of the population had a bachelor's degree or higher. 18.5% of the population was foreign born and another 1.1% was born in Puerto Rico, U.S. insular territories, or born abroad to American parent(s). 27.0% spoke a language other than English at home.
  There were 186,440 people (up from 181,743 in 2000), 75,177 households, and 57,543 families in the city. This amounts to 6.75% of Utah's population, 18.11% of Salt Lake County's population, and 16.58% of the new Salt Lake metropolitan population. The area within the city limits covers 14.2% of Salt Lake County. Salt Lake City was more densely populated than the surrounding metro area with a population density of 1,688.77/sqmi (1,049.36/km²). There were 80,724 housing units at an average density of 731.2/sqmi (454.35/km²).
  The Salt Lake City-Ogden metropolitan area, which included Salt Lake, Davis, and Weber counties, had a population of 1,333,914 in 2000, a 24.4% increase over the 1990 figure of 1,072,227. Since the 2000 Census, the Census Bureau has added Summit and Tooele counties to the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, but removed Davis and Weber counties and designated them as the separate Ogden-Clearfield metropolitan area. The Salt Lake City-Ogden-Clearfield combined statistical area, together with the Provo-Orem metropolitan area, which lies to the south, had a combined population of 2,094,035 as of July 1, 2008.
  There were 75,177 households, out of which 27.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.1% were married couples living together, 10.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.3% were other types of households. Of the 75,177 households, 3,904 were reported to be unmarried partner households: 3,047 heterosexual, 458 same-sex male, and 399 same-sex female. 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48, and the average family size was 3.24.
  The city's age distribution (as of 2000):
  23.6% under 18
  15.2% from 18 to 24
  33.4% from 25 to 44
  16.7% from 45 to 64
  11.0% 65 or older
  The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $36,944, and the median income for a family was $45,140. Males had a median income of $31,511 versus $26,403 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,752. 15.3% of the population and 10.4% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 18.7% of those under the age of 18 and 8.5% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
  Large family sizes and low housing vacancy rates, which have inflated housing costs along the Wasatch Front, have led to one out of every six residents living below the poverty line.
  According to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey of 2017, the highest disparity in income in Utah is in Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City's GINI Index score was 0.4929, compared with the state's overall score of 0.423. The west-side areas of Salt Lake have the lowest-incomes while areas like the upper Avenues, have much higher incomes. Other Utah cities with relatively high scores include Provo, 0.4734; an
caption: Map of racial distribution in Salt Lake City, 2010 U.S. Census. Each dot is 25 people: White, Black, Asian, Hispanic or Other (yellow)
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