Utah's population has reached 1.86 million - a 2.4 percent increase in one year - with 81 percent of the state's growth concentrated in five counties.
The numbers, released by the state population estimates committee, show that Salt Lake and Utah counties accounted for half of Utah's new residents during 1993, adding 12,000 each. That boosted Salt Lake County's population past the three-quarters of a million mark to 777,000.Of significance was the parallel growth in Salt Lake and Utah counties. Utah County grew by 4.3 percent to a total of 291,000.
Davis County was a distant third, adding 5,000 new residents during the year. Washington and Weber counties rounded out the five counties that gained the most new residents.
In terms of fastest-growing counties, based on percentage growth, Summit, Washington, Iron and Morgan counties all had growth rates above 6 percent.
Both in-migration and Utah's high birthrate accounted for the statewide population increase of 2.4 percent. Approximately 36,500 babies were born in the state, a number similar to last year's total. Fertility appears to be holding constant, although final figures are not still available.
"Utah has now experienced net in-migration totaling almost 60,000 in the last three years," said Brad Barber, state planning coor-di-nator.
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(Chart)
Population growth
1. Salt Lake County 12,000
Utah County 12,000 (tie)
3. Davis County 5,000
4. Washington County 3,700
5. Weber County 3,000
6. Cache County 2,100