SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Mormon population of Utah continues to get smaller.
An Associated Press analysis of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints membership records used by state planning officials to develop population estimates shows that Mormons now make up 60.4 percent of the state's population. That's down from 60.7 percent last year.
The percentage has declined every year for nearly two decades and if the trend continues Mormons will make up less than half of Utah's population by 2030.
"The LDS population will still increase, but as a share of the total, that should continue to decline over time," said University of Utah demographer Pam Perlich. "What would cause that to reverse would be an economic collapse and the same people who moved here for jobs leave for jobs."
In Salt Lake County Mormons are barely holding onto their majority, making up 50.6 percent of the population.