SALT LAKE CITY — More than 1 in 3 of those who call Salt Lake City home are racial and ethnic minorities, show new figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.
“It’s not surprising, it’s not out of the ordinary, but just showing that we’re becoming a more urban, diverse area that’s attracting a lot of different kinds of people,” said Mallory Bateman, state data center coordinator and a demographer at the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Institute.
The new data release from the American Community Survey reveals the latest chapter in Utah’s broader story of growing diversity. It shows racial or ethnic minorities — and Latinos more than other groups — make up more than 1 in 5 of the state’s total 3.1 million residents.
Bateman and her colleagues reviewed the new data and shared their findings with the Deseret News. The figures were released to the public late Wednesday.
In certain pockets of Utah, the figures show, the change much more pronounced. The majority of those living in West Valley City in 2018 — 54.7% — are minorities.
They include Rocio and Alex Flores, who moved to the city from Mexico about 15 years ago to be close to family and find new jobs. Originally from Michoacán, she now works at a day care. He is a construction worker from Jalisco. Now a family of five, they like to hike the Mount Timpanogos trail, walk their rat terrier Maximus, and go out for Thai food with their two sons and daughter.
“Getting to know people better from different cultures, sometimes it even helps toward stuff like racism. You get stuck next to other people you didn’t understand before,” Rocio Flores said.
She has seen West Valley City transform and become more urban, she said in Spanish as her son, Juan, translated. She has not yet seen the demographic shift play out in her city, where most people she comes across are white, but believes the change is a good thing. Her family has no plans to move.
“The mountains are very majestic. The snow here is great. The temperature is not always good, but most of the time, you’ll rock it,” she said.
The Flores’ city of West Valley, Bateman said, “is just solidly kind of maintaining that position as a minority majority. It’s pretty unlikely that it’s going to change anytime soon. We’ll just keep watching it, because it’s really interesting to see how our big cities are changing.”
Not all cities in the Beehive State were considered in the survey. Only those with more than 65,000 were big enough to factor in. It was the first time Lehi has reached the population threshold, joining 10 others including Layton, Orem, Provo, St. George, Sandy and South Jordan.
Of more than 200,000 residents in Salt Lake City, the survey indicated 33.9% are racial minorities.
It’s the highest rate Celina Milner can recall seeing.
“I tell people that the very ground underneath us is changing,” said Milner, policy advisor for diversity and human rights in the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office. “Our economy is absolutely booming, so it’s great. There’s big business here. There’s more people that are coming that are moving here for jobs. They’re bringing their families, they’re buying houses, they’re putting down roots. It’s come a long way.”
As Utah’s capital city grows and changes, its leaders are seeking to make sure that everyone can get online even if they don’t have internet access at home, Milner said. The effort includes making computers available at libraries and ensuring those public spaces are open when it’s convenient for families and others to use them.
“It just needs to be little tiny tweaks to make sure that we’re serving the communities that we need to serve in the best way,” she said. “Through that technology, you’re then connecting them to health care, to economic development, to job opportunities to schooling. That’s the way that their schools are communicating to their children, and everything is kind of online.” The city also has emphasized that translators are available for those who interact with city residents who are still learning English, she said.
Youngsters are responsible for much of the change in Salt Lake City. Its public school system became majority nonwhite more than 10 years ago, during the 2004-05 school year, said Salt Lake City School District spokesman Jason Olsen.
But it must stay nimble in its efforts to ensure each student can grow and learn as much as possible, said Verenice Gutierrez, the district’s director of Educational Equity and Access.
“It’s a complicated issue, because every child that enters our system is multidimensional. Their race and ethnicity isn’t the only aspect of their identity. Some of them are from a different country and they speak a different language. Some of them speak English and are from here,” Gutierrez said.
This school year, the school district is emphasizing a push to make all students and their families feel at home, she said, in part by urging teachers and other employees to examine their own possible prejudice.
“If you want to create a welcoming space, you kind of have to be reflective of your own biases. If I have a bias and i’m reflecting that bias, the space might not be open to everybody,” Gutierrez said.
In nearby West Valley City, those who swim, play basketball or opt for other activities at the city’s Family Fitness Center come from a wide range of backgrounds, but the diversity extends beyond heritage. The center caters to toddlers and those with gray hair, plus people from across the socioeconomic spectrum, said Jamie Young, the center’s director.
“We celebrate the diversity,” said Young, a West Valley native. “It’s pretty cool to be at the center of that.”
Young and her colleagues who oversee the city’s parks want to make sure more people feel welcome at family movie nights, and on its trails, playgrounds and fields. Starting next month, they will hold meetings in Spanish, plus others potentially in Vietnamese or Tongan, to find out which amenities different groups they’d like to see.
“I just think it makes our community so rich to have those different experiences. I think people have a lot to add to the community because of their life experience and their culture,” Young said. “We can focus on the things we have in common like family values, and not focus on all the differences like sometimes people do.”
Other insights in the data release:
- Median household income in Utah was $71,414. South Jordan had the state’s highest — at $101,374 — followed by Sandy, at $92,700. On the low end, Provo took last place at $48,755, slightly less than Ogden’s $51,369.
- Income inequality in Utah was less extreme than in the nation as a whole. Within the state, the most uneven distribution was in Salt Lake City and was lowest in Lehi.
- Utah’s median age held steady at 31, younger than any other state, but the share of Utahns 65 and older ticked up slightly, up to 11.1%. It was 10.8% a year earlier.
- The share of children under 5 years old went in the other direction, shrinking from 8.2% down to 7.9%. The change is further evidence of Utah’s declining fertility rate, Bateman said.
- When it comes to poverty rates, Orem and Ogden fared better than year earlier. Provo had a statistically significant uptick in poverty, from about 23% up to roughly 29%. Bateman attributes that to the city’s significant population of college students.