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SALT LAKE CITY — A significant increase in Utah's Hispanic population and a new ranking for the largest cities in the state are evident in census data released on Thursday.
And at least one Utah congressman is complaining that the Census Bureau does not count Utahns who are overseas unless they are in the military, a factor that could have won Utah a fourth congressional seat in 2000 if LDS missionaries abroad had been counted in that census.
Hispanics now make up 13 percent of Utah's population — a 78 percent increase over the count in 2000 by the U.S. Census Bureau.
"Immigrants, when they come to this country, they are young people and they're within their workforce years, so you don't have senior citizens coming here, rather you have young people who are going to be working," said Tony Yapias.
Hispanics comprise 13 percent of Utah's population -- a 78 percent increase over the count in 2000 by the U.S. Census Bureau
Salt Lake City is still the state's largest city with a population of 186,440, followed again by West Valley City and Provo. West Jordan jumped from No. 7 to No. 4.
"I think it's a nice area," said West Jordan resident Jim Edwards. "I moved out here because it's more inexpensive than the east side of the valley, nice neighborhoods, nice people, not a lot of crime. It's a good area."
Orem stayed at No. 5, Sandy slipped from 4 to 6, Ogden slipped from 6 to 7, St. George moved up from 10 to 8, Layton slipped from 8 to 9, and Taylorsville slipped from 9 to 10.
Lehi has seen the largest percentage of growth since 2000, growing by 149.1 percent, and is now ranked 13th overall, moving up from 29th. Rounding out the top 10 cities for percentage of growth, in order, are Spanish Fork and South Jordan, 71.3 percent; Draper, 67.6 percent; Riverton, 54.9 percent; West Jordan, 51.8 percent; St. George, 46.8 percent; Pleasant Grove, 42.8 percent; Murray, 37.4; and West Valley City, 18.9 percent.
Salt Lake County is still the most populous in the state, with 1,029,655 residents, while Wasatch County was the fastest growing, with a surge of 54.7 percent.
Data from the 2010 Census was delivered to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and legislative leaders Wednesday and released publicly Thursday afternoon.
Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, responded shortly after by reiterating his concern that Americans living or working abroad who are not military or federal employees are not adequately accounted for in the census.
Utah only needed another 856 people in 2000 to gain a fourth congressional seat. The population would have surged by about 10,000 if Utah residents serving missions abroad would have been counted.
"The bureau could have fixed this problem by now but refuses to. This issue must be addressed before the next census begins, which is why I will be introducing legislation in the coming weeks to implement a new process that will ensure all American residents, either here in the U.S. or those temporarily living abroad, are included in all final census data," Bishop said.
E-mail: sfidel@desnews.com
