- Utah remains the youngest state in the nation but is aging faster, with a new median age of 32.4.
- Provo-Orem-Lehi and Logan are the youngest U.S. metro areas, Census data shows.
- Utah's fertility rate previously dropped to 10th, which researchers say is likely linked to economic factors.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah remains the youngest state in the nation by a wide margin, but it's still experiencing the same aging trends impacting other states.
The median age for a Utah resident rose slightly to 32.4 years in 2024, up 0.1 years from the year before, according to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday. The figure is based on population estimates as of July 1, 2024, providing a better look at state, county and municipality data the federal agency previously released.
Provo-Orem-Lehi and Logan also maintain their status as the two youngest metro areas in the country.
Utah's median age bested the District of Columbia, among other U.S. areas, and Texas, among other states, which reported median ages of 34.9 and 35.8 years, respectively. It's 6.7 years below the national average, as the U.S. median age has now surpassed 39 years.
The nation's age growth came as the population of people 18 or younger fell by 0.2% and the number of people ages 65 and older rose by 3.1% between July 2023 and July of last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Children still outnumber older adults nationwide, but the difference has shrunk over the past two decades.
Since 2004, the country's child population has slid from 25% to 21.5%, while the number of people 65 or older has increased from 12.4% to 18%. The trends are a mix of baby boomers living longer and declining birth rates, explained Lauren Bowers, chief of the Census Bureau's population estimates branch.
Utah's median age hasn't just increased by one year since the 2020 census — making it only 1 of 6 states to age at least one year in that time — but the percentage of Utahns under 18 dropped from 29% in 2020 to 26.6% in 2024. Utah experts have long pointed to the Great Recession as a turning point in the state's and the nationwide population trends.
Researchers at the University of Utah Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute found that Utah's fertility rate fell to 10th among U.S. states in 2023, which they attribute to financial constraints.
"Economic factors such as housing and child care costs, and broader social factors like postponement of marriage and childbearing all influence fertility-rate declines," Emily Harris, a senior demographer at the institute, said in April.
The institute says these challenges might also be "moderating" overall population growth. Utah remained one of the five fastest-growing states, anyway, the Census Bureau reported late last year.
Only a handful of U.S. counties experienced a decrease in median age, with many of these located in the southeastern United States. Other fast-growing states like Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina had multiple counties in this category. However, in some cases, the counties still have median ages above the national average.
"Median age is useful as a broad measure of how young or old a state's population is, but it doesn't provide insight into specific age groups and, of course, says nothing about younger or older areas within a state," said Marc Perry, senior demographer in the Census Bureau's population division.
Meanwhile, adults 65 or older now outnumber children in 11 states. That's also true in a few Utah counties, located within eastern and south-central parts of the state: Daggett, Garfield, Grand, Kane, Piute and Wayne counties. This trend is more common in "sparsely populated areas," Bowers said.
