Utah Valley

Last updated
Utah Valley
Utah Lake prove map.jpg
Satellite image of Utah Valley, 2006
Depth1,378 to 1,579 m (4,521 to 5,180 ft)
Geography
Population centers Provo
Coordinates 40°10′N111°40′W / 40.167°N 111.667°W / 40.167; -111.667
Part of the Wasatch Range forming the Utah Valley. ProvoMntns.jpg
Part of the Wasatch Range forming the Utah Valley.

Utah Valley is a valley in North Central Utah located in Utah County, and is considered part of the Wasatch Front. It contains the cities of Provo, Orem, and their suburbs, including Alpine, American Fork, Cedar Hills, Elk Ridge, Highland, Lehi, Lindon, Mapleton, Payson, Pleasant Grove, Salem, Santaquin, Saratoga Springs, Spanish Fork, Springville, Vineyard and Woodland Hills. It is known colloquially as "Happy Valley".

Contents

Geography

Utah Lake is a natural shallow fresh water lake in its center. All rivers in the valley flow into Utah Lake, which itself empties into the Jordan River to the north. That river flows into the Salt Lake Valley through the Jordan Narrows, a gap in the Traverse Mountains. Geographic borders of the Utah Valley are the following; The Traverse Mountains and West Traverse Mountains to the north, the Wasatch mountains to the east, Juab Pass to the south, and Goshen Pass, West Mountain, Utah Lake, the Lake Mountains, and Cedar Pass to the west.

The geography of Utah Valley combined with the prevalence of fossil fuel burning vehicles leads to poor air quality in Utah. [1]

Economy

The north part of Utah Valley is considered the center of Silicon Slopes and includes headquarters and regional offices of many prominent technology companies including Adobe, Ancestry, Entrata, Intel/Micron joint venture IM Flash, Microsoft, Oracle, SanDisk, Qualtrics, Vivint, Workfront, Xactware and housing the largest NSA data center. [2]

Education

Utah Valley University and Brigham Young University are located in Orem and Provo respectively. They are two of the largest universities in the state and represent approximately 62,000 students. [3]

Demographics

Most inhabitants of Utah Valley are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which operates four temples in the valley. These include the Provo Utah Temple in Provo, the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple in American Fork, the Payson Utah Temple in Payson and the Provo City Center Temple which was dedicated in March 2016.

The population of Utah Valley is estimated at 575,205 by the United States Census Bureau. [4] The growth in the area has been significant. In 1970, 1980, 1994, 2009 the population was 125,005; 204,102; 277,179; and 555,551 respectively. The most populous city is Provo, [5] with a population count of 114,801 inhabitants. [6]

View of Utah Valley, 2021 View of Utah Valley.jpg
View of Utah Valley, 2021

Related Research Articles

Utah State of the United States

Utah is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its west by Nevada. Utah also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast. Of the fifty U.S. states, Utah is the 13th-largest by area; with a population over three million, it is the 30th-most-populous and 11th-least-densely populated. Urban development is mostly concentrated in two areas: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which is home to roughly two-thirds of the population and includes the capital city, Salt Lake City; and Washington County in the southwest, with more than 170,000 residents. Most of the western half of Utah lies in the Great Basin.

Juab County, Utah U.S. county in Utah

Juab County is a county in western Utah, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 10,246. Its county seat and largest city is Nephi.

Salt Lake County, Utah County in Utah

Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. The county was created in 1850. Salt Lake County is the 37th most populated county in the United States and is one of four counties in the Rocky Mountains to make it into the top 100. Salt Lake County is the only county of the first class in Utah - which under the Utah Code is a county with a population of 700,000 or greater.

Wasatch County, Utah U.S. county in Utah

Wasatch County is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 23,530. Its county seat and largest city is Heber City. The county was named for a Ute Indian word meaning mountain pass or low place in the high mountains.

Utah County, Utah U.S. county in Utah

Utah County is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 665,665, thus making it Utah's second-most populous county. The county seat and largest city is Provo, which is the state's third-largest city.

Provo, Utah City in central Utah, United States

Provo is the fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is 43 miles (69 km) south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County and is home to Brigham Young University (BYU).

Spanish Fork, Utah City in Utah, United States

Spanish Fork is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Provo–Orem Metropolitan Statistical Area. The 2020 census reported a population of 42,602. Spanish Fork, Utah is the 20th largest city in Utah based on official 2017 estimates from the US Census Bureau.

Heber City, Utah City in Utah, United States

Heber City is a city in northwestern Wasatch County, Utah. It is 43 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. The population was 11,362 at the time of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Wasatch County.

Draper, Utah City in Utah, United States

Draper is a city in Salt Lake and Utah counties in the U.S. state of Utah, located about 20 miles (32 km) south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 42,274, having grown from 7,143 in 1990. The current population is estimated to be approximately 48,587.

Wasatch Range Mountain range in Utah, United States

The Wasatch Range or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about 160 miles (260 km) from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Great Basin region. The northern extension of the Wasatch Range, the Bear River Mountains, extends just into Idaho, constituting all of the Wasatch Range in that state.

Wasatch Front Region in Utah, United States

The Wasatch Front is a metropolitan region in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Utah. It consists of a chain of contiguous cities and towns stretched along the Wasatch Range from approximately Nephi in the south to Brigham City in the north. Roughly 80% of Utah's population resides in this region, which contains the major cities of Salt Lake City, West Valley City, Provo, West Jordan, Layton, and Ogden.

Salt Lake Valley Geographic depression in northern Utah, US, containing Salt Lake City and its suburbs

Salt Lake Valley is a 500-square-mile (1,300 km2) valley in Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably Murray, Sandy, South Jordan, West Jordan, and West Valley City; its total population is 1,029,655 as of 2010. Brigham Young said, "this is the right place," when he and his fellow Mormon settlers moved into Utah after being driven out of several states.

FrontRunner Commuter rail along the Wasatch Front in Utah, United States

FrontRunner is a commuter rail train operated by the Utah Transit Authority that operates along the Wasatch Front in north-central Utah with service from Ogden in central Weber County through Davis County, Salt Lake City, and Salt Lake County to Provo in central Utah County.

Interstate 15 (I-15) runs north–south in the U.S. state of Utah through the southwestern and central portions of the state, passing through most of the state's population centers, including St. George and those comprising the Wasatch Front: Provo–Orem, Salt Lake City, and Ogden–Clearfield. It is Utah’s primary north–south highway, as the vast majority of the state's population lives along its corridor; the Logan metropolitan area is the state’s only Metropolitan Statistical Area through which I-15 does not pass. In 1998, the Utah State Legislature designated Utah’s entire portion of the road as the Veterans Memorial Highway.

Provo–Orem metropolitan area Metropolitan region in Utah, United States

The Provo-Orem, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget, is an area consisting of two counties in Utah, anchored by the cities of Provo and Orem. As of the 2010 census, the MSA had a population of 526,810. By 2015, the Census Bureau estimated the population reached 585,799.

Salt Lake City metropolitan area Metropolitan area in Salt Lake, Summit and Tooele counties in Utah, United States

The Salt Lake City metropolitan area is the metropolitan area centered on the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau currently define the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area as comprising two counties: Salt Lake and Tooele. As of the 2010 census, the MSA had a population of 1,087,873. As of July 1, 2014 the U.S. Census Bureau's population estimates division placed the population at 1,153,340, an increase of 65,467 or 6.0 percent since April 2010; out of 381 total MSAs, the Census Bureau ranks it as the 48th largest MSA in the United States in 2014 and the 58th fastest growing since 2010. The Salt Lake City Metropolitan Area and the Ogden-Clearfield Metropolitan Area were a single metropolitan area known as the Salt Lake City-Ogden Metropolitan Area until being separated in 2005.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah refers to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Utah. Utah has more church members than any other U.S. state or country. The LDS Church is also the largest denomination in Utah.

Lake Mountains

The Lake Mountains are a 15-mile-long (24 km) mountain range located on the western edge of the Utah Valley in northwestern Utah County, Utah, United States. The range forms the northwest border of Utah Lake, and its proximity to major population centers allows its use for communication towers, mostly in its north section, bordering Eagle Mountain.

References

  1. "Pollution Sources". kued.org. KUED . Retrieved Nov 24, 2019.
  2. "NSA in Utah: Mining a mountain of data". Salt Lake Tribune. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  3. "IPEDS". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  4. "QuickFacts: Utah County, Utah". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  5. Fletcher, Joe. "Vacations in Utah Valley". USA Today. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  6. "QuickFacts: Provo city, Utah". United States Census Bureau. 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2016.