- Largest city we cover
- Salt Lake City
- Cities we cover
- 3
- Median age
- 32.5 years
- State income tax
- Flat 4.5%
From Mexican cession to Promontory
The United States gained the area from Mexico in 1848, and Utah Territory was organized in 1850. It shrank as neighboring territories were created, and by 1868 it had roughly its present boundaries. On May 10, 1869, locomotives met at Promontory to mark the completion of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States. The Golden Spike park now stands on the site of that town.
Frost-split spires at Bryce, a wrinkle at Capitol Reef
Ice shapes Bryce Canyon. Rain and snowmelt seep into cracks in the rock, then freeze and wedge it apart into walls, windows and finally hoodoos, helped by temperatures that cross the freezing mark on over 170 nights a year. At Arches, Delicate Arch is perhaps the most famous natural arch in the world. Capitol Reef follows the Waterpocket Fold, a monocline extending almost 100 miles, and its orchards date from the pioneer era.
Bones on the Green, canyons at the confluence
At Dinosaur National Monument, which Utah shares with Colorado, more than 1,500 fossilized dinosaur bones remain embedded in a cliff face, and the Green and Yampa rivers run through remote canyons. The Colorado and Green carved Canyonlands into canyons, buttes and spires split among four districts that no road joins. In Zion, the Narrows begins where Riverside Walk ends.
Fifty inches of snow on fifteen of precipitation
Salt Lake City’s airport averaged 51.9 inches of snow a year over 1991 to 2020, yet only 15.52 inches of total precipitation.
Sources: US Census Bureau; National Park Service; NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.