It’s about time we looked at the ever-changing demographics of our state to see where we stand these days.  According to usafacts.org our state grew in population by 35,900 between 2024-2025 with the annual 1% increase primarily driven by births outpacing deaths. In the ten years prior to that, we grew by 17.9%.

We know Utahns like to breed and although our population grew due to births, it’s interesting that birth rates have gone down in the past decade. According to the EPHT Health Indicator Report Utah had 44,992 live births in 2023 which is a rate of 13.0 per 1000 residents, down about 26% in the past decade. Yet, the U.S. birth rate for 2023 was 10.7 per 1,000, making Utah stats way above the national average. And according to utahbusiness.com our total fertility rate fell to 1.801 in 2003. We were the 4^th most fertile state in the country, but as of 2023 data, we’ve dropped to the 10^th highest. There has been a 15-year trend in Utah’s fertility rate, with the sharpest drops among the 25-29 and 30-34 age groups. There was an interesting minor blip in the birth rate during ’23-’24 due to delayed pregnancies from the COVID Pandemic.

Utah County has had the largest population increase in Utah as of data from 2025, with Summit County losing 109 residents. But, between 2024 and 2025, Tooele County gained 3.1% in population, Washington County up 2.5% and Iron, Box Elder and Morgan County were almost in a tie for third place growth per the U.S. Census Bureau. Our neighbors in Idaho saw a 22% increase in population between 2015-2025, Nevada increased by 14.9% and Arizona by 13.7%.

In my world of real estate sales, I’m running into almost an equal mix of people moving in and out of Utah. Given that NO city in the world has ever recovered from a Salt Lake running dry, some are leaving because they are afraid of the potential toxic dust containing arsenic and heavy metals when the winds blow over the lake, and with out our lake we really won’t have much snow in our mountains as the lake level and our ski resorts are connected. Lower the lake, less snow.  Yet, I keep working with folks moving here to attend or teach at the U of U Med school. Some are surprised at our cost of living, but that depends on where they come from. Clients moving here from San Francisco are happy as hell with rental and home prices given that it’s impossible to find a one bedroom apartment for rent in San Francisco for less than $4000 as compared to an average of $1,300-$1,427 per month in Salt Lake City (per apartments.com). The techies have discovered our State and many companies have relocate here or are planning expansion offices here.    Our Job market is strong, and according to the Department of Workforce Services, our unemployment rate in May of this year was 3.7%, meaning 96.3% of our employable citizens have jobs. The U.S. rate for the same month was 4.3%.

Salt Lake City Corp. is concerned about the Great Salt Lake drying up and the remaining dust killing all of us with toxic chemicals. I recall when SLC set up the E2 Business program under then-Mayor Rocky Anderson in 2003.  I signed up and was the first company to do so. Several of my fellow Realtors at the time thought I was promoting bigger lawns because I was ‘going Green’ (for reals!). Our city is diligently trying to keep getting our town greener through a program called ‘CLIMATE FORWARD SLC’. Tyler Poulson, founder of Collaborative Climate, a firm specializing in climate and clean energy solutions for public, private and non-profit clients of which SLC is one is leading the study.

His firm polled several local businesses last December about what types of sustainable measures local businesses are doing and their financial/tech issues as to how to be more sustainable. Climate Forward SLC-a continuation and enhancement of former city priorities- has a goal for us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions here by 40% in 2040. Where are these emissions? In our buildings, on the roads and via materials and food waste we all contribute to daily.  A study called ‘existing conditions report’ on the website notes risks, carbon sources, and input that’s been collected earlier this year on city’s website such as the fact that air quality ground level ozone impacts-local air pollution-has reduced outdoor air quality, in the past 30 years, as well as indoor air pollution data and choices for things like home and business appliances that affect air quality. Per our carbon emissions, the goal is obviously to reduce burning fossil fuels. Our primary sources of greenhouse gases: electricity generation (40%), natural gas consumption in buildings (29%). We have a cleaner electric grid, but Poulson says we need to get to 0% carbon emissions from electricity usage in the equipment we buy and the vehicles we use.

He contends there are keys to eliminating emissions: cut energy waste, electrify everything to reach a 100% clean grid.  We can choose to upgrade our home appliances for households by replacing gas machines like our furnaces and our gas stoves by electrifying a household like changing out HVAC and water heaters with heat pumps and kitchen ranges with induction ranges. Per transportation: emissions can be eliminated at the tail pipe with electric vehicles, taking TRAX and electric buses or opting to walk or bike.

He reported that our national grid is getting cleaner, as solar just exceeded coal in the US grid this year, adding wind is the #1 renewable energy source in the US. The Euro union reports that 25% of electricity is coming from solar in the summer months. Utah has ‘renewable communities’ with new program this winter in 16 local governments with a goal of a net goal of 100% clean, 100% electric grid with 0 emissions. You’ll get more info in the mail from Rocky Mt. Power in the mail to sign up as an individual household.

For more info: Slc.gov/sustainability/climate-forward

 

 

There are things in life that just make sense, and I’ve noticed that we Americans could take tips from other countries how to do things better and smarter.

Japan has public restrooms that play music to mask the sound of flushing, and some have readout screens that show which toilets are free or occupied so you don’t have to bend down and look for feet. They also have air showers that blow pollen off people and clothes to protect those with allergies and emergency toilets in some elevators (not kidding!). The Aukland airport in New Zealand has a child’s toilet and an adult toilet in a single stall for parents to use.

Australia has been testing photoluminescent (glow in the dark) paint on roads that can glow for up to 10 hours after sunset. This improves nighttime visibility in rural and remote areas where there aren’t streetlights.  Texas has followed suit by adopting the technology, apparent at Texas A&M University where there’s a glow in the dark path at a campus intersection that helps improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians. The Netherlands also has several glow in the dark paths, as does Malaysia. South Korea has light up lines on major street crosswalks.

Moscow’s traffic light poles themselves light up when the traffic light changes so that drivers can see the color change better from yellow to red to green.  Croatia’s benches in public areas have built-in phone chargers and public WI-Fi. Several countries have pay for toilets which fund cleanliness and maintenance and in the UK there is an emergency button close to floor level under all the other buttons in case you collapse and need assistance.

Seattle’s airport offers temporary soundproof office spaces for events or meetings. Other airports, including Salt Lake International Airport, have phone ‘booths’ where you can sit with your laptop and talk without others hearing your conversation. This is a trend nationwide in airport lounges.

Italy has pet carts at grocery stores so you don’t have to leave them outside tied to a railing. They also have bottle caps that stay attached to bottles, so you don’t drop or lose them.  Germany has grocery carts with a special rack for cases of beer and has cleaning machines for your cart if needed.

Movies theaters around the world are getting creative, with food and beverage delivery to your seats, comfy lounge chairs that can heat, cool and massage you. Croatia has literal single beds in the back row for folks who would rather lay down that sit.

There’s a ski resort in Japan that uses saltwater sprinklers to keep walkways from getting too icy and dangerous. Norway has free book libraries at some bus stops.

How about UTA put up signs all along the FREE bus routes in downtown SLC to save people and conventioneers from walking in the hella heat this summer and to save energy with less cars? There’s a thought!

 

  Moving to Chicago?  Maybe parts of Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin?  Last week thousands of Zillow listings disappeared on that website. Why? Well, the 411 is simple-there’s a battle going on across the country between MLS services and in this case it’s between Zillow and Chi-town’s real estate database called MRED. The database cut off 43,000 listings claiming that Zillow violated its agreement in regard to a new trend of some listings not being advertised on the platform but instead kept from the internet for weeks before you can hear about or see them.

Zillow (and me as well) believe that if a seller wants the best marketing and the most eyes on a property, you go ‘full MLS’ so that millions see the listing. Compass Real Estate owns Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, Century 21, Colwell Banker, Corcoran, ERA, Sotheby’s International Realty and Christie’s International Real Estate with about 340,000 real estate agents under their umbrella. Zillow sued MRED and Compass earlier this month stating that those two entities conspired to cut off Zillow’s access to Chicago-area listings.

Holding listings off the MLS is happening here. I just did a search in the Wasatch Front MLS and there were ten of them, most of which were in the Park City area. These look a lot like pocket or limited access listings to me but some and for the consumer you must be working with one of these firms to see the full listing. I have a buyer that found one of these in the Sugar House area listed by a local real estate firm and it wasn’t on the MLS. I was able to show it to her with a bit of research and a week later it appeared on the MLS.

What’s the advantage? First, a buyer might find less competition for a property if the world (internet) doesn’t know about it. Real estate companies can lure in buyers if their listings are private to that firm only. Second, a buyer can get early access before other buyers know about the home.  For sellers, some may not want the world to see the property because of a divorce or estate sale situation or they are relatively famous. Others may want to ‘test’ the market through extremely limited marketing to see if anyone bites at a price. Sadly, many sellers still believe in ‘Covid pricing’-listing higher than comparables, which can lead to a long, long time on the market.

According to effectiveagents.com, the reality is that off-market homes often sell for less than list-about 17% less than comparable public MLS listings which certainly benefits buyers but not sellers. If it were me selling a home, I’d want a ‘limited or non-public’ listing broker to charge me a lot less commission for less service. I’d want the seller to handle showings, negotiations and even paperwork with a clear understanding of the limits of this kind of marketing.

I went out to lunch with friends the other day across from IHC’s mega hospital to a chain restaurant not of my choosing. The food was horrible, like warmed from a SYSCO bag of product produced in San Diego and shipped to chains around the west. Generally, I’ve always seen the parking lot there full, but at the noon rush hour there were only five tables full that hour in a restaurant that seats 144.  And I’ve noticed restaurants closing as of late. What’s up? Simply, the economy is beating up both consumers and businesses alike.

For example, according to the USDA, the U.S. beef cattle herd has reached its lowest size since President Truman’s administration (1945-1953), with total cattle and calves at 86.2 million head as of January 1, 2026 — the smallest inventory in 75 years The beef cow herd is even more dire, down 1% to 27.6 million head, the lowest since 1961. Predictions are for a small calf crop and tight feed supplies will push beef prices higher and higher this year, which explains in part why ground beef is at $6 a pound these days. Other factors such as drought in much of the country is causing some ranchers and farmers to cull their herds. Plus, the price of fertilizers and gas is rising drastically.

If you like a good steak, then you may also like a garlic-based chimichurri sauce on top, or garlic fries with your slab of meat? There’s a garlic shortage outlook for this year due to (again) weather, production and supply chain issues. California produces about 90% of the U.S. crop of this spicy bulb but garlic powder, granulated garlic and chopped garlic (think ‘jar-lic’, the chopped stuff in a glass jar) for most food brands is produced in China. China produces over 10 billion pounds of garlic a year, grown by over 1.2 million farmers there.

I gleaned from several websites’ predictions for more shortages this year. I’m not trying to scare you, just sharing some facts based on weather, labor and supply issues affecting food. For example, olive oil production is at a low because areas in Spain, Greece and Jordan have experienced both massive drought, heatwaves and heavy rainfalls. Increased demand by people on Keto/high protein diets has seen massive demand for low carb alternatives like frozen veggies, and farmers have also been victims of extreme weather and crop yields. Same is true with spices like black pepper and cumin and there were some early frost kills in the southern U.S. that has affected citrus production there and the supply chain has shifted more towards California for our need for lemons, limes, oranges, etc. You may have noticed that after 80 years, Minute Maid orange juice concentrate has been discontinued. Grain harvests have been in chaos and profits at your favorite cereal producer (General Mills) were down 32% last year, causing some products to be discontinued. Happy news tho-some cereals will bring back prizes in the boxes to lure you to buy their product later this year.