Utah continues to be ranked one of the best states in the nation to live, work, and play. But how do Utah metro areas compare with other cities across the U.S.?

EDCUtah’s research team produced the new Peer-to-Peer analysis and report to help gain a better understanding about which metro areas throughout the United States have the most similarities to Utah’s metro areas in areas such as economy, demographics, size, and trajectory. From there, the report goes on to compare these peers to help identify areas of strength and areas of opportunity for improvement or growth for Utah metro areas.

EDCUtah intends conduct an ongoing comparison of these peer metro areas in the coming years to better understand how Utah metro areas are changing over time and how successful the state is in addressing areas of opportunity.

The report highlights the Logan, Ogden/Clearfield, Salt Lake City, Provo/Orem, and St. George MSAs.

A few takeaways:

• Florida and Idaho were the two states with the most peer metro areas. Utah’s five metro areas have peers from 21 other states.
• While each Utah metro area is unique, they consistently compared favorably in GDP growth, labor force participation, and a young and growing population.
• Utah metro areas consistently had constraints and areas of opportunity in rising cost of living, low purchasing power, and the male-female education gap.

Access the full report to learn more.