People migrating from California to Utah are more likely to have a household income of $100,000 or more than those coming to Utah from elsewhere.
This is according to a recent analysis from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute on Californians relocating to Utah.
More Californians than Utahns relocate to California. In 2022, just under 20,000 Californians relocated to the Beehive State, while only 15,000 Utahns moved to California, according to the analysis, which relied on census statistics and the American Community Survey.
When Californians relocate to Utah, they are most likely to settle in Salt Lake County, Saratoga Springs, Payson, or Southwest Lehi. One-third of all Californians who relocate to the Beehive State settle in Utah County.
Half of Californians (25 and older) coming to Utah hold a bachelor’s or advanced degree. Sixty percent of Californians over the age of 16 who relocate here work, while 36% are unemployed. Only three percent of them are unemployed.
Californians coming here have greater household earnings and are more likely to buy a home than persons moving from elsewhere. “Within the first year of moving to Utah, half of California in-migrants own their new residence, and the other half rent,” according to the article. “This pattern differs from the rest of Utah’s in-migrants, where only one-third own their residence within the first year and two-thirds rent.”
In terms of household income, persons migrating from California are more likely to fall into the following groups than those moving from elsewhere: $50,000 and $75,000, $100,000 and $124,000, $150,000 and $174,000, $175,000 and $199,000, and more than $200,000.
Forty percent of households relocating from California to Utah have an income over $100,000. While California has the most number of residents going to Utah, Washington, Idaho, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Florida, Oregon, and New York also have a large number of residents moving there.