80 Unique Facts About Utah

From its nickname “The Mormon State,” you could correctly assume that there are a whole lot of Mormons in the state. But what else is Utah famous for?

Get ready to find out with these 75 general, interesting, and historical facts about Utah state, USA!

General Utah Facts

• Utah is a state that’s located in the Mountain West region of the Western United States.

• Utah is also considered one of the Mountain States, which contain the Rocky Mountains, along with Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming. Arizona and New Mexico are sometimes also included.

• Utah borders Idaho to the north, Wyoming to the northeast, Colorado to the east, Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west.

• The Four Corners Monument, where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona meet, is at the southeastern corner of Utah.

• It is one of 27 US states that are landlocked.

• Utah covers 84,899 mi², (219,887 km²), making it the 13^th largest state in the US, sitting between Minnesota and Idaho in terms of size.  

• Utah is slightly larger than Guyana or Great Britain.

• Utah has a population of 3.42 million, the 30^th largest in the US in terms of population. It sits between Connecticut and Iowa in terms of population, or roughly equivalent to Puerto Rico.

• Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah. With 201,600 people, it is the 122^nd largest city in the US. It is located beside and named after Great Salt Lake, which is sits beside.

• The state has been inhabited for thousands of years by various Native American tribes such as the Ute, Puebloans, and Navajo.

• People from Utah are called Utahns and Utahans.

• UT is the official abbreviation of Utah.

• There are two theories behind Utah’s name. The first is that the name originates from the Native American “Ute” tribe, or “people of the mountains”. The second is that it comes from “yuttahih” an Apache word for “one that is higher up”.

• 55% of the people in Utah are Mormons. With more than 2 million members in the Church Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Utah has more Mormons than any other state. California is in the 2^nd spot, with less than a million.

• Nicknames for Utah include the “Beehive State” (used early on by Mormons to represent cooperative work), “The Mormon State”, and “Salt Lake State”.

• The state flag features the Utah state seal on a solid-blue background. There’s a beehive at the center of the seal. A sego lily is growing on either side of the beehive, representing peace. A national flag represents the state’s support for the US, with the eagle representing protection in peace and in war. The dates 1847 and 1896 represent the reestablishing of the state and Utah gaining admission to the Union.

• Utah is the only state that has a cooking pot, the Dutch oven, as one of its state symbols.

• The Rocky Mountain elk is the state animal of Utah, while the state firearm (yes, it has one) is the Browning M1911, due to the inventor’s ties to the state.

Random Interesting Utah Facts

• Utah has the youngest population in the nation, with 33% of residents being under the age of 18, and mean age being 31.3.

• Utah, along with Mississippi, South Carolina, and Oklahoma, are the only states that allow death by firing squad for inmates on death row.

• There are five national parks in Utah: Zion (famous for its red cliffs), Bryce Canyon (known for its hoodoos and natural amphitheaters), Canyonlands (canyons, mesas, and buttes), Capitol Reef (more lunar landscapes), and Arches (with over 2000 natural sandstone arches and famous for its sunrises) National Parks. Here’s an itinerary for visiting all of Utah’s national parks!

• Only California (9) and Alaska (8) have more national parks that Utah.

• Monument Valley, or Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park in Utah and Arizona, is one of the state’s most famous scenes, with its massive stone towers ranging from 400 to 1000 ft.

• Utah is also home to six national forests (Uinta, Dixie, Fishlake, Wasatch-Cache, Ashley, and Manti-LaSal) and 43 state parks.

• The only state in the US with parts of national forest in each of its counties is Utah.

• Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the largest terminal lakes (lakes with no outflow) in the world.

• Lake Powell, Utah is the second largest water reservoir in the US after Lake Mead in Nevada. It is also a popular tourist attraction. It is created by the Glen Canyon Dam in neighborhing Arizona. It is on the Colorado River, just like Hoover Dam and many others.

• Salt Lake Utah Temple on Temple Square near the capitol building is the largest Mormon church in the world by floor area. The LDS headquarters, the Church Office Building, is also in Salt Lake City.

• Levan, Utah is considered the state’s navel. Interestingly enough, “Levan” spelt backwards is “navel”.

• Utah is famous for its skiing. Park City Ski Resort in Utah is the largest ski resort in the US.

• An average of 500 inches of snow falls every year in the mountains around Salt Lake City.

• Due to Utah’s desert-like climate and high elevation, it’s snow is usually powdery and dry. Hence the states claim to have the “greatest snow on Earth”.

• The federal government owns over 50% of Utah.

• Utah is the second-driest state in the US after Nevada.

• Utah’s summers are extremely hot and long, while its winters are cold and short.

• The highest point in Utah is 13,528 ft (4120 m) at Kings Peak, while the lowest point is 2180 ft (664 m) at Beaver Dam Wash.

• The highest temperature ever to be recorded in Utah was 118°F (48°C) in Saint George on July 4, 2007, while the lowest temperature ever to be recorded in Utah was -69°F (-56°C) in Peter Sinks on February 1, 1985.

• The Sundance Film Festival takes place every January in Park City, Utah. It’s one of the world’s top independent film festivals and the largest one in the United States.

• Touched by an Angel, a popular TV series, was filmed in Utah.

• Loraine Day was a well-known film actress from Roosevelt, Utah. From the Late 1930s to 1960, she starred in over four dozen films.

• The notorious Western outlaw, Butch Cassidy, was born in Beaver, Utah.

• Other famous people from Utah include actress Roseanne Barr, actor James Woods, singer-songwriter Jewel, basketball player and coach Byron Scott, and the band The Used.

• Frank Zamboni of Utah invented the zamboni (the machine that drives around and polishes ice rinks) in 1901.  

• The man that invented the first prototype for the all-electric television is Philo T. Farnsworth, who was also from Beaver, Utah.

• Robert B. Ingebretsen didn’t just invent the DVD; he was also awarded a special Oscar for it by the Academy of Motion Pictures.

• Salt Lake City police officer, Lester Wire, invented the electric traffic light.

• In the early 1980s, Robert K. Jarvik invented the artificial heart at the University of Utah.

• Utah native Walter Fredrick Morrison is the man that invented the popular Frisbee.

• Moses Malone of Virginia was the first basketball player to go directly from high school to the pros when he was signed on by the Utah Stars. He is considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

• The first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant was opened in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1952. The founder, Colonel Harland Sanders, was of course from Kentucky.

• Utah is rich in natural resources, including potassium, molybdenum, lead, zinc, copper, gold, silver, natural gas, and oil.

• Utah is the only state in the US that produces gilsonite, a pure form of asphalt which is used in a variety of chemical products, drilling cements and more.

• If you hit a person in Porvo with a stick, rock, snowball, or any other object, you could technically be arrested.

• It’s prohibited to drive on sidewalks across Utah state.

• There’s actually a law against hunting elephants in Utah, not that you will see any there.

Historical Facts About Utah

• About 75 million years ago, the Utah region was part of a landmass called Laramidia. It was swampy, hot, and full of dinosaurs. Naturally, Utah is one of the best places in the US to find dinosaur fossils.

• The Anasazi people lived in the Utah region for just over one thousand years before disappearing. They lived in Utah in the 500s and disappeared in the 1300s.

• The first European to arrive in Utah was Spanish explorer Juan Antonio de Rivera in 1765. He found the Colorado River and claimed the land for Spain.

• Mexico claimed Utah after gained independence from Spain in 1821, along with parts of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, and Nevada.

• The first European to find Great Salt Lake was Jim Bridger in 1824

• Led by Brigham Young, the first Mormon settlers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in in 1846.

• The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was signed and the US gained control of Utah in 1848 as a result of the Mexican-American War.

• The Provisional State of Deseret was rejected by the US federal government in 1850. Instead, they organized the Territory of Utah; originally, the territory included parts of present-day Colorado, Wyoming, and Nevada.

• The first transcontinental railroad line was completed on May 10, 1869. It was completed when the Central Pacific Railroads and Union joined rails at Promontory Summit in the Utah Territory. Today the site is preserved at Golden Spike National Historic Park.

• On March 22, 1882, polygamy (a common practice among Mormons) was outlawed by the US Congress. In order to suppress polygamy in the territories, the US adopted the Edmunds-Tucker Act.

• On January 4, 1896 Utah became the 45^th state of the USA.

• The Utah State Capitol was completed in 1915.

• In 1919, Zion National Park, the first in the state, was established.

• In 1966, construction of the Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona was completed, creating Lake Powell, which is mostly in Utah.

• Between 1974 and 1975, several women disappeared in Utah. The women were all believed to be victims of Theodore “Ted” Bundy, the Green River Murderer. The women included Nancy Wilcox, Laura Aime, Debi Kent, and Nancy Baird.

• On October 8, 1981 there was an attack at the University of Utah in which an explosive device was defused. The attack was later discovered to be by Theodore Kaczynski, dubbed “the Unabomber.”

• The first US senator to fly in space was Jake Garn of Utah in 1985.

• In 2002, Salt Lake City hosted the Winter Olympic Games. It was the 8^th and most recent time the US hosted the Olympics (until LA hosts in 2028).

• In 2004, a NASA space capsule carrying particles from the Sun crashed into the desert in Utah.

• In 2013, the ban on same-sex marriages was scrapped by a US federal judge. Earlier in 2004, 66% of Utahns had voted in approval of the ban.

• In 2015, Gary Herbert, the governor of Utah, gave approval to bringing back the firing squad for executing those on death row.

• In 2016, President Barack Obama designated the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.

• Utah suffered a heat wave in 2021, with temperatures reaching 107°F (42°C) in Salt Lake City.

• According to a 2023 report, Utah’s Salt Lake could dry up in 5 years.