PART I: DEMOGRAPHICS
(See Part II: Finances and Workplace Preferences, Part III: Housing, and Part IV: Politics and Society)
In 2015, Millennials will overtake Baby Boomers in the U.S. as the largest generation. This is in contrast to Utah Millennials, who have been the largest proportion of the population since before the youngest members were even born. While nationally Gen Xers have held a smaller proportion of the population than either group, Utah Baby Boomers and Gen Xers are nearly the same size. These differences in proportion of population also come with changes in race, ethnicity, marriage, parenthood, education, and poverty will occur. This report examines these generational groups, in addition to the Silent and Greatest generations, and highlight some of these intergenerational shifts.
This report is presented in four parts. Part I uses Census data to show demographic trends between generations and explains the methodology used in a statewide survey conducted for Utah Foundation by Lighthouse Research. The remaining three parts of this report detail Utah Foundation survey findings regarding workplace, finance, housing, social, and political issues.
FINDINGS:
- Nationally, Millennials will overtake Baby Boomers as the largest living generation in 2015; this occurred in Utah before 2000. Accordingly, the proportion of Utah’s population who are Millennials is the second highest in the nation behind Washington D.C. (see page 2-3)
- While Utah is less diverse than the nation, the state is trending toward larger non-white populations for Gen Xers and Millennials than earlier generations. (see page 3)
- Fewer children are being born to Utah Millennial women between 20 and 24 and more are born to women between 30 and 34 than previous generations. (see page 5)
- Utahns of all generations are more likely to be married than their national counterparts. (see page 4)
- Utah’s proportion of married, stay-at-home mothers is around 12% higher for Gen Xers and Millennials than their national peers. (see page 6)
- Approximately 30% of Millennial respondents to the Utah Foundation survey identify as religiously unaffiliated, which is comparable to their national peers (36%) and higher than any other generation in Utah. (see page 7)
Click here for the Executive Summary of all four parts of the report.