County growth continues to impress<br><br>

by Buckley Jensen

A press release carried in the Salt Lake City newspapers recently reports that San Juan is the third fastest growing county in the state, percentage wise, this past year. San Juan grew by 2.9 percent between July 1, 2008 and July 1, 2009. Only Duchesne, at 3.6 percent, and Morgan, at 3.1 percent, were ahead of San Juan.

Before the recession, counties like Washington and Summit were the champs, but they have both fallen on hard times with high rates of home foreclosure, especially in Washington County where there have been huge declines in construction and above average rates of home foreclosures. Those counties growth rates last year were 0.5 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

Salt Lake County grew a modest 1.1 percent and now has 1.042 million residents. Utah County is second in total population in the state, with a population of 531,000 and a 2.3 percent growth rate.

Energy development has sheltered San Juan from the recession. Few have lost their homes to foreclosure, few businesses have failed and population continues to grow as uranium, natural gas and copper all combine to provide high paying jobs.

Other interesting statistics in the article peg the current Utah State population at 2.81 million; with the very likely possibility of having a fourth representative in Washington, D.C. as a result. Carbon is the only county in the state that lost population (a 0.4 percent dip);

Utah women are the most fertile in the nation, averaging 2.5 babies each; and Utah has the continuing “distinction” of spending the least amount per pupil for education than any state in the nation.