Utah by the numbers
In Utah, the median worker earns $48,600 a year, the typical home is worth $455,000 and carries $2,412 of property tax, and the average household pays $102 a month for electricity at 12.96¢ per kilowatt-hour.
West Western Interconnection Regulated monopoly
Energy
Utah's low rate rests on an old, largely depreciated coal fleet supplied by in-state mines, plus hydro and a growing solar and geothermal contribution. Utah has actively resisted accelerating coal retirement, and its regulators have pushed back on allocating other states' clean-energy transition costs to Utah ratepayers.
The state also has favourable structural conditions: a compact, concentrated population along the Wasatch Front that makes distribution cheap per customer, mild shoulder seasons, and strong growth adding customers to a fixed cost base.
The pressures are ahead of it rather than behind. The coal fleet cannot run indefinitely, data-centre and industrial load is growing quickly, and replacement capacity will require capital that the current rate does not yet include.
Averaged across the twelve months to May 2026, Utah households used 766 kilowatt-hours a month and paid $102. At the state median wage that is about 4.4 hours of work a month to keep the lights on. For heating, a heat pump costs less to run than gas here, by about $1.43 per million BTU.
Work and pay
The median Utah worker earned $48,600 in 2024, 1.8% below the national median. What distinguishes a state's labour market is rarely its biggest occupations, which are retail and food service everywhere, but what it has disproportionately.
| Occupation | Concentration | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Continuous Mining Machine Operators | 8.8× | $67,870 |
| Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials | 5.75× | $29,920 |
| Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents | 5.38× | $48,530 |
| Plasterers and Stucco Masons | 5.16× | $53,170 |
| Tile and Stone Setters | 4.53× | $48,790 |
Property tax
The median Utah homeowner pays $2,412 a year on a home worth $455,000, an effective rate of 0.53% against a national 0.98%. Nobody sets that rate. It is what falls out of county, city, school district and special district levies applied to an assessed value, so the state figure is a weighted average of 25 counties rather than a posted number.
Cost of living
Prices in Utah run at 98.9 where the national average is 100, ranking it #21 of 51. Goods sit at 96.4, which is close to national almost everywhere because most goods are shipped and priced nationally. Rents sit at 107.8, and that is where states actually separate from one another. A median wage of $48,600 therefore buys what $49,141 buys nationally.
Metro areas priced separately: Salt Lake City-Murray (100.9) , Ogden (100.3) , Provo-Orem-Lehi (98.2) , St. George (97.3) , Logan (95.9) .
Housing
House prices in Utah rose 1% over the year to 2026 Q2, against a median across all states of +2.7%. Over ten years the index is +121.9%. Prices are at or near their record level.
Metro areas tracked here: Provo-Orem-Lehi (+1.2%) , Salt Lake City-Murray (+0.2%) .
Who supplies the power
14 utilities report residential service in Utah, together serving 1.2 million customers. Regulated monopoly.
Utah: common questions
What does it cost to live in Utah?
Prices overall run at 98.9 against a national average of 100, with rents at 107.8. The typical home is worth $455,000 and carries $2,412 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.53% against a national 0.98%. Electricity averages $102 a month at 12.96¢ per kilowatt-hour. Against that, the median wage is $48,600.
What is the property tax rate in Utah?
The effective rate is 0.53% of home value, from a median bill of $2,412. It is set locally rather than by the state, so the figure is a weighted outcome across 25 counties. County by county rates.
Does a salary go further in Utah?
The median wage of $48,600 buys what $49,141 buys nationally, once local prices are taken out. A state paying above the national median while charging above it for housing can leave a household no better off, and this is the arithmetic that shows which side of that line Utah falls on.
Is Utah expensive for electricity?
It ranks #50 of 51 jurisdictions on price at 12.96¢ per kilowatt-hour, -29.7% against the U.S. average. On the actual bill it ranks 50 of 51, because households there use 766 kWh a month against a national 871.
What is the median salary in Utah?
$48,600 across all occupations, about $23.36 an hour, covering 1,709,790 wage and salary workers as of 2024.
Who supplies electricity in Utah?
14 utilities report residential service, the largest being PacifiCorp with 947,246 customers. Regulated monopoly.
Electricity May 2026, gas 2024, utilities 2024, wages 2024. All figures from federal statistical agencies. Methodology · Sources