3  |  Houses Aren’t Cheap

These days, it is hard to find an affordable home in Utah. 

With a median home price of $800K compared to the national median home price of $600K according to the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency, we’re outranked only by Hawaii, California, Massachusetts, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado. The rising costs of housing coincide with the rising number of people experiencing chronic homelessness in Utah, which increased 27 percent between 2022 and 2023. 

Some initiatives on campus, including Ivory Innovations, a nonprofit organization housed at the David Eccles School of Business, are dedicated to researching and catalyzing solutions in housing affordability. Meanwhile, the U is working to expand on-campus housing options, including adding a guarantee of available housing for fall 2024 first- year students who apply by the deadline for their preferred option.

While each of the transitions that encapsulate how Utah is changing are significant, the challenge of housing affordability has far-reaching impacts, such as an impending difficulty of filling middle-class jobs, including nurses, police officers, firefighters, and teachers. Future decisions about these issues are crucial, as once again, a metaphorical crossroads appears in the distance. 

“We’re at an inflection point,” says Gochnour. “If we handle it well, we can progress to a whole new level of prosperity or performance. If handled poorly, we may compromise our livability and standards of living. That’s a pretty serious statement—we have to handle this right.”

5  |  Next Level Economy

In 2000, Adobe co-founder John Warnock BS’61 MS’64 PhD’69 wanted to bring his company to Utah, but he worried there weren’t enough people to hire. He met with then-Gov. Mike Leavitt about his concerns, amid news that Geneva Steel had laid off its workers, Kennecott Utah Copper had shuttered its north concentrator, and construction was slowing as mortgage rates rose. The next year, Leavitt announced the Engineering and Computer Technology Initiative, which invested $2.5 million initially, and $1 million ongoing, in Utah’s higher education system to double the number of students graduating with majors in engineering, computer science, and math. It was a turning point for the state.

“Our economic structure, like that of the nation’s, is undergoing a fundamental change,” Leavitt said at the time. “To succeed, our workforce must be prepared to enhance their skills and commit to lifelong learning. And government must respond by investing in infrastructure and education and preserving quality of life.”Today, Utah has moved from a strong economy to an elite economy, excelling in technology and science. The creation of key entities such as ARUP Laboratories, BioFire Diagnostics, Megahertz Corp., and Myriad Genetics—all of which have connections to the U—diversified and strengthened the state’s financial system. Since 2000, growth in engineering employment in Utah has outpaced the rest of the U.S. by more than fivefold, with Utah’s engineering and computer science workforce generating 12-15 percent of the state’s $200 billion economy in 2020.

The state’s investment paid off with higher numbers of graduates in computer science and engineering at Utah System of Higher Education institutions, blooming from 1,540 in 2000 to more than 3,700 in 2020. A majority of the graduates have come from the U.

“We see that our students have a critical impact on our community, as citizens and a potential workforce for the future,” says Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Mitzi Montoya. “Our job, and our top priority, is to prepare them to be successful in whatever field they choose to pursue.”