Utah

Utah

Salt Lake City

Utah, constituent state of the United States of America. Mountains, high plateaus, and deserts form most of its landscape. The capital, Salt Lake City, is located in the north-central region of the state. The state lies in the heart of the West and is bounded by Idaho to the north, Wyoming to the northeast, Colorado to the east, Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. At Four Corners, in the southeast, Utah meets Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona at right angles, the only such meeting of states in the country. Utah became the 45th member of the union on January 4, 1896.

Salt Lake Temple

Utah represents a unique episode in the settlement of the United States, a story of a religious group that trekked across three-fourths of the continent in search of a “promised land” where they could be free from persecution. Salt Lake City is the world headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon church, and the spiritual home of adherents throughout the world. With Mormons making up nearly seven-tenths of the state’s population, the beliefs and traditions of the Mormon church continue to exert profound influences on many facets of the state’s life and institutions.

Before the arrival of the first Mormon pioneers, Utah was inhabited by several Native American tribes, including the Ute, for whom the state is named. From the beginning of Mormon settlement in 1847, the pioneers set about wresting a green land from the deserts, gradually supplementing their crops with the products of industry and the earth. The economy of present-day Utah is based on manufacturing, tourism, and services, in addition to agriculture and mining. Area 84,898 square miles (219,884 square km). Population (2020) 3,271,616; (2022 est.) 3,380,800.