Utah County and Davis County (combined) need to gain three districts, but Salt Lake County needs to lose three.
Utah’s House of Representatives has 75 districts. Although most people seem to be talking about how the legislature will draw Utah’s four U.S. House districts, these 75 legislative districts matter just as much. So let’s take a look.1
With 2,763,885 people living in Utah according to the 2010 Census, each district’s ideal population is 36,852. After the 2001 redistricting, each district’s population was roughly equal. However, growth over the past 10 years has been extremely uneven. The most populous district in the 2010 Census, District 56, has grown to 90,503 residents over the past 10 years. The second most populous is District 52, with 61,341 people. Together, these two districts have enough people to fill more than four districts.
The table below shows the 8 most populous Utah House districts in descending order. Incumbents representing one of these districts are likely to see their district split in some fashion.
| District (incumbent, party, county) |
2010 population | Ideal population | Difference |
| 56 (Sumsion, R, Utah) | 90,503 | 36,852 | +53,651 |
| 52 (Wimmer, R, Salt Lake) | 61,341 | 36,852 | +24,489 |
| 50 (Newbold, R, Salt Lake) | 54,430 | 36,852 | +17,578 |
| 42 (Bird, R, Salt Lake) | 51,909 | 36,852 | +15,057 |
| 71 (Last, R, Washington) | 51,723 | 36,852 | +14,871 |
| 13 (Ray, R, Davis) | 50,040 | 36,852 | +13,188 |
| 27 (Dougall, R, Utah) | 49,237 | 36,852 | +12,385 |
| 65 (Gibson, R, Utah) | 49,224 | 36,852 | +12,372 |
By contrast, the table below shows the 8 least populated Utah House districts in ascending order. Some of these incumbents will see their district merged with neighboring districts.
| District (incumbent, party, county) |
2010 population | Ideal population | Difference |
| 49 (D. Brown, R, Salt Lake) | 27,228 | 36,852 | -9,624 |
| 4 (Butterfield, R, Cache/Rich) | 28,046 | 36,852 | -8,806 |
| 48 (Christensen, R, Salt Lake) | 28,348 | 36,852 | -8,504 |
| 46 (Poulson, D, Salt Lake) | 28,377 | 36,852 | -8,475 |
| 63 (Sanpei, R, Utah) | 28,493 | 36,852 | -8,359 |
| 28 (King, D, Salt Lake) | 29,137 | 36,852 | -7,715 |
| 45 (Eliason, R, Salt Lake) | 29,393 | 36,852 | -7,459 |
| 60 (Daw, R, Utah) | 29,398 | 36,852 | -7,454 |
The table below presents another way to think about these changes in local population. For Utah’s 7 most populous counties, I have listed how many Utah House districts presently lie (roughly) within that county’s boundaries. I have also divided the county’s 2010 population by 36,852 to see how many districts will need to lie within each county’s boundaries following the 2011 redistricting.
| County | Current districts | Needed districts |
| Salt Lake | 31 | 27.9 |
| Utah | 12.5 | 14.0 |
| Davis | 7 | 8.3 |
| Weber | 7 | 6.3 |
| Washington | 3 | 3.7 |
| Cache | 3 | 3.1 |
| Tooele | 1.5 | 1.6 |
| Rest of state | 10 | 10.1 |
Although Salt Lake County gained 131,268 residents between 2000 and 2010–more than any other county except Utah County–this growth rate was slower (as a percent) than in 16 of Utah’s 29 counties. As a result, Utah County and Davis County (combined) need to gain three districts, but Salt Lake County needs to lose three.
In a couple days, we’ll take a look at how these different growth rates around the state may affect the legislature’s partisan balance. In particular, we’ll look at how many Republican seats need to be split (or merged), and also at how many Democratic seats need to be split (or merged).
This is part of a series of posts about redistricting in Utah. For an overview, read the introductory post. My talented research assistant, Robert Richards, contributed heavily to this series.
Possibly related posts:
Possibly related posts (automatically generated)
Redistricting backgrounders – What have we learned? (June 13, 2011)
Can you share the table you used to create this?
There’s a lot going on in this post. What exactly are you looking for?
The house population’s compared to ideal.
Can you design a map that gives Orem City the strongest voice they can have
in the legislature?
Orem is the 5th largest city in the state and was the 5th largest city in the state
prior to the new census numbers, however they don’t have their own senator.
John Valentine lives in Orem, but his seat extends to Lindon, Pleasant Grove,
American Fork, Lehi and Cedar Hills. Margaret Dayton’s house is barely in Orem,
and she has some of Provo in her seat.
Would Orem be better off with one senator exclusively in Orem, or the way it is now?
Orem also has one of the smallest House seats. what is the best possible fix for the residents of Orem with the new census numbers?