South Jordan, Utah

Area Profile

82,686 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for South Jordan, in Salt Lake County.

70out of 100
Area Score
Top 18% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 8% of 3,904 published cities79
SchoolsTop 41% of 2,668 published cities58
GrowthTop 6% of 2,973 published cities79
Housing affordability2211th of 4,223 published cities79
Climate3958th of 4,223 published cities55
Physical resilience2214th of 4,182 published cities55
AccessTop 34% of 4,226 published cities95
Economic stabilityTop 3% of 4,226 published cities83
The quick read

South Jordan ranks in the top 8% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.6% and median household income of $134,047.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 922 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 19% on the prior year.

A major airport is 16 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
82,686
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$134,047
Top 7% nationally
Density
3,210/sq mi
25.8 sq mi of land
Median age
36.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Salt Lake County
Utah
Metro area
Salt Lake City-Murray, UT
Nearest major airport
SLC
16 mi · Salt Lake City Intl
Median home value
$650,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.6% is lower than 80% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment held steady over the past year, at 45,130 employed residents.

48% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 87% of measured US cities.

Household income is higher than at least 93% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$7,292$134,047Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,936$51,766Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate3.7%Bottom 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute26.0 minBottom 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher47.9%Top 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment45,130Bottom 48%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.9%Top 35%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.0%Top 31%June 2026
Labor force46,798Bottom 48%June 2026
Labor force participation70.9%Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$71,660Top 41%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$55,240Top 34%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.1%Bottom 41%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.6%Bottom 20%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/063.71.7
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.6% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024134k112k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $134,047 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Salt Lake City-Murray, UT
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Customer Service Representatives26,620$45,410
General and Operations Managers20,870$103,710
Retail Salespersons20,330$34,420
Fast Food and Counter Workers19,590$29,070
Software Developers19,040$129,600
Office Clerks, General16,260$45,220

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

46% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 48% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 21.5 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
20
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
21.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
45.8%
Top 31% in Utah
Reading proficiency
48.1%
Top 27% in Utah
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Bingham HighJordan District2,46125.1
Mountain Creek Middle SchoolJordan District1,31323.938%43%
South Jordan MiddleJordan District1,18223.645%49%
Elk Ridge MiddleJordan District1,15123.542%52%
Early Light Academy at Daybreak · charterEarly Light Academy at Daybreak1,02220.938%41%
Aspen ElementaryJordan District90120.0
South Jordan SchoolJordan District86321.650%55%
Golden Fields SchoolJordan District85420.859%58%
Eastlake SchoolJordan District79220.362%54%
Monte Vista SchoolJordan District78320.161%47%
Welby SchoolJordan District70122.645%44%
Daybreak SchoolJordan District70120.047%51%

17.2% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Utah’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,991 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.9 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
17.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,991
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$650,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.85Top 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate81.4%Top 39%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±69827,365Top 2%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$90$1,991Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$11,185$650,500Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income17.8%Bottom 45%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2.3%Bottom 16%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
79/ 100
Top 6% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 11% since 2020, reaching 86,156 in 2024.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

At 11.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
922
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
11.2
Top 11% nationally
Year over year
+19%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
44.1%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202486k78k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202120222023202420252k372
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−41%).

Weather & climate

4 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 94°F and January a low of 24°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 15.5 inches, including 51.9 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 54, in the Moderate band, and about 43 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station SALT LAKE CITY INTL AP, 15.5 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND2.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index101.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation15.5"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall51.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low24°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high94°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months41991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100432024 calendar year
Median air quality index54.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing50°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
54
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
101
90th percentile index
Days above 100
43
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

55 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are earthquake, wildfire and avalanche.

EarthquakeModerate
AvalancheModerate
WildfireElevated

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, lightning, inland flooding, heat wave, landslide, volcanic activity, tornado, strong wind, hail, drought, cold wave, ice storm.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Salt Lake County records 3.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 14.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 20.4 per 100,000 residents in Salt Lake County.

Homicide
3.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
20.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
20.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Salt Lake County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around South Jordan rather than South Jordan itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

6 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 16 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Salt Lake City IntlSLC16 mi12,002 ft
Provo MuniPVU27 mi8,603 ft
Ogden-HinckleyOGD44 mi8,107 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
70
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Other cities in Salt Lake City-Murray, UT

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
Salt Lake CitySalt Lake County208,00761vs South Jordan
West Valley CitySalt Lake County138,43756vs South Jordan
West JordanSalt Lake County116,69263vs South Jordan
SandySalt Lake County94,29163vs South Jordan
MillcreekSalt Lake County63,64869vs South Jordan
HerrimanSalt Lake County59,34667vs South Jordan
TaylorsvilleSalt Lake County58,67855vs South Jordan
DraperSalt Lake County50,27863vs South Jordan
MurraySalt Lake County50,18857vs South Jordan
RivertonSalt Lake County45,45771vs South Jordan
TooeleTooele County38,40560vs South Jordan
Kearns metro townshipSalt Lake County37,696vs South Jordan

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in South Jordan

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
8400944,186$137,92270
8409538,532$126,96870