City · Sevier County, Utah

Salina, Utah

Salina is a city in Sevier County, Utah. It has 2,546 residents. Salina, Utah has a quality-of-life score of 60 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #6,307 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Utah it ranks #128 of 175 cities and towns. It ranks best on public EV charging ports (high), hot days (low) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (low). It ranks worst on drought exposure (high), social associations (low) and distance to an emergency room (high).

60Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #6,307 of 15,651 cities and towns
Utah: #128 of 175 in UT
Population: 2,546 (2020-2024)
Land area: 6 mi²
Density: 433.5 /mi²
FIPS code: 4965880

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety67#5,096/15,637
Economy34#10,255/15,631
Housing73#4,082/14,977
Health50#7,796/15,609
Healthcare28#11,243/15,650
Environment99#124/15,453
Education70#4,653/15,649
Infrastructure57#6,700/15,650
Community40#9,394/15,651
Leisure & amenities32#10,612/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Salina, Utah ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Sevier County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Public EV charging ports · high19.7 /10k
96/100Utah 9.0 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergySevier County value
Hot days · low1 days
96/100Utah 39 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationSevier County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · low5.1 µg/m³
96/100Utah 7.3 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencySevier County value
Reading scores · high3.40
95/100Utah 3.18United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSevier County value
Math scores · high3.46
94/100Utah 3.13United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSevier County value
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Utah 1.9 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataSevier County value

Weaknesses

Drought exposure · high100%
1/100Utah 98%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAASevier County value
Social associations · low1.3 /10k
1/100Utah 3.6 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSevier County value
Distance to an emergency room · high17.9 mi
5/100Utah 5.2 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesSevier County value
Job growth · low-3.7%
5/100Utah 0.9%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataSevier County value
Suicide rate · high26.4 /100k
7/100Utah 20.4 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimateProvisional dataSevier County value
Students per teacher · high20.3×
7/100Utah 21.6×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsSevier County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.3× (2015-2019) → 4.5× (2020-2024)
+95%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
77.5% (2015-2019) → 90.1% (2020-2024)
+13 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
High school diploma or higherImproving
85.5% (2015-2019) → 94.7% (2020-2024)
+9.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
57.1% (2015-2019) → 51.5% (2020-2024)
−5.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Unemployment rateWorsening
5.3% (2015-2019) → 10.5% (2020-2024)
+5.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
Child poverty rateImproving
22.7% (2015-2019) → 18.5% (2020-2024)
−4.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Salina, Utah improved on 1 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 10 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved1

Broadband+13 points77.5% → 90.1%

Declined1

Price / income+2.2×2.3× → 4.5×

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Salina, Utah between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	21.4 min2015-2019	19.6 min2020-2024	−1.8 min	Within the margin of error	69%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.1%2015-2019	18.1%2020-2024	+4.1 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Broadband subscriptions	77.5%2015-2019	90.1%2020-2024	+13 points	Improved	71%
Effective property tax rate	0.66%2015-2019	0.54%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	38%
High school diploma or higher	85.5%2015-2019	94.7%2020-2024	+9.3 points	Within the margin of error	94%
Home price to income ratio	2.3×2015-2019	4.5×2020-2024	+2.2×	Declined	3%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4052015-2019	0.3852020-2024	−0.020	Within the margin of error	67%
Median household income	$54,2862015-2019	$64,1292020-2024	+18%	Within the margin of error	29%
Poverty rate	15.2%2015-2019	15.7%2020-2024	+0.5 points	Within the margin of error	39%
Rent as share of income	32.9%2015-2019	30.4%2020-2024	−2.5 points	Within the margin of error	72%
Rent-burdened households	57.1%2015-2019	51.5%2020-2024	−5.6 points	Within the margin of error	73%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	13.9%2015-2019	15.8%2020-2024	+1.9 points	Within the margin of error	26%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Salina, Utah five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Salina, Utah in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Salina, Utah itself moved +6.7 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

2,546 residents (±25)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

981 households (±93)

Salina, Utah
Utah share

Under $25k17%†165
$25k–50k16%†155
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

981 households (±93)

Salina, Utah
Utah share

Own74%728
Rent26%253

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,085 workers (±152)

Salina, Utah
Utah share

Drive alone82%891
Carpool7.3%†79
Public transit0.0%0

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Sevier County, the county holding most of Salina's residents.

Sevier County has 616 employer establishments, 275 for every 10,000 residents (1.11× the US rate of 248; 0.99× Utah's), with 7,744 paid employees at an average annual pay of $46,219. The Census Bureau also counts 1,769 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 616; 1,769 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 275; US 248 · Utah 277
Paid employees: 7,744
Average annual pay: $46,219; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Sevier County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Specialty trade contractors	64	28.6	1.85×More than typical	357	$41,496	108
Ambulatory health care services	46	20.6	0.99×About typical	331	$61,462	49
Truck transportation	40	17.9	3.53×More than typical	767	$56,849	98
Restaurants and other eating places	35	15.6	0.85×About typical	741	$17,058	7
Construction of buildings	28	12.5	1.65×More than typical	122	$38,902	44
Building finishing contractors	21	9.4	2.47×More than typical	72	$29,903	25
Building equipment contractors	20	8.9	1.49×More than typical	132	$47,750	21
Limited-service restaurants	19	8.5	1.06×About typical	370	$18,095	—
Lessors of real estate	17	7.6	0.62×Fewer than typical	53	$32,415	170
Offices of dentists	17	7.6	1.89×More than typical	103	$36,233	4
Services to buildings and dwellings	17	7.6	1.13×About typical	38	$40,632	57
Gasoline stations	14	6.3	1.93×More than typical	189	$27,418	—

Rank places for an industry Open Sevier County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 22,378 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Salina, Utah: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

50FY2017
314.8FY2018
-64.7FY2019
594.1FY2020
-594.1FY2021

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Salina, Utah, so they do not add up across cities.

Salina, Utah's figures are part of those of Sevier County, UT ($45M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Salina is mostly in Sevier County.

See federal money in Sevier County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Salina, Utah is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Celeste MaloyR-UT-2 · 100% of residentsWith party 96%Missed 0.9%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Sevier County79100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Sevier County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/4965880

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends