Salt Lake City vs West Valley City

A side-by-side comparison of Salt Lake City and West Valley City: population, income, housing, and more.

Salt Lake City and West Valley City are places in Utah. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Salt Lake City has the higher population (203,888 vs 137,955 in West Valley City). West Valley City has the higher median household income ($88,604 vs $74,925 in Salt Lake City). Salt Lake City has the higher median home value ($495,700 vs $377,300 in West Valley City).

Population, income & housing

	Salt Lake City	West Valley City
Population	203,888	137,955
Median age	33.0 yrs	30.3 yrs
Median household income	$74,925	$88,604
Median home value	$495,700	$377,300
Median gross rent	$1,343	$1,445
Housing units	97,318	40,691
Homeownership rate	46.8%	71.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	50.9%	15.7%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Salt Lake City	West Valley City
Population	197,756 → 203,888 (+3.1%)	136,009 → 137,955 (+1.4%)
Median household income	$60,676 → $74,925 (+23.5%)	$66,342 → $88,604 (+33.6%)
Median home value	$314,500 → $495,700 (+57.6%)	$219,500 → $377,300 (+71.9%)
Median gross rent	$985 → $1,343 (+36.3%)	$1,126 → $1,445 (+28.3%)

Salt Lake City

Population

197,756203,888

Median household income

$60,676$74,925

Median home value

$314,500$495,700

Median gross rent

$985$1,343

West Valley City

Population

136,009137,955

Median household income

$66,342$88,604

Median home value

$219,500$377,300

Median gross rent

$1,126$1,445

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Salt Lake City	West Valley City
Under 5	4.9%	8.0%
5 to 17	12.1%	23.2%
18 to 24	15.2%	10.7%
25 to 34	21.0%	14.8%
35 to 44	14.0%	13.6%
45 to 54	10.9%	11.1%
55 to 64	9.6%	10.0%
65 to 74	7.5%	5.3%
75 and over	4.7%	3.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Salt Lake City	West Valley City
White (non-Hispanic)	64.7%	42.0%
Black or African American	2.4%	2.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	0.8%
Asian	5.3%	4.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	1.4%	4.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.3%
Two or more races	4.5%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	20.8%	42.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Salt Lake City	West Valley City
No high school diploma	8.4%	18.6%
High school graduate	17.1%	35.1%
Some college or associate's	23.7%	30.6%
Bachelor's degree	28.9%	12.0%
Graduate or professional degree	22.0%	3.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Salt Lake City	West Valley City
Drove alone	60.2%	71.9%
Carpooled	8.1%	14.4%
Public transit	5.2%	1.9%
Walked	4.8%	0.8%
Bicycle	1.6%	0.2%
Worked from home	18.5%	10.1%
Other means	1.6%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Salt Lake City	West Valley City
1-unit, detached	44.3%	66.0%
1-unit, attached	4.2%	7.8%
2 to 4 units	11.0%	7.5%
5 to 19 units	10.8%	6.3%
20 or more units	28.8%	6.1%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	6.4%

Poverty & households

	Salt Lake City	West Valley City
Poverty rate	13.4%	11.8%
Average household size	2.19	3.54
Mean commute (minutes)	20	22
Median year structure built	1963	1984