West Valley City is a city located in Utah. With a 2023 population of 143,455, it is the 2nd largest city in Utah and the 204th largest city in the United States.West Valley City is currently growing at a rate of 0.76% annually and its population has increased by 2.3% since the most recent census, which recorded a population of 140,230 in 2020. Spanning over 36 miles, West Valley City has a population density of 4,045 people per square mile.
The average household income in West Valley City is $76,924 with a poverty rate of 15.51%. The median rental costs in recent years comes to - per month, and the median house value is -. The median age in West Valley City is 30.2 years, 30 years for males, and 30.3 years for females.
Located in Salt Lake County, a suburb of Salt Lake City, West Valley City is the second-largest city in Utah. West Valley City is located about 11 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The city was incorporated in 1980 from a large and quickly growing unincorporated area, which had variously been known as Chesterfield, Granger, Hunter, and Redwood.
Diversity
According to new census estimates, demographers say West Valley City is now a minority-majority city (https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/09/13/census-west-valley-city/) in 2019 with minorities accounting for 51.4% of the population compared to around 48.6% white. About one-third of West Valley City's population is Hispanic or Latino.
Population Growth
At the time of West Valley City’s incorporation in 1980, the population of the city stood at just over 72,000. The city has seen consistent and steady growth over the years that have followed, growing on average by around 1 or 2% each decade. The largest increase in growth came during the 1990s, with an additional 22,000 people having come to the city between 1990 and 2000.
Between the incorporation of West Valley City in 1980 and the latest census estimates in 2017, it's estimated that the city has seen a rise of an additional 63,792 people, an increase of marginally more than 88%. In 2015, the city saw a growth of only 692 people, and 2016 saw a decline of almost as many. It's not known whether this decline is expected to continue and become a trend.
Prior to the first European settlers to the area, the earliest known residents of the western Salt Lake Valley were Ute and Shoshoni tribes of Native American Indians. European Latter-day Saints arrived and settled in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.
The area would go on to be comprised of four separate communities – Chesterfield, Granger, Hunter, and Redwood. Welsh Latter-day Saints settled in the Granger area in 1849, and by 1930 Granger and its surrounding area had grown to be home to around 1,000 inhabitants. It was not until 1876 that Hunter was settled. Irrigation was developed 5 years later, and the area became known for its growth and cultivation of fruit trees.
The communities of Chesterfield, Granger, Hunter, and Redwood saw rapid growth in population in the 1970s, and the four unincorporated areas came together in 1980 to form West Valley City.
The city unveiled plans in 2011 for a vast, 10-year investment plan into its infrastructure, creating a downtown area comprising approximately 40 acres at a cost of $500 million.