Marilyn Cannon, Regional Economist

Utah continues to be a state that emphasizes the importance and value of education, something that is increasingly apparent as the average education level and number of enrollees in Utah colleges and universities continues to rise. Women, in particular, have been pursuing higher education at greater rates than men. The Utah economy has rewarded individuals obtaining higher degrees. They have greater access to employment opportunities as the number of jobs requiring higher education has increased. These jobs are also, on average, higher paying opportunities.

It is interesting to note that while college education is increasingly popular in Utah, there is a decreasing number of students enrolling in higher education in other states. From 2019 to 2022, only three states saw an increase in college enrollments. Utah topped the charts with enrollments going up 3.6%. The other 47 states saw fewer students filling the chairs in colleges and universities. This Utah enrollment increase is driven by a few different factors. The state has a young population, creating more potential for enrollment growth. Utah also has relatively less expensive education, recently ranked as the state with the highest degree value. This measure compares the cost of tuition and the earnings potential from a degree. The importance Utahns place on higher education also encourages high enrollment numbers. A 2022 survey found that 74% of Utahns feel that higher education is worth the cost.

With more and more people attending college, Utah’s population has attained more education. While 20% of the nation’s 25+ population has a bachelor’s degree, Utah outstrips that by three percentage points, with 23% of the 25+ population holding a bachelor’s degree. However, a smaller percentage of Utah’s population has a graduate degree than the nationwide average.

This high percentage of educated individuals is spurred by the increasing number of people attending and graduating from college. The number of completed bachelor’s degrees has consistently increased over the past five school years. 

The increase in people getting a higher education is rising at a faster rate than the population, producing a population that is more educated than ever. In 2018, 29.0% of Utah’s adult population had a bachelor’s degree or higher whereas in 2020 it had increased to 30.3%. Completion trends at every university in the state have been positive from 2016 to 2020, with a KSL article reporting that some institutions saw historic enrollment highs in the 2022-2023 school year.

In Utah, more women than men are pursuing higher education, following a longstanding nationwide trend. Beginning in the 1990s, the proportion of young adult women (ages 25-34) with a bachelor’s degree in the United States surpassed that of young adult men. More recently the proportion of adult women (age 25+) in the US with a bachelor’s degree exceeded the proportion of adult men with the same level of education.

In Utah, the number of women getting a bachelor’s or graduate degree has been steadily increasing, while the number of men has only incrementally increased. The education gap between men and women is widening due to this trend. Interestingly, women receive bachelor’s degrees in much higher numbers than men, but men make up the majority of graduate degree recipients.

It is important to note, many industries that tend to be dominated by men, like construction and transportation, are more likely to require certificates or work experience than a college education. On the other hand, positions in the healthcare industry, which are largely filled by women, have more degree requirements.

As the proportion of educated individuals has risen, the number of jobs that ask for more educated applicants has increased. In 2016, roughly 25% of total positions in Utah listed higher education as a necessary qualification. Just four years later, that has increased to nearly 30%.

This increase comes at the same time an alternate pathway to employment is taking place in the state through removing education requirements for jobs and placing emphasis on work history and experience. Two large employers, the State of Utah and Delta Airlines, have both announced their intentions to waive degree requirements for properly-experienced individuals. They aim to make it easier to qualify for jobs both as a way to increase upward mobility for individuals within a company and to combat labor shortages by increasing the number of viable candidates for a position. 

Because the number of educated individuals has grown at a faster rate than the number of positions asking for candidates with degrees, there are still more than enough educated individuals to fill positions that ask for a degree. In fact, from 2018 to 2020, the average number of educated individuals per job asking for a bachelor’s degree or higher increased from 1.4 to 1.5. In other words, for every 100 jobs that sought an individual with higher education in 2020, there were 150 people in the population with a bachelor’s degree or above.

Many wonder whether obtaining higher education continues to be worthwhile. While it is difficult to know what would happen had an individual not gotten an education, it is easy to compare how wages increased after obtaining a degree as well as the average income for different levels of education. This makes it clear that completion of any level of education is expected to increase wages and the higher the degree obtained, the higher the average wage one can expect in the first year of employment following graduation.

It is interesting to note that individuals graduating with the highest levels of education–Ph.D. and professional degrees–are less likely to be employed in Utah following graduation. Rather, they are more likely to move, finding more opportunities out of state. This could indicate that positions requiring doctorate and professional degrees are more abundant in economies outside of Utah. Another possibility is that students come to Utah to pursue advanced degrees and then depart after graduating, or a combination of these factors.

Education in Utah is poised to become increasingly important in the coming years. If enrollment trends continue, Utah will become more and more educated. More jobs requiring higher education will be created, and jobs not currently asking for higher education may begin selecting only more educated candidates as they become increasingly abundant. Individuals will benefit from obtaining post-high school degrees as they will have access to better job opportunities.