Utah Valley is a valley in North Central

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

located in Utah County, and is considered part of the

Wasatch Front The Wasatch Front is a major metropolitan region in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Utah. It consists of a chain of contiguous cities and towns stretched along the Wasatch Range from Santaquin in the south to Pleasant View in the n ...

. It contains the cities of Provo, Orem, and their suburbs, including Alpine, American Fork, Cedar Hills, Elk Ridge,

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

, Lehi, Lindon, Mapleton, Payson, Pleasant Grove, Salem, Santaquin,

Saratoga Springs Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over ...

, Spanish Fork, Springville,

Vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

and Woodland Hills. It is known colloquially as "Happy Valley".

Geography

Utah Lake Utah Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in the center of Utah County, Utah, United States. It lies in Utah Valley, surrounded by the Provo- Orem metropolitan area. The lake's only river outlet, the Jordan River, is a tributary of the Great Sa ...

is a natural shallow

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in its center. All rivers in the valley flow into Utah Lake, which itself empties into the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...

to the north. That river flows into the

Salt Lake Valley Salt Lake Valley is a valley in Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City, Utah, Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably Murray, Utah, Murray, Sandy, Uta ...

through the Jordan Narrows, a gap in the Traverse Mountains. Geographic borders of the Utah Valley are the following; The Traverse Mountains and West Traverse Mountains to the north, the Wasatch mountains to the east, Juab Pass to the south, and Goshen Pass, West Mountain, Utah Lake, the Lake Mountains, and Cedar Pass to the west. The geography of Utah Valley combined with the prevalence of fossil fuel burning vehicles leads to poor air quality in Utah.

Economy

The north part of Utah Valley is considered the center of Silicon Slopes and includes headquarters and regional offices of many prominent technology companies including

Adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

Ancestry An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...

, Entrata,

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

Micron The micrometre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a uni ...

joint venture IM Flash,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

Oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...

, SanDisk,

Qualtrics Qualtrics is an American experience management company, with co-headquarters in Seattle, Washington, and Provo, Utah, in the United States. The company was founded in 2002 by Scott M. Smith, Ryan Smith, Jared Smith, and Stuart Orgill. Qualtric ...

Vivint Vivint Smart Home, Inc. is a Provo, Utah-based manufacturer of smart home and home security products. Its product lines include cameras, locks, safety sensors, thermostats, and lighting, along with associated monitoring and installation services. ...

, Workfront, Xactware and housing the largest NSA data center.

Education

Utah Valley University Utah Valley University (UVU) is a public university in Orem, Utah, United States. UVU offers master's, bachelor's, associate degrees, and certificates. Previously called Utah Valley State College, the school attained university status in July ...

and

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

are located in Orem and Provo respectively. They are two of the largest universities in the state and represent approximately 78,000 students.

Demographics

Most inhabitants of Utah Valley are members of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

, which operates six

temples A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

in the valley. These include the Provo Utah Temple in Provo, the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple in American Fork, the Payson Utah Temple in Payson, the Provo City Center Temple in Provo, the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple in

, and the Orem Utah Temple in Orem. The final two of which were dedicated in 2023 and 2024, respectively. The population of Utah Valley is estimated at 575,205 by the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

. The growth in the area has been significant. In 1970, 1980, 1994, 2009 the population was 125,005; 204,102; 277,179; and 555,551 respectively. The most populous city is Provo, with a population count of 114,801 inhabitants. View_of_Utah_Valley

References

External links

Official county government site

Utah Valley Exchange

Population statistics
Valleys of Utah Wasatch Front Landforms of Utah County, Utah Valleys of the Great Basin {{Utah-geo-stub