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Summit County economic outlook: modest population decline, job growth and housing affordability challenges
Summary
Jeff Jones of the Summit County Economic Development Advisory Board told Oakley council that while the county may lose about 333 residents over the next decade, it is projected to add roughly 7,293 jobs; he highlighted visitor and employee declines in Oakley and flagged housing affordability given a Summit County AMI of $168,600.
Jeff Jones, representing the Summit County Economic Development Advisory Board, presented demographic and economic data for Summit County and its partner communities.
Jones said Summit County’s estimated population is about 43,000 and projected a decline of roughly 333 people over the next 10 years while projecting the addition of about 7,293 jobs in the same period. He highlighted analytic tools such as Placer AI that measure resident, visitor and employee trends using cell-signal data; Jones reported a small year-over-year resident decline in Oakley (about 0.3%), an 8.5% decline in out-of-market visitors and an 8.2% decline in employees for the January–August comparison.
Jones also reviewed economic indicators: Summit County’s unemployment rate was reported at 2.7% (below state and national rates) and he warned that availability of J-1 visa seasonal workers remains uncertain and could pose labor challenges for the winter season. On housing, Jones noted the HUD area median income (AMI) for Summit County is $168,600 for a family of four and contrasted that with median list prices ranging from about $724,005 to $2,245,000, showing the difficulty of producing homes affordable at typical AMI thresholds.
The presentation included local policy tools such as inclusionary zoning (used in the Snyderville Basin) and ongoing projects that will increase deed-restricted affordable units; Jones said the county remains short of the number of units needed to match job growth.
Council members asked clarifying questions about how projections were calculated and whether code contains local inclusionary zoning—staff noted Oakley’s code includes such provisions for certain subdivision thresholds.
