| UT State Facts |
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| Deseret: 1849-1850 |
| Territory: Sep 9, 1850 |
| Statehood: Jan 4, 1896 |
| Counties: 29 |
| Borders: AZ, CO, ID, NV, NM and WY |
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Today’s Utah counties did not always exist in the present form. They went through many different changes in the space of a few short years. Utah Counties were first formed while part of the State of Deseret, and after that the Utah Territory.
Utah Territorial Counties
The State of Deseret was established in 1849 and disestablished in 1850. The provisional state encompassed most of the territory that had been acquired from Mexico the previous year as the Mexican Cession.
There were originally 7 counties established under the provisional State of Deseret in 1849: Davis, Iron, Sanpete, Salt Lake, Tooele, Utah, and Weber Counties.
The Territory of Utah, as part of the Compromise of 1850, was organized on September 9, 1850 with the first territorial legislature meeting from 1851–1852.
The first legislature re-created the original counties from the State of Deseret under territorial law as well as establishing 3 additional counties: Juab, Millard, and Washington.
All other counties were established between 1854 and 1894 by the Utah Territorial Legislature under territorial law except for the last two counties formed, Daggett and Duchesne. They were created by popular vote and by gubernatorial proclamation after Utah became a state.
The State of Utah was created as a the 45th state on January 4, 1896.
Utah Counties Today
Today, Utah is divided into 29 counties. States bordering Utah are Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming.
Fun Facts about Utah Counties
Counties by Year
- Salt Lake County, Sanpete County, Tooele County, Utah County and Weber counties was the original 5 counties created on March 03, 1852.
- Daggett County was the last county created on March 04, 1919.
County Size Facts
- San Juan County (7,820 sq mi) is the largest county in Utah.
- Davis County (299 sq mi) is the smallest county in Utah.
County Population Facts
- Daggett County (1,059) is the least populated county in Utah.
- Salt Lake County (1,029,665) is the most populated county in Utah.
Utah City Facts
Utah’s 10 largest cities (2017 est.) are:
- Salt Lake City (194,188) is in Salt Lake County
- West Valley City (135,546) is in Salt Lake County
- Provo (116,199) is in Utah County
- West Jordan (111,937) is in Salt Lake County
- Orem (97,839) is in Utah County
- Sandy (94,556) is in Salt Lake County
- Ogden (85,497) is in Weber County
- St. George (79,995) is in Washington County
- Layton (73,963) is in Davis County
- South Jordan (65,523) is in Salt Lake County
Boundary Changes of Utah Counties from 1849-1960
This Interactive Map of Utah Counties show the historical boundaries, names, organization, and attachments of every county, extinct county and unsuccessful county proposal from 1849 to 1960.