Salt Lake City serves as the state capital for Utah and is America’s 20th-most highly populated state capital city. The capital’s name reflects the city’s proximity to the Great Salt Lake.

A popular nickname for Salt Lake City is The Crossroads of the West. The official moniker for Utah is the Beehive State, while other names are the Mormon State and Deseret–the latter based on a word from the Book of Mormon meaning “honeybee”.

Salt Lake City’s Bingham Canyon Mine is the site of the world’s biggest man-made excavation.

Utah’s capital city is also home to the Family History Library, the largest genealogical library on the planet. The Family History Library is free to the public.

Research website numbeo ranks Salt Lake City in the top 31% compared to the 250 cities evaluated on its overall quality of life index at June 2020. Salt Lake City scored well on index factors such as purchasing power (strongest 5%), property price to income ratio (lowest 17%) and safety (safest 27%). On the negative side, Salt Lake City rates reasonably poorly for climate (bottom 25%), pollution (worst 35%) and cost of living (most expensive 45%).

Guinness World Records points to the ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating Series event at Salt Lake City’s super-fast Utah Olympic Oval track as being where South Korean Hwang Daeheon set the men’s world record for the fastest short-track speed skate over 1,000 meters completed in one minute 20.875 seconds.

Salt Lake City is vulnerable to earthquakes, at particular risk given its soil composed of clay and sand. Deterioration of its soil foundation could lead to permanent flooding from the Great Salt Lake. On March 18, 2020, Salt Lake City endured minor damage from a 5.7 magnitude earthquake to its southwest.

Salt Lake City serves as headquarters for one major corporation recognized as belonging to the Forbes Global 2000 world’s biggest companies: bank holding firm Zions Bancorporation.

From an international trade perspective, Utah shipped U$17.344 billion worth of goods around the globe in 2019. Its most valuable exports include gold (51.5% of Utah’s global total), miscellaneous food preparations (3%), electronic integrated circuit memories (2.9%), civilian aircraft including engines and other parts (2.8%), safety airbags including inflator system and other parts (1.9%), medical supplies such as needles and catheters (1.8%), non-electrical graphite or carbon items (1.3%), coal (also 1.3%), molybdenum ores and concentrates (1.2%), and x-ray tubes (1%) according to United States Census Bureau data.

The non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Salt Lake City was 5.2% at July 2020, up from 2.5% in 2019.

Capital Facts for Salt Lake City, United States: Quick Reference

 
Salt Lakers celebrate Independence Day as a national holiday each July 4.

Salt Lake City’s land area occupies 110.34 square miles (285.77 square kilometers). The state capital’s population was 213,367 Salt Lakers at September 21, 2020.

At the state level, Utah coves a land area measuring 82,144 square miles (212,761 square kilometers) home to a population of 3.3 million dwellers.

Salt Lake City’s population density is more concentrated averaging 1,934 residents per square mile (747 per square kilometer).

Zooming out to Utah state’s land boundaries, population density dilutes to an average 40 inhabitants per square mile (15 per square kilometer).