Like a farm animal on steroids, the once sleepy rural community of Draper mushroomed into a thriving metropolis seemingly overnight.

Property values have skyrocketed to the point where folks who work there can't afford to buy a home there.

"The growth has been astonishing," said James Wood, director of the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research. Wood, along with research analyst Francis Lilly, prepared the 52-page study, released to the city last month.

"In a period of record home building, Draper is one of the last areas to be developed in Salt Lake County," Wood said. "That boom occurs where the vacant land is."

At tonight's 7 p.m. City Council meeting, Wood will present highlights of the study, detailing the city's skyrocketing growth in numbers - and wealth - over the past 15 years.

In 1990, about 5,000 residents called Draper home. By 2006, that number shot up to 34,124, and municipal revenues grew from $5.1 million in 1990 to a projected $26.6 million in 2006.

According to the $5,000 study, Draper residents rank among the highest wage earners in the state, bringing in an average annual household income of $115,250. In 2005, the average Draper home sold for $373,181.

However, workers who earn their livelihood in Draper - there are 12,000 now employed within the city's boundaries - earn, on average, a modest $31,000 a year.

Some of those low-to-moderate wage earners live in the city's more affordable multifamily housing units, while the rest commute for their work shifts, but reside elsewhere.

"We're in a prime location and had room to grow" - straddling the south end of the Salt Lake Valley and northern Utah County, said David Dobbins, Draper's community and economic-development director.

The lack of affordable single-family homes in Draper doesn't keep the city's economic leaders up at night.

For one thing, the city's multifamily housing stock - apartments, townhouses and condominiums - has doubled since 2000, said Dobbins.

For another, affordable-housing opportunities can be found nearby.

"There are many opportunities in Draper to house the entire continuum of the work force," said Draper's economic-development manager, David Baird. "Plus, with our well-developed transportation infrastructure, within a five-minute drive you hit the entire continuum of the housing supply."

Mayor Darrell Smith, a Draper resident for almost 62 years, believes the city is on the right track with its fast-track growth.

"The economic growth has followed perfectly behind the growth of residential, providing the energy and synergy need to get people to notice Draper," Smith said. "Sometimes you wonder how we've been so lucky - but a lot of it is hard work as well."

cmckitrick@sltrib.com

Where people work in Draper

Many of the 12,000 are employed in Draper's burgeoning retail sector - at the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Salt Lake, eBay, 1-800 Contacts and the city's neighborhood shopping centers.

About 2,100 of those 12,000 workers labor in construction, another 1,650 for Utah's Department of Corrections. Draper is home to the state prison, near the Point of the Mountain.

More major retail development looms on the horizon, with the Swedish IKEA superstore slated to open in spring 2007. It will employ about 300 people.

Economic study

The economic study on Draper will be presented at the Draper City Council meeting at 7 p.m. tonight in City Hall, 1020 E. Pioneer Road. A summary of the report can be viewed at http://www-new.business.utah.edu/humis/docs/organization 936 115618360 5.pdf.