Utah’s $183 billion economy grew at the nation’s fourth fastest rate during the first quarter of this year, according to federal statistics released Thursday.
Its gross domestic product — the market value of goods and services produced by labor and properties in a state — grew by 4.2% between Jan. 1 and March 31, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Nationally, the gross domestic product grew by 3.1% in that time. The GDP increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The three states where GDP was higher than in Utah were West Virginia (5.2%), Texas (5.1%) and New Mexico (4.6%). An increase in mining was the leading contributor to economic growth in those three states, the bureau reported.
At the other end of the spectrum, the states with the smallest growth were Hawaii (1.2%), and Maryland and New Jersey (both at 1.8%).
Utah’s economic growth was the best in the mountain states, followed by Colorado (3.6%), Wyoming (3.3%), Montana (3.2%) and Idaho (2.7%).
(Courtesy of Bureau of Economic Analysis) Map showing change in gross domestic product among the states in the first quarter of 2019.
Utah’s GDP accounted for just less than 1% of the nation’s total, at 0.9%.
Utah’s economic growth was driven by industries including finance and insurance (up 1.01%), real estate (0.9%) and health care and social assistance (0.44%).
Sectors with some of the biggest dips in GDP in Utah included construction (-0.15%); agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting (-0.12%); and transportation and warehousing (-0.04%).
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