Herriman and Bluffdale: A tale of two of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S.

With 129 percent population growth since 2014, Herriman is experiencing a rapid expansion that creates multiple challenges and many opportunities. Coming in at 15th, Herriman was one of seven Utah cities listed as the 100 fastest-growing in the country in a report released by StorageCafe. 

Following close behind, Bluffdale ranked 21st, based on its population increase in the past decade. Eagle Mountain (22), Saratoga Springs (23), West Haven (39), Santaquin (81) and Lehi (89) also cracked the top 100.

Herriman Community Development Director Blake Thomas said much of the city’s growth is attributed to the availability of open land, which is cheaper to develop than infill areas, but the transition from agriculture to commercial and residential development has impacted the community’s culture and infrastructure.

“Moving more from a rural, agricultural-based community to a suburban community brings in a lot more demand for commercial development services to support the residents here,” Thomas said. “So we went from a lot of single-family homes to more townhomes and multi-family housing. That’s a big shift that impacts traffic and other things.”

Herriman is also seeing hospitality expansion, with its first hotel currently under construction. It’s brought in restaurants and retail options, and plans to create a sports entertainment complex that will create jobs and recreation opportunities for residents.

The 2022 Herriman Wellbeing Survey showed a majority of residents surveyed felt growth was happening too fast in the city, raising concerns about the water supply, transportation issues, affordable housing and air quality.

“We’re trying to bring in services that will alleviate some of the issues we’ve seen,” Thomas said. “We’ve worked with UTA to address routes to help with transit and, hopefully, we can end up with dedicated routes that help people get in and out of the city.”

Several roads in Herriman are being constructed or widened, the Commons at Herriman Towne Center will be a key commercial area, multi-use trail expansion is happening in the Oquirrhs and there are plans to build a tunnel under the freeway to connect to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.

Bluffdale, Herriman’s neighbor to the east, doesn’t have as much open land available and its rapid growth has necessitated extensive infrastructure planning, including roads, parks and schools.

“It’s been really beneficial because we have all those new families, young families, have moved here,” said Bluffdale Community & Economic Development Director Grant Cowell. “It’s been great and it’s introduced some new development types.”

The population increase in Bluffdale has attracted several commercial developments, including restaurants, convenience shops and the city’s first grocery store. Smith’s Food & Drug is building a location at 13893 S. Redwood Road that’s expected to open in September.

Future development in Bluffdale includes major transportation infrastructure and new zoning requests on the south end of town. That will be the last available land until the Point of the Mountain gravel pit stops production, opening up several hundred acres of land in the city. It will also be impacted by The Point development in Draper and the adjacent FrontRunner station in Bluffdale.

“That’s pretty exciting because I think we’re just kind of at the beginning of that growth curve,” Cowell said. “People love being here. People on the west side of town love that historic feel and the larger lots. The newer residents love how some of these projects have integrated open space and parks. So I just see how much people love it here. I’m glad to be part of it.”

StorageCafe, an online self-storage marketplace, analyzed more than 2,500 U.S. cities with at least 10,000 residents, ranking them by percentage population change from 2014 to 2023. The full report is available at storagecafe.com/blog.