Nearly two-thirds of Utah’s federal government workers are in the defense industry, according to a new report.
The analysis by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah indicates that about 55,150 people work in defense in Utah, including 34,950 defense civilians and military personnel who account for 62 percent of the state’s federal workforce.
The state’s 34,950 federal defense employees consist of about 19,116 civilians and about 15,834 military personnel. About 20,200 people work on federal contracts as private defense contractors.
“The defense civilian workforce in Utah shrank rapidly in the 1990s following the end of the Cold War, but has since rebounded by several thousand jobs,” said John Downen, senior research fellow at the Gardner Institute. “The number of military personnel has followed a similar, smoother path. These trends illustrate the influence of international conflicts and changing national political priorities on the local economy.”
The report indicates that the military and defense industry supports about 7.2 percent of Utah’s overall employment and 6.9 percent of Utah’s personal income through direct, indirect and induced economic impacts.
In 2024, most federal defense employees are concentrated in Northern Utah, from Tooele and Utah counties north to Weber and Cache, while 13 counties had no defense employment. Federal defense jobs are focused in Davis County, at 11.4 percent of the county’s overall employment, and Tooele County, at 6.1 percent.
The majority of Utah’s defense civilians work for the Department of Defense, with the Air Force having the largest active-duty military presence and the Army having the largest National Guard and Reserves presence. The Air Force has 6,779 personnel, with more than half being active-duty. The Army has 8,477 people, with nearly all being in the National Guard and military reserves.
The remaining defense civilian employees work for the Department of Veterans Affairs. DOD and VA contracts fund jobs at private defense contractors like Northrop Grumman and L3Harris Technologies.
The report indicates that overall defense-related activity in the state generates net fiscal impacts of $304.9 million for the state government, based on a fiscal 2023 estimate.
Utah’s public-sector federal defense jobs account for a share of 2 percent of total employment, placing Utah No. 24 among states and the District of Columbia. For context, the DOD and VA share of total employment is highest in Hawaii, at 9.3 percent, and lowest in Oregon, at 0.7 percent.
Compared with sectors of a similar size in Utah, defense ranks above the information sector but below the wholesale trade sector.
Government spending is another element of Utah’s defense presence. The DOD and VA obligated $6 billion in prime contracts and $142.5 million in grants for performance in Utah in fiscal year 2024. That equals 2.1 percent of the state’s GDP, ranking Utah No. 23 for total dollars and No. 15 for the share of GDP.
For Hill Air Force Base specifically, the Gardner study estimates that 98.9 percent of its civilian jobs and 85.3 percent of its military jobs are in Davis County, with the remainder in Weber County.
A HAFB economic impact analysis, released last year by the Cost and Economics Division at Hill, indicated that the base’s 26,893 employees included 5,608 active-duty personnel, 913 Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard members, 14,151 government civilians and 6,221 contract civilians.
The base’s expenditures totaled $4.3 billion in the 2024 fiscal year, the report said. Total estimated jobs created was 67,046.
The Hill report pegged the total annual economic impact of the base at nearly $12.8 billion, including $2.1 billion in annual government payroll, $4.3 million in annual expenditures, and $6.3 million in estimated indirect economic impact.
“As the federal government reinvents itself through significant policy changes and cost-cutting measures, decision-makers will benefit from a data summary of the key economic linkages between Utah and the federal government,” the Gardner report says.
The Gardner Institute report is the fifth in a series on state and federal economic linkages. It is available at https://gardner.utah.edu/.