Sanpete County

Sanpete County, Utah — key demographics (ACS 2019–2023 5-year estimates unless noted)

Population

• Total population: ~32,000
• Group quarters (college/prison) presence materially affects age/sex structure

Age

• Median age: ~31 years
• Age distribution: under 18 (≈28–29%), 18–24 (≈15%), 25–44 (≈25–26%), 45–64 (≈18%), 65+ (≈12–13%)

Sex

• Male ≈54%
• Female ≈46% Note: Skewed male share influenced by Central Utah Correctional Facility and college residents.

Race and Hispanic origin

• Race (alone, percent of total): White ≈88%, Black ≈2%, American Indian/Alaska Native ≈1–1.5%, Asian ≈0.5–1%, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander <0.5%, Some other race ≈3–4%, Two or more races ≈4–5%
• Hispanic or Latino (of any race): ≈12–13%
• White alone, not Hispanic: ≈76–79%

Households and families

• Households: ~9,500–10,000
• Average household size: ≈3.1 persons
• Family households: ≈72%
• Married-couple families: ≈55–57%
• Households with children under 18: ≈38–40%
• Tenure: owner-occupied ≈70–73%; renter-occupied ≈27–30%

Insights

• Younger-than-U.S. age profile and larger households reflect Utah norms plus Snow College influence.
• Male-heavy population shares reflect the county’s correctional facility and student population.

• Scope and density: Sanpete County, UT spans ~1,590 sq mi with ~19 people per sq mi; population ≈30,000 (2023 est.). The Sanpete Valley’s towns (Ephraim, Manti, Mt. Pleasant, Gunnison) cluster along US‑89; Snow College concentrates young adults in Ephraim.

• Estimated email users: ≈22,000 residents use email regularly. Method: apply high U.S. adult email adoption (≈92–95%) to the county’s adult population and include teens 13–17 at lower adoption.

• Age distribution of email users:

  • 18–29: ~26% (college presence elevates this share)
  • 30–49: ~32%
  • 50–64: ~23%
  • 65+: ~19%

• Gender split among email users: ~51% female, ~49% male. Note: The county’s overall sex ratio skews male due to the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison, but incarcerated men have little to no personal email access, so active email users skew slightly female.

• Digital access trends:

  • Household broadband subscription is high for rural Utah (~88–90%), with rising fiber-to-the-home in major towns (e.g., CentraCom builds) and fixed wireless in outlying areas.
  • Smartphone-only internet households ~12–15%.
  • LTE/5G coverage is strong along population corridors; speeds and reliability drop in mountain basins and remote farms.

Insights: College-driven youth and expanding fiber sustain very high email adoption; rural distance and incarceration modestly temper overall digital engagement.

Summary of mobile phone usage in Sanpete County, Utah

Scope and sourcing note: Definitive, county-specific smartphone-ownership and carrier-usage counts are not directly published in a single official source. The estimates below synthesize the most recent publicly available datasets as of 2023–2024 (U.S. Census Bureau/ACS “Computer and Internet Use,” FCC Broadband Data Collection and coverage disclosures, Utah Broadband Center), combined with standard benchmarks for smartphone adoption in the U.S. adult population. Figures are rounded and presented as best-available estimates.

User estimates

• Total smartphone users: approximately 22,000–26,000 residents use a smartphone regularly in Sanpete County. This range reflects:
  • County population in the low-30,000s,
  • A relatively young age profile (boosted by Snow College) that pushes smartphone adoption toward national levels for 18–29-year-olds, and
  • Slight rural-county drag on adoption among older adults compared with the Utah average.
• Cellular-only home internet users: meaning households that rely primarily on a cellular data plan rather than wired broadband, are notably higher than Utah’s statewide share. Rural ACS and FCC data indicate cellular-primary households are common in counties like Sanpete; local share is materially above the Utah average and far above Wasatch Front counties.

Demographic breakdown and usage patterns

• Age mix:
  • 18–24: Overrepresented versus Utah overall due to Snow College. This increases iOS/Android parity among young adults, heavy app/social/video usage, and higher per-capita data consumption on and near campus and in Ephraim/Manti.
  • 50+: Also a significant cohort in outlying towns and agricultural areas, where smartphone ownership is high but somewhat lower than the state average and skewed to lower-cost Android and MVNO plans; voice/SMS reliability remains a priority.
• Income and plan type:
  • Prepaid/MVNO penetration is higher than the Utah average, reflecting price sensitivity and the availability of strong Verizon/AT&T wholesale coverage via MVNOs.
  • Family plans with mixed device generations are more common outside Ephraim/Manti than in student-heavy blocks.
• Work and mobility:
  • Agriculture, construction, trades, and commute patterns along US‑89 drive weekday daytime cell-site loading different from the Wasatch Front, with peaks aligned to worksite starts and school hours rather than late-evening streaming peaks typical of urban counties.

Digital infrastructure and coverage

• Coverage footprint:
  • 4G LTE is broadly available in the valley towns along US‑89 (Ephraim, Manti, Mount Pleasant, Fairview, Gunnison). Coverage reliability drops in canyons and backcountry (San Pitch Mountains, Manti–La Sal National Forest), producing known dead zones and forcing device-to-carrier switching for some users.
  • 5G (sub‑6 GHz) is present along the main corridor and population centers; performance varies by carrier and distance from sites. mmWave 5G is not characteristic of the county outside limited point locations.
• Carriers and networks:
  • AT&T, Verizon, and T‑Mobile each provide 4G and sub‑6 5G along the primary corridor; roaming/MVNO options are widely used. FirstNet (AT&T) coverage for public safety is available along core routes but is gap-prone off-highway.
• Backhaul and capacity:
  • Cell sites rely on a mix of microwave and fiber backhaul. Where microwave backhaul persists, speeds can degrade at evening peaks; fiber-fed upgrades over the last few years have improved consistency in Ephraim/Manti.
• Home broadband interplay:
  • In towns with limited cable/fiber penetration or where distances from DSL/Copper nodes are long, cellular hotspots are commonly used as primary or failover service. This drives higher-than-average per-household mobile data consumption compared with urban Utah.

How Sanpete differs from Utah statewide

• Higher cellular-primary households: Reliance on mobile data for home connectivity is meaningfully higher than the Utah average, reflecting rural last‑mile constraints.
• Bimodal demand: A student-driven young adult cluster coexists with older rural households, producing two distinct handset/plan mixes and usage patterns. Statewide, usage skews more uniformly young and urban.
• Coverage variability: Utah’s Wasatch Front enjoys dense multi-carrier 5G with fewer dead zones; Sanpete’s coverage is strong along US‑89 but notably patchy in canyons and on secondary roads, leading to more cross‑carrier switching and MVNO choices based on local signal rather than price alone.
• Peak-load timing: Network stress in Sanpete aligns to school/work mobility and hotspot use rather than late-night urban streaming peaks typical statewide.

Implications

• Carriers: Additional small-cell or sector splits in Ephraim/Manti and along school/work corridors would yield outsized benefits; targeted coverage infill on canyon mouths and agricultural perimeters would reduce drop rates.
• Public sector: Continued fiber backhaul expansion to macro sites and town anchors will stabilize 5G performance and reduce the share of households forced into cellular-primary internet.
• Businesses and institutions: Student-heavy zones should plan for high concurrent device counts and uplink capacity for collaboration apps; rural customer outreach should account for variable coverage and MVNO prevalence.

Social media usage in Sanpete County, UT (2024 snapshot; modeled from Pew Research Center U.S. platform usage, Utah/rural patterns, and Sanpete’s age profile)

Overall user stats

• Adults using at least one social platform: 72–78% of adults
• Daily social users: ~65% of adults
• Smartphone ownership among adults: ~85–90%
• Heavy youth presence due to Snow College and large under-30 population keeps Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok above typical rural averages

Most-used platforms (adults; share of adults who use)

• YouTube: 80–85%
• Facebook: 65–70%
• Instagram: 45–50%
• TikTok: 30–35%
• Snapchat: 25–30%
• Also notable: Pinterest 30–35%, WhatsApp 20–25%, X (Twitter) ~20–22%

Age-group patterns

• Teens (13–17): YouTube ~90%+, TikTok ~60–70%, Snapchat ~60–70%, Instagram ~60%; Facebook low
• 18–24 (Snow College cohort): YouTube 90%+, Instagram 70–80%, Snapchat 60–70%, TikTok 60–65%, Facebook 30–40%
• 25–44: YouTube ~90%, Facebook 70–75%, Instagram ~50%, TikTok ~35–40%, Snapchat ~25–30%
• 45–64: Facebook 70–75%, YouTube 80–85%, Instagram 25–35%, TikTok ~15–20%
• 65+: Facebook 50–60%, YouTube 55–65%, Instagram/TikTok low

Gender breakdown (adults)

• Women: More active on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest (typically 5–15 percentage points higher than men on these)
• Men: More active on YouTube, Reddit, and X (typically 5–10 points higher than women on these)
• Messaging apps (Messenger, Snapchat, WhatsApp) used broadly across genders for 1:1 and group communication

Behavioral trends observed locally

• Facebook Groups and Marketplace are central for community coordination: local buy/sell, school and church events, high school sports, severe weather/wildfire updates
• Short-form video growth: TikTok and Instagram Reels drive discovery for local eateries, outdoor recreation, small retail, and campus life; cross-posting Reels to TikTok is common
• Private sharing dominates: heavy use of Messenger, Instagram DMs, and Snapchat for planning, recommendations, and classifieds before public posting
• Evening engagement peak: highest interactions typically 7–10 pm local time; weekend spikes around community and school events
• Trust and reach skew local: posts from known community figures, schools, churches, first responders, and local news/radio pages outperform brand-first content
• Stable Facebook use among 30+; fastest growth in TikTok/Reels among under-35; X remains niche except for sports and emergencies

Notes on methodology

• Figures are 2023–2024 estimates derived from Pew Research Center platform adoption benchmarks adjusted for Utah’s high internet/smartphone adoption, Sanpete’s younger age distribution, and rural usage patterns. These serve as practical planning numbers for Sanpete County.