Check out War Thunder and use my link for a free large bonus back with boosters, vehicles, and more: playwt.link/geographybygeoff War Thunder is a highly detailed vehicle combat game containing over 2,000 playable tanks, aircraft, and ships spanning over 100 years of development. Immerse yourself completely in dynamic battles with an unparalleled combination of realism and approachability.

Fun fact: Route 50 from Nevada to Utah is known as "The Loneliest Road in America".

I’m from Nephi in Utah. It is the best spot to see all three geological zones meet: the Great Basin, Rocky Mountains, and the Colorado Plateau. All can be seen by just looking at the mountains around you.

Utah is shaped like a lighter

Utah geologist here, as for the lake drying up... it would cause a new dust bowl effect over the United States as salty sand is ripped from where the lake once was. Think dust bowl with salt, not a good thing.

The key geographical concept is the “Wasatch Front”- the urban centers of Utah are on the west side of the Wasatch Range because there is water coming from the mountains and open valleys (from the ancient lakebed) to be irrigated and farmed. And now to be converted into suburbs. The chain of settlements north to south was originally where the streams were. Now it is merging into one contiguous urban /suburban area

'Almost Completely Empty' for me means incredible backcountry hiking and canyoneering!

Utah has two stretches of freeway that are the longest stretches without services: I-80 across the Bonnevile Salt Flat is the longest completely straight stretch of freeway in the US, and I-70 between Salina and Green River is the longest stretch without any services.

There are fewer than 200K people in SLC proper. The Wasatch Front is the commonly used term for the greater metro region.

Because it’s desert

I’m a Utah Native in more way than one. As a local indigenous. My observation here in northern Utah is that we have too many people here for the amount of resources, “mainly water”. Without the Great Salt Lake the Salt Lake region will be uninhabitable. Not only that we have sensitive desert animals like fish that live in the seep springs. I’m mainly referring to the Least Chub. We need to stop the development of the land and save as much of the Sage Brush as we can for habitat like animals such as the Sage Grouse. If I was a millionaire I’d be buying up land so developers wouldn’t be able to touch a shovel to it. Without any of our wildlife those really pretty national parks and what not would seem really empty and lifeless. Pick up after yourself when visiting our parks because your mom isn’t here to pick up after you and how would you like it if someone came over to your residences and left trash everywhere.

Drove through Utah in 04. It was a really neat drive. We stopped in Kenab for 2 nights and did some horseback riding there. It was a really interesting town

I've never been that far west in this country. I really would love to visit Utah. It looks like a beautiful state.

Amazing video! One thing to note is that we've had a ton of precipitation in the last two years, following a major extended drought. The Great Salt Lake has made a remarkable turnaround from its record low level around fall of 2022, to being just slightly below what's considered its healthy range now. That being said, overfarming is still probably the biggest long-term issue facing the state IMO. On paper the State could have massive room for both industrial and population growth, with even relatively minor conservation efforts and realocations from agriculture. They could even do that while keeping the GSL healthy if the State was willing to bite the bullet. They have to keep protecting the farmers though. Even when agriculture is taking up 80% of our water in a desert State, while accounting for less than 1% of our economy. I know a certain level of farming is necessary to prevent flooding, due to how we've changed the natural hydrology with canals. In a lot of cases though, it's as simple as removing subsidies that should've been removed decades ago.

Utah native here. I hope you guys will come visit and enjoy all that this great state has to offer. From Alpine zones to red rock country. Please treat it well. The Great Salt Lake has been making a recovery. And efforts are being made to assist in that. I’m hoping soon that it can get back to a healthy level.

FACT: The Saint George region used to be called "Utah's Dixie", heck there's even Utah Tech (Dixie State College).

Thank you for choosing Utah as a subject for a video. I live in American Fork, Utah, and am grateful for the representation.

Not sure I was ready to be called nobody by the videos thumbnail.

Pretty soon the Utah Jazz will have great company in their home arena as the former Arizona Coyotes will set up shop there.

I drove from Kentucky to Las Vegas on I-70 just last week. Utah was so beautiful.

Utah is basically if nevada was more fortunate

Excellent video. Tons of great information. Best part of these videos besides the videography? - The motion graphics. The motion graphics are a huge help.

Geoff, your videos are always nicely done-- informative, interesting graphics and solid video. I always learn quite a bit.

As a member of the church that grew up in California, I want to thank you for this video. I'm always so amazed at how kind and respectful youtubers have been toward giving accurate information about the church. Love your content as always Geoff.

Thank you for showing us the state of Utah Geoff. It looks stunning (if with serious issues). All the best.👍🏻

We seriously considered relocating to St. George, Ut. The water issues are significant in Southern Utah. Thanks for posting this video.

This just shows you that for the most part most of the American West Excluding the Pacific Coast is more rural than most of the American south.

This was a surprisingly well done video!

As a Utahn, just seeing videos about it is pretty fun and interesting, because not many UKpostsrs really make videos about it because it’s just pretty forgot of. I will say, sometimes there is talk about Salt Lake City, but I’m just gonna say, as someone born in Utah, and who grew up here, Salt Lake City is definitely not all of Utah. In fact it’s probably the worst part of the state. I’m sorry to people who like Salt Lake City, but once you see more of the state, Utah truly is a one of the most beautiful states. I’m not just talking about national parks. I’m talking just about outside the large cities, and especially the mountains.

Love your videos. Especially this one. I'm a born and raised Utahn. Family dates back to the mormon pioneer arrival. I paid a visit to the Great Salt Lake today. The Lake is rising but it likely not enough.

Another main reason why it’s so empty is because about 60 percent of the land in Utah is Federal Land or BLM land. So that’s pretty cool.

There are lots of states where a large % of their population reside in just one small geographic area. Nebraska and Kansas both have about 85% of their pops crammed into one small area.

Great video, Geoff! Thanks for highlighting Utah and our problems. We also have terrible air quality, but awesome rail transit.

Very nice video, “a degree of protection “ this really demands an explanation “protection, from what or who and why”

I live right near the Great Salt Lake, and let me tell you people here are very concerned about the lake shrinking. We got extremely lucky with two good years of snowpack in a row, so the lake has temporarily stopped shrinking. It might make it back into the healthy range once all the spring run off has melted, but it's still in a very precarious position. We have to completely change how we manage water so we can make sure we don't lose that lake, as a lot of our weather patterns, including our all important snowpack, depends on Lake Effect. Agriculture accounting for over 70% of water use in Utah means we've got to massive update agriculture practices and likely switch crops to less water intensive ones. Residential use should be curtailed significantly as well. We don't need to maintain acres of Kentucky blue grass in the desert.

Spent a lot of time in Utah in the 1970s and Salt Lake City is the best laid out city I have ever seen. From Temple Square you can find any address in the city very easily. Tough place to get a cocktail back then but the Baskin-Robbins was open til midnight.

Geoff, I believe the Uinta Mountains map at 6:06 is a bit off. The range starts at Kamas, Utah, or at furthest the Jordanelle Reservoir - at least as considered by the locals. It looks like you are including the Wasatch.

We live in St. George, and absolutely love it here! I really can't think of a better place to raise our two young daughters. When I was struggling to save enough money to buy a wheelchair van (I have muscular dystrophy), the community came together to raise a significant chunk of the cost. Geoff does a great job in this video highlighting our water issues. Fortunately, many residents are making appropriate changes. We ripped out our lawn four years ago, and since then, four of our neighbors have as well. We still have work to do, though. Fortunately, St. George is warm enough to grow palm trees that are both gorgeous and require minimal water.

I have family and friends in Utah, and Moab is a favorite of mine. Jeeping and Mountain Biking in Moab is always a good time.

Utah is also nicely depicted in Horizon Zero Dawn. Aloy starts out the Rockies where the Nora Tribe live and as the game progresses you transition into the Colorado Plateau, which is Carja territory

I know a lot of Utahns live within SLC, Provo, Ogden, and Brigham City which are all in SLC's CSA.

I love Utah. I was in st George it is beautiful

Great video, Geoff. One issue I’d like raise is the pronunciation of "Zion." Lots of people for some reason say "Zye‘on," but it’s actually pronounced "Zye-uhn." No glottal stop.

I really love driving through the southwestern part of Utah where we see Monument Valley.

St. George will be a pretty big city within a few decades

I've got a Ryobi cordless drill just like yours.

What happened to the usual view of your basement office? Liked and subscribed!

Is that timbers memorabilia in the background?! Your PNW?

I’m from Moab (haven’t lived there in a really long time though), and I love the “empty” parts of Utah.

I think Skinwalker Ranch is in those mountains in NE Utah? 😊

Fun fact: the “eroded badlands” biome from Minecraft is based on Bryce Canyon

I70 to Vegas is the most amazing drive for me thru the states

Murray UT checking in

Major population centers are unfeasible in a desert. Don't buy real estate in the desert south west.

In a way, Utah is like Nevada--mostly desert-like conditions that are not suitable for large-scale settlement. That's why in much of Utah, it's effectively just as empty as Nevada.

I moved from California to utah 4 yrs ago,the salt lake area air pollution is horrible,with mountsins on both sides,the smog has nowhere to go,and as far as polygamy goes,i can barely deal with one wife,why would someone want 4 of them?

Southern UT has a group of fundamentalist Mormons, which still believe in polygamy. Pretty weird down there.

as a utahn i aprove of this vid

Are you still going to travel somewhere?

I wondered about the title if you had ever been to Utah!? LOL

Without even watching more than the first minute, I know the answer to the question. I am a born and raised Utahn. I live in Utah county, my grandparents on Mom's side lived in St. George. If you've ever taken that 4 hour drive, the question would not be why so few live in the rest of the state. It would be how can anyone live out here. 😊 I love my state, but even getting the population centers looking livable took the early settlers a lot of work.

What do the heavy metals come from that are exposed in the dried up bed of the Great Salt Lake?

It’s obvious why few people live outside of the Wasatch front. If you include St. George area and the Wasatch front like 90% of move ins went to those areas. Utah has concentrated cities cause of railroad development up north and water. There’s less water or rain in other areas which is required for homesteading cause if there’s no water you can’t bend the knee and follow the law to homestead. Honestly I don’t know how massive dry desert ranches happened in New Mexico where it’s impossible to homestead. In Texas dry ranches are private cause when Texas joined the U.S. Texas was allegedly a separate country or republic so it kept its land and didn’t bend the knee. But Utah like all other states but three gave all its unsold land to the federal government. But the federal government never gave it back to the state like it did with other states and it ended homesteading. 65% of Utah is public land or owned by congress not we the people as it continues to be locked up with roads closed. You can’t even metal detect in recreation areas.

I must have missed you mentioning how much of Utah is owned and managed by the Federal Government. That would be 63.1%.

Thanks for using the correct name of the Church in Utah and being fair and honest

Because its uninhabitable desert with very little water. I love the emptiness of the lands And am able to be in the middle of nowhere in minutes. UTAH needs to find the balance between the annual water levels and its growth. Its hit its limit in my opinion

Does terraform work?

I enjoy your videos but for some reason they have way more ads than normal. It's annoying enough to almost make me click off the video

Cool video. I just want to say that, in case anyone going to Zion reads this, locals call it Zi-un, not Zi-on (I'm not saying that you have to say it like that though).

Utah I-15 exit 100 looks like a trash dump. Tower road exit south of Scipio looks like a garage dump. Piss bottles from over the road drivers and bags of garbage everywhere. Disgusting!

Isn't the air filled with arsenic due to the drying up of the lake. ???? Does anyone know ???

You missed the fact that a ridiculous amount of land area in the state is directly owned by the feds. Eliminating a lot of space that could be used to build new communities. A lot of the western US land use problems stem from being hemmed in by the federal government. Unlike the east that can make use of most of their state.

The Utah population boot.

One thing you missed... The Wasatch Front is the world's largest fault line of its kind and is roughly 100 years overdue for a devastating earthquake. The majority of structures built along this fault line are pre-modern earthquake building code (i.e. unreinforced masonry), and those that are modern structures (i.e. more so in the valley) are built on an ancient lake bed (Lake Bonneville), not bedrock, and are therefore vulnerable to liquefaction in the event of such an earthquake. The valley's water and gas mains criss-cross the fault line... And the epicenter of damage will lakely destroy I-15, I-215, and I-80 (the three freeway systems around and in/out of the valley). The valley's most capable hospital, the UofU Hospital, sits right on top of the fault line. Several offshoots of this fault line and others all intersect directly underneath downtown SLC. Modeling shows the quake could permanently tilt the valley floor causing Utah Lake to flood north through the corridor between Draper and Bluffale and the Great Salt Lake to flood into downtown SLC and part of the Ogden area. Uncontrolled fires throughout the valley from ruptured gas lines, loss of drinking water, destroyed roadways are all initial expectations immediately following. The loss of life, casualties, and ultimate economic devastation will make this one of the worst natural disasters in US history. The factors at play are a perfect storm. If you're going to move to Utah, I would think very carefully about where you live and in what kind of structure... As well as your financial support system should the local economy take such a hit as those who can afford to flee the valley (state analysis expects 10-20 years to return to pre-earthquake population / economy).

They should try to find a way to bring the salt lake back to the original Lake Bonneville size. An inland sea would be very profitable for the area!

Actually the Federal Government took most of Utahs lands. In fact Western U.S. is in the same predicament.

Utah should be the first state to openly support RV Life. Allow the roaming nomads to register as a Utah Resident to help with taxes.

And just when Utah got an NHL team.

"Why do so few people live __"? The answer always boils down to the area cannot support crops, or can support very few

Went up at night from Az...not impressed. Came back in the day...(I stand corrected) impressed.

They are using Salt Lake up and the lake is running dry

My mother had an aunt in Manti

Tooele city Heber city is growing

The hills have eyes…

I knew it was the 10-Speeder’s fault 🤦🏻‍♂️

Everyone in Utah wants to live close to the Utah Yetis

Also, the Federal government owns 71 percent of the land in Utah.

*Thank you Angela Christine Derle for $60,000👍🏻. So many opportunity to make money here on UKposts but most people don’t know. Thank you for continuing updates I'm favoured, $60,000 every two weeks ! I can now give back to the locals in my community and also support God's work and the church. God bless America*

He gets to the point at about 8:10

Yeah, that whole US/Mexico "at war" map isn't accurate. Texas WAS its own independent country until the end of 1845, then the Mexican American war started in 1846.

The western/midwest states in general are empty. There’s like nothing interesting there. There’s no NYC, Atlanta or Illinois. The terrain also makes it more difficult. And on a historical record we started at the 13 colonies rather than the lefter side of the US or Midwest.

Just got back from visiting my friend in Cedar City, UT. First thing I said when I got to his place was, "So where the hell are all the beehives?" The nearest large airport is Las Vegas. I mean, talk about a culture clash. I get off the plane to signs saying, "Get ready to party!" Really, in Cedar City? I don't think the signs knew where I was actually going.

I live in Layton Utah which is 30 mins north of downtown Salt Lake city area and Layton has grown ridiculously layton like orem or provo is grown dramatically

Funny pueblo were not Anasazi! Duh

Welcome to Utah, where the liquor stores are closed on Sundays, the weather changes seasons every 3 hours, and the house prices just keep going up.

metro St. George is like "uhm empty says what?"

Because most of the state is desert, rocks, and buttes, there just saved you 15 minutes 😂

I've lived in UT for the majority of my life, a mission and jr. college is all I have left for. We've never had a drought until they started burying the water via giant pipe work and I think that it's purpose is for their population control by the year 2030 or sooner. That's only been in recent years. Then God made it snow almost as much as when we had flooding in the 1980's. So their pipes couldn't keep the water contained. Blah, ha, ha, ha! So there's a bit of exaggeration about our situation.

The lake is drying up because it's full of salt.

About the shrinking lake, has anyone ever mentioned how the lake got there in the first place? It is a mere mud puddle, considering it used be the Ancient Lake Bonneville, many millions of times larger covering vast amounts of the Great Basin. The lake shrinks and grows based on the length of droughts. It's no surprise. Yes, it can be a problem, but that's what happens when you depend on a muddle puddle hanging around.