SALT LAKE CITY — A new economic report paints an increasingly busy picture of downtown Salt Lake City where more people are attending events, spending money and choosing to live even as the traditional office workforce remains smaller than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Downtown Alliance’s 2026 Economic Benchmark Report found that downtown recorded 30.7 million “customer days” in 2025, counting people who spent more than an hour in the area. Visitors accounted for roughly two-thirds of that activity, while residents and workers made up the rest. Visitor activity increased 1.7% from the previous year, worker activity rose 6% and resident activity climbed by 9%.
For people who spend their days downtown, the growth is becoming hard to miss…