At today's ACG Utah’s Women’s Professional Network event, Mayor Erin Mendenhall detailed Salt Lake City’s economic growth, resilience, and key achievements.
ACG Utah (Association Corporate Growth) held their Women’s Professional Network event at the World Trade Center Utah in downtown Salt Lake City on January 23, 2025.
The event focused on Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s remarks about Salt Lake City's economy. Mayor Mendenhall is the 36th mayor of Salt Lake City. She has been in office since 2020. Through her efforts, she has been a key player in navigating unseen obstacles including the following:
Her vision is to create a city that offers opportunity and prosperity for all its residents. She asserts, “Our Department of Economic Development has been so foundational in creating an environment where business can thrive.” Mayor Mendenhall explained that part of the reason she wanted to run for office in the first place had to do with Silicon Slopes.
She realized that Utah County had businesses that offered unique products and services which she believed should be brought to Salt Lake. She added, “We need to talk better about what we already have and the more that we amplify the businesses that are here, it attracts more of who we want.” Mendenhall explained that her economic development team has made that their primary goal.
Mayor Mendenhall continued her talk by highlighting some of the successes of Salt Lake City:
She notes, “These successes happen because everyday, we are trying to think about the impact of our policies, the ones we’re creating, but the ones that are already on the books have on your ability to innovate, thrive, and attract more economy like those that you build.”
She addressed some other details regarding economics. She mentioned that Salt Lake City is capturing 183% of the tax capture rate. She elaborated that people outside of the city’s 110 square mile footprint were coming to invest and spend their money in Salt Lake City. Through arts, entertainment, and recreation, there has been a capture of 277%.
Mendenhall claimed that Salt Lake City had experienced a major shift since the pandemic from being an office based primary economy to a recreation, shopping, and arts based economy.
In addition to Salt Lake City’s growing economy, Mayor Mendenhall addressed other individuals and departments that have been instrumental in the structure of the city:
To end her keynote, she stated, “It’s about building the kind of connections where innovation can actually blossom without fear. That’s the kind of relationship that we are working to build everyday with our business community, small and large.”