Lehi ( ) is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is named after Lehi, a prophet in the Book of Mormon. The population was 75,907 at the 2020 census, up from 47,407 in 2010. The rapid growth in Lehi is due, in part, to the rapid development of the tech industry region known as Silicon Slopes. The center of population of Utah is located in Lehi.
History
A group of Mormon pioneers settled the area now known as Lehi in the fall of 1850 at a place called Dry Creek in the northernmost part of Utah Valley. It was renamed Evansville in 1851 after David Evans, a local bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Other historical names include Sulphur Springs and Snow's Springs.
The settlement grew so rapidly that, in early 1852, Bishop Evans petitioned the Utah Territorial Legislature to incorporate the settlement. Lehi City was incorporated by legislative act on February 5, 1852. It was the sixth city incorporated in Utah. The legislature also approved a request to call the new city Lehi, after a Book of Mormon prophet of the same name. The first mayor of Lehi was Silas P. Barnes, from 1853 to 1854.
The downtown area has been designated the Lehi Main Street Historic District by the National Park Service and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of of which is land and , or 1.28%, is water.
Climate
Demographics
Lehi is part of the Provo–Orem metropolitan area.
As of the American Community Survey (ACS) Demographic and Housing Estimates of 2016, there were 56,314 people living in the city with 14,853 housing units. The estimated racial makeup of the city was 94.6% European American, 0.1% African American, 0.5% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 1.3% from other races, and 2.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.5% of the population. An estimated 51.2% of the population was male with 48.8% female. The median age as of 2016 was 24.7.
According to the 2010 Census, there were 12,402 households, out of which 61.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 78.4% were husband-wife families living together, 3.2% had a male householder with no wife present, 7.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 11.3% were non-families. 9.0% of all households were made up of individuals (living alone) and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.81 and the average family size was 4.08.
As of 2018, the median income for a household in Lehi was $74,200, and the median income for a family was $88,278. The per capita income for the city was $25,894, including all adults and children. The unemployment rate for Lehi was 3.0%. The job growth rate was at 2.6% and was expected to grow 54.8% over the next 10 years.
Economy
Lehi has been transitioning from an agricultural economy to a technological economy. This first started with the lengthy construction of a DRAM microchip plant by Micron Technology, which eventually evolved into a NAND flash memory business called IM Flash Technologies that was founded by both Micron and the Intel Corporation with headquarters in Lehi. In 2013, 1 out of every 14 flash memory chips in the world was produced in Lehi. On June 30, 2021, Texas Instruments announced that they would be purchasing this facility.
Adobe Systems based one of its U.S. buildings in Lehi, which is home to about 900 employees. According to the Adobe website, "The team in Utah is focused on engineering, product development, sales, marketing, and operations for the industry-leading Adobe Marketing Cloud."
IASIS Healthcare built Lehi's first hospital, which opened in June 2015. The company broke ground for the medical center in February 2014. The 23-acre campus houses a 40-bed, full-service facility with an emergency department, intensive care unit, medical imaging, cardiac lab, surgical suites, and labor and delivery.
Ancestry.com moved its headquarters from Provo to Lehi in May 2016. The headquarters building is located in The Corporate Center at Traverse Mountain.
Microsoft has an engineering department specializing in the next version of its MDOP (Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack), code-named "Park City." Initially employing 100, Microsoft has built a second building to house its staff. Microsoft Southwest District is located at 3400 N. Ashton Blvd., Suite 300 Lehi, Utah 84043.
Other Thanksgiving Park tenants are Oracle Corporation, Infusionsoft, Workfront, Vivint Solar, Agel Enterprises, DigiCert, Jolt and ProPay Inc.