Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 35,404, settled in 1942.
Kearns grades C overall, 108th of 118 graded towns in Utah, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. It is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns. On the other side, its public schools trail 80% of Utah towns on state tests and graduation. Kearns's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 93% of U.S. towns. Only 16 of Utah’s 173 towns score lower on history. The biggest place to walk is Oquirrh Park, 106 acres with 2.3 miles of trail.
Where Kearns beats most towns.
Where Kearns’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Utah), ordered by how far Kearns is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 17,172 in 1960, 36,723 in 2020. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 1944 and 4 maps from 1951 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Kearns. Close and well known come first.
Big draw10 mi Stadium & arenaDelta Center
11 mi Stadium & arenaRice–Eccles Stadium
16 mi LakeLake Bonneville
8 mi Stadium & arenaAmerica First Field
5 mi Stadium & arenaMaverik Center
10 mi GardenTemple SquareDelta Center: Lomrjyo, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Rice–Eccles Stadium: Brenton Walker, CC BY 2.0 · Lake Bonneville: Wilson44691, Public domain · America First Field: Scott Catron, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Maverik Center: Dave O, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Temple Square: Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Kearns, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Mar 13, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Kearns.
Kearns sends most of its workers to Salt Lake City and beyond and is healthy by national standards but behind most towns in Utah.
Its public schools are run by the Granite District. Two of its 10 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Jefferson Jr HighLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 915 | D |
| Kearns HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,313 | D− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within UT on state tests and graduation
Kearns has 3,613 jobs for its 17,750 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Most working residents leave Kearns for work: only 2% work in town. Since 2013, Kearns has added 416 jobs, to 3,613 in 2023. Kearns’ average trip to work is 26 minutes, above the Utah town median (22 minutes) and near the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes).
| Kearns | Utah towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 2% | 8.5% | 8% |
| Work from home | 11% | 16% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $87,000 | $101,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
4.6 miles of trail in 12 parks and preserves. Kearns’ trail density is 1.0 miles per square mile, close to Utah’s towns (1.1) and above U.S. towns (0.4).
| Kearns | Utah towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.0 miles per square mile | 1.1 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3% | 3.5% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Oquirrh Park | 2.3 mi | 106 |
| 2. Lodestone Park | 0.4 mi | 8 |
| 3. Mountain Man Park | 0.3 mi | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Kearns has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers, with very little rain. The July high in Kearns is 91°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The typical Kearns home is worth about $435,000, down 0.9% in a year, 18% below the Utah typical home. Kearns’ median rent is $1,744 a month.
| Kearns | Utah towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,744 a month | $1,538 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 84% | 79% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Within Utah it is less healthy than 93% of the 118 graded towns: Utah sets a high bar.
15% of adults binge drink in Kearns. Among 118 Utah towns, just 7 have a higher share of adults who sleep under 7 hours than Kearns. 11% of adults smoke cigarettes in Kearns.
| Kearns | Utah towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 33% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 66% | 72% | 79% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 9.5% | 8.1% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Kearns | UT |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.4% | 7.2% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 19.8% | 21.7% |
| More uninsured adults | 20.2% | 10.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 51% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
8 within 15 miles of the center of Kearns
About 3 of every 100 Kearns residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across Utah.
City in Utah, United States
Kearns ( kurnz) is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. Named after Utah's U.S. Senator Thomas Kearns, it had a population of 36,723 at the 2020 Census. This was a 2.8 percent increase over the 2010 figure of 35,731. Kearns is home to the Utah Olympic Oval, an indoor speed skating oval built for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Kearns.
| Town | UT rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kearns | #108 | C | C+ | — | C− | B |
| West Valley City | #113 | C− | C+ | C− | C− | B− |
| Taylorsville | #109 | C | C+ | C | C− | B+ |
| West Jordan | #87 | B | C | C | B | A− |
Kearns reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Kearns with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Kearns grades C overall, better than 34% of U.S. towns and #108 of 118 in Utah. It grades B for health and C− for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a C−.
That is 4.4 years of the area's median household income ($98,083 across the Salt Lake City-Murray, UT metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
