149 years in pictures
Census counts: 435 in 1890, 98,129 in 2020. The archive holds 36 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 5 maps from 1948 on.
22 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
- 1877Orem is settled
Each edition grades its towns against each other only.

Orem grades A− overall, 47th among Utah's 118 graded towns, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 90% of the country and it is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns. It also does better than most on schools: its schools outperform 73% of the state's. A typical home there costs about $500K, 5 years of the Provo metro’s $101K median household income. Its National Register listings include Olmsted Station Powerhouse and William J. and Lizzie Cullimore House. Only 8 of the 119 Utah towns we compare have a lower age of the median resident than Orem. Orem is home to Utah Valley University.
Where Orem beats most towns.
Olmsted Station Powerhouse| Widest gap | Orem | UT |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 8.6% | 12.4% |
Census counts: 435 in 1890, 98,129 in 2020. The archive holds 36 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 5 maps from 1948 on.
22 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Utah), ordered by how far Orem is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Orem. Close and well known come first.
4 mi Stadium & arenaLaVell Edwards Stadium6 mi Theme parkEvermore Park
Big draw34 mi Stadium & arenaDelta Center
32 mi LakeLake Bonneville
7 mi MountainMount Timpanogos
8 mi LakeUtah LakeLaVell Edwards Stadium: The original uploader was Bobak at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.5 · Delta Center: Lomrjyo, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lake Bonneville: Wilson44691, Public domain · Mount Timpanogos: Eric Ward from Provo, UT, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Utah Lake: NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Orem, 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 Orem.
Orem pairs an A− overall with homes cheaper than the Utah norm, trades workers with Provo and other neighbors and is healthy by national standards but mid-pack in Utah.
Within Utah it is healthier than 62% of the 118 graded towns: Utah sets a high bar.
Orem: 7.7% of adults have diabetes, against 8.4% in Utah’s towns and 12% across U.S. towns. Only 6 of the 118 Utah towns we compare have a lower share of adults who binge drink than Orem. Among adults in the town, 69% had a checkup this year.
| Orem | Utah towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 8.6% | 11% | 16% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 69% | 72% | 79% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 28% | 35% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 6.5% | 8% | 14% |
| What stands out | Orem | UT |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 8.6% | 12.4% |
| Fewer smokers | 6.5% | 8.1% |
| Fewer adults treating high blood pressure | 61.5% | 65.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Three of its 24 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. Public schools: the Alpine District. 6 public schools serve Orem, with 4,215 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cascade SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 882 | A |
| Mountain View HighLargest public high schoolGrades 10–12 | Grades 10–12 | 1,600 | C− |
| Utah County Academy of ScienceTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 510 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within UT on state tests and graduation
Orem: just over a quarter of residents are under 18, where Utah’s towns sit at 30% and U.S. towns at 22%. Adults 18 to 34 are 36% of residents (26% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 28% of residents (34% statewide). 10% of Orem residents are 65 or older. Since 2020, Orem has lost 2.9% of its people, to 95,214 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Orem | Utah towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 44% | 36% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 10% | 11% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 26% | 30% | 22% |
48% women, 52% men
About 107 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±1 point). Across Utah, 49.3% of residents are women. Median age: women 27.8, men 26.3.
| Orem | UT | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 14.3% | 14.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12.1% | 13.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 18.8% | 11.6% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 17% | 14.8% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.7% | 13.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 9.6% | 11% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 7.2% | 9.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 5.9% | 7.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.5% | 4.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.7% | 6.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 16.3% | 22.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 23.2% | 23.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.3% | 9.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 30.6% | 24.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 13% | 13% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Across 28 parks and preserves: 14 miles of trail. The biggest place to walk is Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, 224 acres with 2.9 miles of trail. The trail network density in Orem is 0.8 miles per square mile.
| Orem | Utah towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.8 miles per square mile | 1.1 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.5% | 3.4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest | 2.9 mi | 224 |
| 2. Nielsen's Grove Park | 2.1 mi | 20 |
| 3. Mount Timpanogos Park | 0.7 mi | 11 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The range runs from 20° on a January night to 92° on a July afternoon, with about 41 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Orem has about as many jobs (45,600) as working residents, but only 8,706 people both live and work here.
About one worker in five stays in Orem for work. For Orem, the typical journey to work is 20 minutes. Employers in Orem added 5,605 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 45,600. Half the trips to work are shorter than 7 miles.
| Orem | Utah towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 21% | 8.2% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 17% | 16% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 10% | 6.2% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Orem grades A− overall with a typical home of about $500K, below the Utah typical value; only 26 of the 59 Utah towns graded A− or better can say that.
On the market in Orem: a median 41 days to sell. Only 9 of the 119 Utah towns we compare have a lower share of homes lived in by their owners than Orem. Zillow values the typical Orem home at about $500,000, up 2.4% in a year, 6% below the Utah typical home.
| Orem | Utah towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 58% | 79% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,438 a month | $1,542 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Reported crimes fell from 1,547 to 1,316 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The property crime rate for Orem comes to 12.3 per 1,000 residents. The level of violent crime for Orem comes to 1.4 per 1,000 residents.
| Orem | Utah towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 12.3 per 1,000 residents | 8.6 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.4 per 1,000 residents | 1.4 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
3 flood insurance claims have been paid in Orem since 2013. Compared with 53% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage here is higher. FEMA puts 75% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to earthquakes, and 11% to inland flooding.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
6 within 15 miles of the center of Orem
About 14 of every 100 Orem residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across Utah.
2 colleges in town.
22 places in Orem on the National Register of Historic Places.
11 notable people were born in Orem.




City in Utah, United States
Orem is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States, in the north central part of the state. It is adjacent to Provo, Lindon, and Vineyard and is approximately 45 miles (72 km) south of Salt Lake City. Orem is one of the principal cities of the Provo-Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Utah and Juab counties. The 2020 population was 98,129, while the 2010 population was 88,328 making it the 5th most populous city in Utah. Utah Valley University is located in Orem.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Orem.
It grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; Vineyard (A−) comes closest.
| Town | UT rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orem | #47 | A− | C+ | B− | B+ | A |
| Provo | #71 | B+ | B | B− | B− | A− |
| Vineyard | #56 | A− | C− | — | B+ | A |
| Lindon | #63 | A− | C | C+ | B+ | A+ |
Vineyard reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Orem with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Orem grades A− overall, better than 82% of U.S. towns and #47 of 118 in Utah. It grades A for health, B− for safety and B+ for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
11 notable people were born here, including Julianne Hough and Quinn Allman.