The Utah Legislature requires all cities and municipalities to account for, plan, and implement strategies for affordable housing. Municipalities are required to report their updates and revisions to their moderate/affordable housing plans each year by the beginning of August. 

Planning for moderate/affordable housing requires some data collection and analysis first. Cottonwood Heights city planners encourage keeping in mind that ‘moderate’ and ‘affordable’ isn’t always measured the same between municipalities and plans.

“Not cost-constrained by housing costs is affordable housing,” said Community and Economic Development Director Mike Johnson. “That is different from community to community, between cities to cities, and from year to year.” 

Even though some of the same wording is used, government entities and communities have different understandings of the housing market. The State’s governmental entities typically define ‘moderate’ or ‘affordable’ as 30% of household funding or income: while many community boards think of ‘affordable’ housing in terms of 80% AMI (Area’s Median Income). See our previous coverage of this issue in the “City to update Affordable Housing Plan by August” article on the City Journal website. 

In order to figure out these percentages, city planners have to take account of current housing stocks. Let’s take a look at the current data for Cottonwood Heights:  

(Statistics below can be found in the Cottonwood Heights Moderate-Income Housing Plan 2025 Update which utilizes Traffic Area Zone data, Wasatch Front Regional Council data, American Community Survey data, Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute data, and census data.)

“Affordable” in Cottonwood Heights:

• $116,583 is the area median income for city residents. (In comparison to $94,658 AMI for Salt Lake County residents.) 
• The median home price in Cottonwood Heights is $770,100 (pulled from 2024 GO bond analysis data). 
• $2,900 for monthly housing costs is considered not cost-constrained within the city. $2,300 in monthly housing costs is within the ‘decent’ range as well. 

 Aging housing stock within Cottonwood Heights: 

• 9.1% of housing was built prior to 1960
• 48.6% of housing was built between 1960 and 1979
• 26.5% of housing was built between 1980 and 1999
• 15.8% of housing was built after 2000

Types of housing units available:

• 72.2% single-family detached structures
• 8.9% two-family structures (like duplexes and townhomes)
• 8.6% multi-family structures 

 City population information: 

• Cottonwood Heights residents are typically 39 years of age. (In comparison to 33 years of age in Salt Lake County and 31 years of age in Utah.) 
• Cottonwood Heights has a city population of 33,594. (In comparison to 1,223,914 in Salt Lake County.) That is expected to increase to 41,878 by 2050.

“We are not growing rapidly,” Johnson said. 

Cottonwood Heights city planners use this, and additional, data to help further along the affordable housing strategies that have been implemented into their master plans. 

Based on the State’s guidance (under Utah Code 10-9a-403), Cottonwood Heights will not only be carrying all four previous affordable housing strategies forward; city planners are implementing a fifth strategy. “Reduce, waive, or eliminate impact fees related to moderate incoming housing.” 

Johnson provided additional recommendations for the council to consider in future city planning including: establish a neighborhood improvement fund to provide financial assistance to qualifying households for maintenance repairs and property improvement; expand the 50/50 program (budget permitting) to assist with curb, gutter, and sidewalk repairs; and engage with state, federal, private, and non-profit partners to share in efforts to provide affordable housing options within the area.