Utah
Buying Land in Salt Lake County, Utah
Salt Lake County is Utah's most populous county, and for good reason: most of the valley is incorporated cities, not a raw-land market at all. What undeveloped land remains sits mostly on the west and southwest fringe, and a large share of it is owned by a single mining company actively converting it into master-planned cities rather than selling it off in small parcels. Here's the honest picture of where an actual land-buying niche exists here, and how unincorporated county government works differently than you might expect.
An honest picture: this is an urban county, and raw land is a real but narrow niche
Salt Lake County is Utah's most populous county, anchored by Salt Lake City and a nearly continuous band of incorporated suburbs running the length of the valley. For a national land-buying audience, the honest framing is the same one this site gives other major metro counties: the overwhelming majority of the county is not a raw-land market at all, because it's already built out and incorporated into cities with their own municipal planning departments, not governed by the county. A genuine unincorporated-land or rural-parcel niche does exist, but it's concentrated in specific areas -- the Wasatch mountain canyons (Emigration, Millcreek, Big and Little Cottonwood), the west side toward the Great Salt Lake and Oquirrh Mountains, and scattered smaller unincorporated pockets -- rather than being available broadly across the valley.
If you're evaluating land here, the first question isn't zoning or water -- it's whether the parcel is actually in the unincorporated county at all, or inside one of the valley's many incorporated cities (each with its own separate planning department, zoning code, and contacts). Confirm jurisdiction first; everything else follows from that.
The west side's undeveloped land is mostly one company's, and it's becoming cities, not lots
Salt Lake County's own long-range planning work -- the West General Plan, adopted after roughly four years of engagement -- identified the westernmost unincorporated county (from the Great Salt Lake along the Oquirrh Mountains to the Traverse area) as containing the county's last significant block of developable, unincorporated land: about 32,182 developable acres west of Bangerter Highway, an area the county's own planning materials compare to roughly five Taylorsville-sized cities. The plan also documents that one landowner, Rio Tinto Kennecott, owns approximately 72% of all remaining unincorporated county land in that study area -- a direct result of more than a century of copper mining land accumulation in the Oquirrh Mountains, where Kennecott's broader Salt Lake and Tooele county holdings are reported at roughly 75,000 to 95,000 acres.
That land is not generally on the market as individually-sold raw-land parcels. Rio Tinto Kennecott has been actively master-planning portions of its holdings for large-scale residential development and annexing pieces of it into neighboring cities -- for example, a memorandum of understanding with South Jordan City covers roughly 2,200 acres and entitles the company to build up to 11,450 housing units there, on land that had been unincorporated county acreage. For a buyer, the practical implication is that the county's "rural west side" is less a fragmented small-parcel opportunity and more a single large landowner's long-term development pipeline -- confirm ownership and any pending annexation or development agreement before assuming a west-side parcel behaves like ordinary rural land.
Unincorporated county services run through a special district (MSD), not a typical county department
Because so much of the Salt Lake Valley incorporated into cities long ago, Salt Lake County restructured how it delivers services to what unincorporated land and small metro-township communities remain. Planning, zoning, and building-permit services for unincorporated Salt Lake County -- along with the metro townships of Copperton, Emigration Canyon, Kearns, Magna, and White City -- are provided by the Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District (MSD), a special district created for exactly this purpose, rather than by a conventional in-house county planning department. The county's own zoning code (Title 19 of the Salt Lake County Code of Ordinances) still governs unincorporated land, but MSD is the office you'd actually contact day to day.
This is worth confirming carefully, because the naming can be confusing: Salt Lake City (the separate, large incorporated city) has its own "Planning Division" and "Building Services," and unincorporated Salt Lake County has MSD -- these are different governments with similar-sounding department names. Verify which jurisdiction your parcel is in, and contact MSD (not Salt Lake City) for unincorporated county planning, zoning, and building-permit questions. MSD is also the office that runs the county's actual subdivision (platting) process and administers zoning changes tied to the county's state-mandated Moderate Income Housing Plan -- both covered in more procedural depth on our dedicated pages for subdividing land and housing-mitigation requirements in Salt Lake County.
Who to Call Before Buying Land in Salt Lake County
This page lists the Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District (MSD) for planning, zoning, and building services, since that is the entity that actually administers unincorporated Salt Lake County day to day -- Salt Lake County's regional planning office (the Office of Regional Development) leads longer-range countywide plans like the West General Plan but is not the office to contact for a routine zoning or permit question on unincorporated land. If a specific parcel turns out to be inside one of the valley's many incorporated cities rather than the unincorporated county or an MSD metro township, contact that city's own planning department instead -- none are listed here since this page covers the unincorporated county.
Planning & Zoning
Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District (MSD) -- Planning and Development
Confirming a parcel's zoning under Title 19 of the Salt Lake County Code, permitted uses, and whether a parcel is inside unincorporated Salt Lake County or an MSD metro township (Copperton, Emigration Canyon, Kearns, Magna, White City).
Building & Permitting
Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District (MSD) -- Building Services
Building permit applications and inspection scheduling for unincorporated Salt Lake County and MSD member communities.
Environmental Health
Salt Lake County Health Department -- Environmental Health Division
Septic (onsite wastewater) system permitting, inspection, and annual operating-permit renewal for systems handling 5,000 gallons per day or less.
Assessor / Property Tax
Salt Lake County Assessor
Current assessed value and property tax questions for a specific parcel.
Recorder / Clerk / Land Records
Salt Lake County Recorder
Recorded deed, easement, and plat history for a specific parcel.
Want to know if this specific parcel actually works?
Tell us what you're looking at and we'll connect you with a local land specialist who can help you sanity-check it before you go further.
Get local guidanceTopics Specific to Salt Lake County
Sources
- West General Plan — Salt Lake County, Utah -- Office of Regional Development (accessed 2026-09)
- Salt Lake County adopts West General Plan — Utah Policy (accessed 2026-09)
- Unincorporated Salt Lake County — Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District (accessed 2026-09)
- Land Use & Zoning — Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District (accessed 2026-09)
- Building Together: 4 things you should know about Rio Tinto Kennecott’s Utah landholdings — Economic Development Corporation of Utah (accessed 2026-09)
- South Jordan adds 2,285 acres with visions of another Daybreak — The Salt Lake Tribune (accessed 2026-09)
- Kennecott Land — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09)
- Septic & Onsite Wastewater Systems — Salt Lake County Health Department (accessed 2026-09)
- Title 19 -- Zoning, Code of Ordinances — Salt Lake County, Utah / Municode Library (accessed 2026-09)
Last reviewed 2026-09