States · Utah · Box Elder County

Portage, Utah.

. Ogden-Clearfield, UT metro.

What it costs per month · Portage $2,797/mo

to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,525 (+120%) since Jan 2020.

Monthly payment to buy the typical home

Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.

$1,000 $2,000 $3,000 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Utah $2,797 United States $1,922
$1,000 $2,000 $3,000 2002 2010 2018 2026
  • Utah$2,797
  • United States$1,922

Living in Portage, Box Elder County, Utah

Portage is a town of 273 people in Box Elder County. Unemployment in Box Elder County was 3.7% in August 2026, and the county had 3.3% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Box Elder County work in manufacturing, then schools and health care.

People 273 in the 2020 census
Household income Too few homes in Portage for the Census survey to measure.
Unemployment 3.7% Box Elder County, August 2026; 3.7% a year before
Homes Too few homes in Portage for the Census survey to measure.

Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.

What it’s like

The place. Portage is a very small town in Box Elder County, Utah, with far fewer people than most towns of any kind. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month, and summers are hot in July. Precipitation, rain and melted snow together, is light for the year. Few adults hold a four-year degree compared with the rest of the country, and only a small share live below the poverty line.

Work. Residents work mostly in manufacturing, in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, and in the building trades. The commute is long, and very few people work from home. Across Box Elder County, some of the largest workplaces are Northrop Grumman Systems, Autoliv IBC and West Liberty Foods, and the county has added jobs over the past year while unemployment has held steady.

Things to do. Golden Spike National Historical Park, a protected area tied to the nineteenth-century railroad story, is a longer drive away. So is Cutler Reservoir, a reservoir where people can spend time by the water. Wasatch–Cache National Forest, also a longer drive away, offers protected forest land for outdoor days.

Report a mistake
  • 6%of adults have a degree
  • 5%below the poverty line
  • 35 mintypical commute
  • 4%work from home

What people in Box Elder County work in

  • Manufacturing22%
  • Schools, hospitals and social care18%
  • Shops (retail)11%
  • Building trades10%
  • Professional and business services7%
  • Restaurants, hotels and entertainment6%

Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Box Elder County had 24,727 jobs in 2025, 3.3% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Weather through the year

Average daily high and low for each month: coldest in January, 33° and 15°; warmest in July, 91° and 51° 20° 40° 60° 80° 100° J 33° 15° F M A M J J 91° 51° A S O N D
Average daily high and low for each month: coldest in January, 33° and 15°; warmest in July, 91° and 51° 20° 40° 60° 80° 100° J 33° 15° F M A M J J 91° 51° A S O N D

Coldest in January, with highs near 33° and lows near 15°; warmest in July, with highs near 91° and lows near 51°. About 13 inches of rain and melted snow a year.

Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Malad City weather station, 12 miles away (NOAA).

Largest workplaces in Box Elder County

  1. Northrop Grumman SystemsGuided missile and space vehicle manufacturing1,771
  2. WalmartRefrigerated warehousing and storage858
  3. Autoliv IBCAir bag assemblies manufacturing780
  4. Associated Brigham ContractorsFooting and foundation concrete contractors690
  5. Whitaker Construction CoSewer main, pipe and connection, construction649
  6. West Liberty FoodsLuncheon meat, poultry, manufacturing573
  7. Procter & GambleSanitary paper products made in paper mills500
  8. Nucor Buildings Group WestPrefabricated buildings, metal, manufacturing380

Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 48 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 10,350 people in all across the county; Portage has none of its own. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.

Natural hazards

  1. WildfireVery high
  2. DroughtRelatively high
  3. Strong windRelatively high
  4. Winter weatherRelatively high
  5. LightningRelatively high
  6. EarthquakesRelatively moderate

FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Portage’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.

From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Box Elder County and the Ogden-Clearfield, UT metro.

Portage home values

Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.

Not enough data to draw this yet.

Market heat, inside the city limits

Homes for sale

Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.

4 5 6 2026 Portage 6
4 5 6 2026
  • Portage6

Zip codes with a Portage address

A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Portage — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.

Zillow publishes no zip-level series with this city on the address.