As part of our ongoing series “The Age of Work” about how demographic shifts — specifically the aging U.S. labor force — are shaking up the global economy, “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal and ADP chief economist Nela Richardson visited Utah County, which is one of the youngest in America. For today’s installment, Ryssdal and Richardson visited Eagle Mountain, one of the youngest cities in one of the youngest counties.

Thirty years ago, the city of Eagle Mountain — on the west side of the county — had a population of 250 people. Today, just more than 60,000 people live there.

“It’s been growing so fast, like in a year it’ll be completely different again,” Kat Benesh said. “It’s mainly a suburb and commuter town, or you’re working from home or doing an at-home business.” 

Benesh, who grew up in Eagle Mountain and moved back a few years ago, runs an at-home business herself: a hair salon called Kat’s Kutz. 

“Clients love it here because they are used to driving for everything else,” Benesh said. Eagle Mountain is about an hour’s drive from Provo, the county seat here, as well as from Salt Lake City. “That’s how I built my clientele so fast, because people were tired of driving an hour, spending three hours at a salon, and then driving an hour back.” 

Like Benesh, Jessica Howell runs a business from her home, called the Pink Poodle Salon. She said she works 12 to 14 hour days because there’s “a big grooming shortage” in Eagle Mountain, which is full of young families and open land. 

Recently, she said she’s had people tell her they can’t afford dog grooming. 

“It’s hard for people to make rent,” she said. “I think as people stress, they tend to push their dog grooming because it's a lower priority. I mean, keeping your house in order is more important than getting your dog groomed.” 

Both Benesh and Howell said they’d love to expand their businesses beyond the home, but commercial space in Eagle Mountain either doesn’t exist or is prohibitively expensive. 

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