Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Utah

Utah, by road

Nearly all the freight runs along I-15 and the Wasatch Front, with I-80 taking it east and west. For a plastic pallet buyer in Utah, the geography sets the route and the route sets the empty return: I-15, I-80, I-70 and I-84 carry most of what leaves, and every empty pallet that comes back has to ride the same road.

The counties with the most warehousing jobs are Salt Lake (6,623), Washington (1,676) and Davis (1,373), which is 70.7 percent of the state's 13,683. It shares a land border with Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.

Warehousing in numbers

Refrigerated space matters because a freezer is hard on plastic; the cold guide says what to ask for. Utah held 65 million cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse capacity on October 1, 2025.

Reading the numbers

• Salt Lake County has 6,623 warehousing jobs, 48.4 percent of Utah's 13,683, the most in the state.
• Washington County has 1,676 warehousing jobs, 12.2 percent of Utah's 13,683, 4,947 fewer than Salt Lake County.
• Davis County has 1,373 warehousing jobs, 10.0 percent of Utah's 13,683, 5,250 fewer than Salt Lake County.
• Dairy product manufacturing employs 4,388 people in Utah, 0.32 for every warehousing job.
• Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing employs 7,842 people in Utah, 0.57 for every warehousing job.
• Utah holds 0.72 percent of US warehousing jobs, about one in every 139, spread over 290 establishments averaging 47 jobs each.
• Salt Lake City accounts for 6,623 warehousing jobs, 48.4 percent of Utah's.
• Idaho has 2,445 warehousing jobs, 0.18 times the 13,683 in Utah.
• Wyoming has 1,974 warehousing jobs, 0.14 times the 13,683 in Utah.
• Colorado has 24,541 warehousing jobs, 1.79 times the 13,683 in Utah.
• Arizona has 52,054 warehousing jobs, 3.80 times the 13,683 in Utah.

Who ships pallets here

In Utah, dairy product manufacturing employs 4,388. Cold storage and frequent washing are the two things a dairy buyer asks the maker to confirm for the exact model. It tends to lean on stackable or nestable in a cold-friendly resin, usually in 48 x 40 in, and to ask about the maker's cold performance and wash guidance.

Dairy product manufacturing is the trade where Utah is most concentrated, at 2.4 times the national share of employment. A buyer in that trade will tend to ask the questions in the last column first.

The empty return

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 290 warehouse establishments in Utah sent back 500 empty pallets in a week, that would be 145,000 pallets. The table counts the 53 ft trailers that takes at three makers' published nestable figures, beside the 540 per trailer of a rackable.

Next door

Metros in Utah with their own page: Salt Lake City.

Words on this page

Closed loop

A route where pallets return to the sender after delivery, so the empty trip is a standing cost.

Cross-docking

Moving freight from an inbound truck to an outbound one with little or no storage between.

Nest ratio

How many empty pallets fit in the height of one: pallet height divided by nest increment.

3PL

A third-party logistics company that stores and ships goods for other businesses.

Cruciform base

A base shaped like a plus sign under the pallet, which gives a stable footprint and slides well on conveyors.

Edge rack

A rack arrangement where the pallet rests on the edges of the beams. It is the common test case for a racking rating.

Interstate corridor

A freight route named for its highway, together with the metros along it.

Intermodal

Freight that changes between truck, rail and ship in the same container.

4-way entry

A pallet that forks or a pallet jack can enter from all four sides.