On Tuesday, March 21, 2023, Governor Spencer J. Cox signed a bill approving a new state flag (Code). The new flag became official on March 9, 2024, Utah State Flag Day, exactly 113 years after the Utah Legislature adopted the original state flag on March 9, 1911. The original state flag will now be referred to as the historic state flag.

Utah’s historic state flag incorporates the Great Seal of Utah. It includes:

1. American bald eagle
2. Shield
3. The word “Utah” at the bottom of the shield
4. The date “1847” at the bottom of the shield
5. Six arrows
6. The state motto “industry”
7. Beehive
8. Sego lilies
9. Honey bees
10. Two American flags on flagstaffs
11. The date “1896”

The goal was to simplify the flag. A simple flag is a powerful symbol, and for Utah, that symbol is a basic beehive. 

In 2022, Utah Governor Spencer Cox and Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson initiated the More Than A Flag campaign, which encouraged Utah residents to submit ideas for a new state flag design. By the April deadline, over 7,000 submissions had been received, including 5,702 flag designs. Of the flag design submissions, 2,500 were from students representing all 29 Utah counties. “Think about that: Thousands and thousands and thousands of Utahns have joined this conversation,” said Senator Dan McCay in a June 2022 Deseret News guest opinion essay.

During the More Than A Flag campaign, thousands of Utahns agreed on the most important symbols to represent themselves and the state. The Beehive flag draws these symbols from the historical flag and accentuates them in this new design.

The new Beehive Flag highlights visual symbols designed to serve as a rallying emblem of unity throughout the state. The design incorporates distinctive colors, shapes, and symbols representing the values, history, and aspirations of Utahns, as reported in surveys and design submissions.

• Blue Field
  At the top of the design, the blue stripe represents Utah’s wide-open skies and our lakes, as well as core principles such as faith, knowledge, freedom, optimism, and tradition. Blue serves as a backdrop of the design, and is linked to the background of the historic flag.
• Mountains
  The rugged white stripe represents Utah’s snowy mountain peaks, which have cradled residents — including our state’s eight Tribal nations, who are still here and still thriving — from time immemorial. This color evokes peace and our state’s world-famous snow.
• Red Canyons Stripe
  The red-rock canyon represents Southern Utah’s majestic landscape, which millions of people from around the world travel to see. The color symbolizes
  perseverance, and nods to the red strips of the United States flag, but on the Utah flag the value of the red color is slightly warmer in hue.
• Hexagon
  A gold rim stands for prosperity, while the hexagon shape – among nature’s strongest shapes — cradles the beehive and represents unity and the strength of Utah’s people.
• Beehive
  The beehive represents Utah’s history and a sense of community, plus “Industry,” our state’s slogan.
• Star
  At the foundation of the beehive is a five-pointed star, which represents hope and 1896, the year Utah achieved statehood and became the 45th star on America’s flag, a sign of our loyalty to our country. 

The state flag is in the public domain.