Kearns (/kɜːrnz/ kurnz) is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States.

Before the base was built, the area consisted of dry farms on land reserved for universities and colleges.

Most support buildings sat on concrete foundations but were of frame construction clad in little more than plywood and tarpaper.

The thousands of soldiers and airmen stationed there temporarily made the base one of the largest cities in the state.

In December 1944, Theron C. Teel, president of the Interstate Flying Service, created the Kearns Flying Club to give lessons and rent small single-engine privately owned planes to men at Kearns Army Air Base.

On 15 August 1946, the Air Force deactivated the base and turned the facility over to the State of Utah.

[5] Kearns, in the mid to late twentieth century, saw rapid growth on the former airbase.

The old streets and foundations of buildings built by the military were used as a template for the town, and homes sprang up quickly as Kearns was becoming the first suburb in Salt Lake County.

Because of its altitude, which gives it the thinnest air of any such facility in the world, and its unique architecture, which allows for close control of temperature and ice conditions, the Oval saw numerous records set during the games.

In May 2024, Kearns was officially incorporated as a city, as a result of Utah's House Bill 35.

According to the United States Census Bureau,[1] the city has a total area of 4.63 square miles (12.0 km2), all land.

Kearns lies on the western side of the Salt Lake Valley and West Bench.

The area where Kearns is situated is on a natural formation called the Kearns-Benion hill, which rises approximately 100 feet (30 m) above the valley.

[8] According to estimates from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute of the University of Utah,[10] as of 2015, there were 36,530 people in Kearns.

The racial makeup of the county was 60.2% non-Hispanic White, 0.9% Black, 0.8% Native American, 2.1% Asian, 2.0% Pacific Islander, and 2.4% from two or more races.