We got to visit the Lindon Temple today with our Malian friends, Anounou and his son, Gabou. It was a glorious day. We are so excited to have another finished temple in our area. Imagine, we are within 15-20 minutes of 7 temples: Orem, Lindon, American Fork, the Provo City Center, and the Rock Canyon (still under construction). Another temple is being built in Lehi. The Payson Temple is about 20 minutes south.
While we waited in line and visited, I asked Chat GPT to compare the sizes of the Orem and Lindon Temples with each other and the rest of the temples. We are currently part of the Orem Temple District, but after we move, we’ll be in the Lindon Temple District.
Where Orem & Lindon fit overall:
Orem Utah Temple ≈ 70,000 sq ft
Lindon Utah Temple ≈ 87,000 sq ft
These are considered mid-sized modern temples.
1. Compared to the largest temples
The biggest temples in the world are much larger:
Salt Lake Temple – over 380,000 sq ft
Los Angeles California Temple – ~190,000 sq ft
Provo Utah Rock Canyon Temple – ~163,000 sq ft
2. Compared to “classic Utah temples”
Many well-known Utah temples fall in the 100,000–150,000 sq ft range:
Jordan River Utah Temple – ~148,000 sq ft
Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple – ~107,000 sq ft
Bountiful Utah Temple – ~104,000 sq ft
3. Compared to smaller temples worldwide
On the other end, many temples built since the late 1990s are quite small:
Some temples are only 10,000–30,000 sq ft
Compared to those:
Orem and Lindon are much larger
They are not “small temples” in the Hinckley-era sense
4. The “modern sweet spot”
What’s interesting is that many newer U.S. temples (especially in Utah) are clustering around 70,000 – 90,000 sq ft
Examples near that range:
Lindon (~87k)
Heber Valley (~87k)
Saratoga Springs (~98k, slightly larger)
This suggests:
The Church is building efficient, mid-sized temples
Designed for high demand areas (like Utah County) without going “mega-sized”
Simple way to picture it
Small temples: 10k–30k sq ft
Orem Temple: ~70k → medium-large modern
Lindon Temple: ~87k → upper end of modern standard
Classic Utah temples: 100k–150k
Largest temples: 150k–380k+
We are in the temple several times each week. I love feeling the peace of the Spirit there. It is the House of the Lord.