The predominant employment in Utoy is agriculture, as in the rest of Inderoy, in addition to functioning as a suburb of Steinkjer, Verdal and Levanger. There is no notable industry, but the area has a grocery store, elementary school, kindergarten, church and amateur theatre. At Vangshylla there is a hotel that specialises in fishing tourism in the fjord, a boat harbor, and also located there is the Skarnsund Bridge that when it opened in 1991 was the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world and connects Mosvik to Innherred.

Notable people from Utoy include Willy Ustad, a novelist, and Ole Richter, Norwegian Prime Minister in Stockholm.