What Is It Like to Live in Salt Lake City?

Salt Lake City and its surrounding areas has many personalities. To visitors, it's a place of religion with majestic mountains as a scenic backdrop. For residents, it's a place to work, play, shop and enjoy. 

Benefits to living in Salt Lake City

In Salt Lake City, you can find whatever you're looking for. If you want to find religion, the Salt Lake Temple is the place to visit; however, even though the Mormon church is very conservative in their political and social views, downtown Salt Lake City is actually fairly liberal.  In fact, even though the state's elected officials are primarily conservative Republicans, the Salt Lake Mayor has been a member of the Democratic party since 1976. Besides religion, there are plenty of other reasons to visit Utah's capital. If you want traditional and conservative, you can find it.  If you want wild, exciting or even weird and kinky, you can find it. Salt Lake City is a place to find anything.

• Exceptional entertainment options such as events at the Energy Solutions Arena or Kingsbury Hall
• Scenic Mountains
• Dry climate is good for many days of sunshine
• Good technology industry - companies such as Novell, Intel, and Ebay have offices in Salt Lake and Utah counties.
• Streets are based on a grid system for easy navigation.
• There is a steady job base - the demand for specific careers changes over time, but there is always the need for good people.
• Generally low crime rates - its one of the few major cities where people aren't afraid to walk downtown.

Things to Do

There are plenty of things to do in the valley. Whether it's hitting a hot destination for fun, hiking in the mountains, or going fishing, there are a great many options available.

• Hike or bike Big or Little Cottonwood Canyons
• Ski or Snowboard at Brighton, Snowbird, Solitude or in nearby Park City
• Visit Temple Square
• See the Kennecott Copper Mine - one of only two man-made objects that can be seen from space without a telescope. The other is the Great Wall of China.
• Ride the rollercoasters at Lagoon
• Watch a play at the Capitol Theater
• Learn about the universe at the Clarke Planetarium
• Shop at the Gateway Plaza
• Watch a Jazz or Bees game
• Go to school at the University of Utah
• Golf at the Jeremy Ranch, Mulligans, Meadowbrook, Mountain Dell, South Mountain, etc
• Meet with a group or club
• Play Laser Tag or Paintball
• Visit the Great Salt Lake. Be warned about this one, the lake is so salty that it creates a pungent odor. There are also many mosquitoes in the area, so bring bug spray. However, there are a few great bird watching areas where fresh water dumps into the lake such as near Farmington Bay.
• Go fishing or boating at East Canyon or nearby Jordanelle
• Photograph the scenery

Places to Go

There are many places to explore and visit.

• City Creek Canyon
• Temple Square
• Utah Symphony
• Cathedral of the Madeleine
• Gardner Village
• Hogle Zoo
• Gallivan Center
• Red Butte Gardens

Culture

Salt Lake City tends to have friendly people. Depending on the area, most people don't know their neighbors well unless they meet at church; however, if you approach someone they are willing to help and often start up conversation. 20 years ago, most people that lived in the valley were the descendents of the original pioneers who established the town. Since then, many people have moved here from places like California because real estate in the city and suburbs has been much cheaper, taxes are reasonable, and the job market has been good.