Salt Lake City, Utah

Life in Salt Lake City, Utah, explained by people who’ve lived in Salt Lake City:

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Salt Lake City Favorites

What’s your favorite thing about living in Salt Lake City?

Convenience of having everything you need very close. (Coby, 2 years)
All the different events and activities within a relatively short distance. (Maria, 2 years)
I love the city! I love temple square! I love discovering new streets and parks and shops that I’ve never been to before. (Bekah, 4 years)
History. (Jamie, 4 years)
The Mountains. (Anonymous, 5 years)
Centrally located. (Kelly, 5 years)
The nature. (Patricia, 11 years)
The beautiful mountains and the activities they allow. (Mary, 12 years)
Central location of the western USA. (Tony, 15 years)
The scenery, progressive culture of SLC. (Anonymous, 15 years)
Traffic is not bad. (Greg, 26 years)
The skiing. (Fannie, 26 years)
The beauty of the state. (Dana, 29 years)
Wasatch Mountains. (Kaylene, 40 years)
The mountains are right here. (Rosie, 40 years)
Mountains/Outdoor Activities (Paula, 43 years)
Christmas lights. (Treasa, 44 years)
Winter days with a lot of snow but the sun comes out and we have a clear blue sky. (M’Lisa, 45 years)
The nearby mountains, and proximity to Moab. (Russ, 50 years)
The beautiful mountains. (Glenda, 50 years)
Changing weather, the mountains, its cleaner than larger cities I have visited. (Jill, 54 years)
The cultural diversity, the history, and the architecture. (Cathlene, 55 years)
Beautiful mountains nearby. It is not flat. (MHW, 56 years)
Finding some independence riding my bike just about anywhere I want to go. (James, 58 years)
The beauty of the mountains. (Jill, 60 years)
The mountains that surround the valley. I always know what direction I’m going. (Sue, 62 years)
My neighborhood with all the drive-in around it… ParkVu Drive-In, Highland Drive-In, Woodland Drive-In. (Cali, 66 years)

Salt Lake City Least Favorites

What’s your least favorite thing about living in Salt Lake City?

Most affordable apartments are on the small side. (Coby, 2 years)
All of the beggars/homeless people and the inversion. (Maria, 2 years)
Stuff not being open on Sunday. (Anonymous, 4 years)
The air, especially during winter. (Bekah, 4 years)
Parking. (Jamie, 4 years)
Hiking and skiing. (Kelly, 5 years)
Increasing rent prices and no balance in wages for the working and poor. (Jason, 8 years)
Inversion and Mormons. (Patricia, 11 years)
The winter hassles and smog. (Mary, 12 years)
The air quality and lack of separation between church and state. (Anonymous, 15 years)
Air quality, can’t buy kegs, Mormons that are uptight and public transportation ending close to midnight on weekends instead of 3 a.m. (Tony, 15 years)
Pollution. (Greg, 26)
Low teacher’s pay. (Fannie, 26 years)
The judgement, cost of living and pollution and our local governments over-reach. (Dana, 29 years)
Winter inversions. (Kaylene, 40 years)
Snoopy people and archaic politics. (Rosie, 40 years)
Desert weather. (Paula, 43 years)
Not enough housing or too expensive. (Treasa, 44 years)
The politics. (M’Lisa, 45 years)
The prevailing culture. The legislative session. (Russ, 50 years)
Seeing that some buildings weren’t taken care of. (Glenda, 50 years)
Inversion. (Jill, 54 years)
Too crowded. (Anonymous, 55 years)
Inversion in January. (Cathlene, 55 years)
Smog. (MHW, 56 years)
The religious influence on how the state is run. (Jill, 60 years)
Sometimes the air is dirty… (Sue, 62 years)

Salt Lake City Things To Do

What are fun things to do in Salt Lake City?

Sleep (Coby, 2 years)
Hiking, Temple Square, museums, concerts, shopping, touring churches, gardens, and restaurants. (Maria, 2 years)
Biking, hiking, and Jazz games. (Anonymous, 4 years)
Concerts, plays, and parks. (Bekah, 4 years)
Public transportation just about anywhere! (Jamie, 4 years)
Mountains and night life. (Anonymous, 5 years)
Eat out, venture into the nature, go to art events. (Patricia, 11 years)
Skiing and Hiking. (Mary, 12 years)
Hike, ride bike, see movies, and walks downtown. (Anonymous, 15 years)
Drugs, arcade games, dueling piano, movies at Broadway and tower. (Tony, 15 years)
Ice Skating; skiing. (Fannie, 26 years)
Paint night, bars, restaurants, boondocks, hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, and lagoon. (Dana, 29 years)
Hiking, skiing, and U of U art museum. (Kaylene, 40 years)
Live theatre, symphony, ballet, Red Rock, U of U sports, and Jazz games. (Rosie, 40 years)
Dining, outdoor activities (Paula, 43 years)
Downtown horse and buggy. (Treasa, 44 years)
Hike, cultural events at the U of U, Lagoon, DUP, walking downtown, International Peace Gardens, Wise variety of restaurants, Professional and College sports. (M’Lisa, 45 years)
Skiing and hiking in the Cottonwoods. Eating at the Red Iguana. Dancing at the State Room. Red Butte concerts. Seeing movies during Sundance. Bees games. (Russ, 50 years)
Zoo, parks, downtown. (Glenda, 50 years)
Go camping, visit Hogle Zoo, ride bikes in the park, the nightlife is rather tame, lots of shopping if you are into that. Natural History Museum, Discovery Children’s museum, Clarke Planetarium, Red Butte Gardens. (Jill, 54 years)
Art festivals, multi/cultural events, concerts, LLS Light the Night event, Christmas displays, multitude of things to do in the city. (Cathlene, 55 years)
Outdoor activities. (James, 58 years)
Hike, ski, theatre, meet people who are transplants. (Jill, 60 years)
Hiking the canyons, taking my dog in some. Red Butt open air concerts. (Sue, 62 years)
Drag State, the drive-ins, High School and neighborhood friends. Skiing, beautiful mountains, LDS Temples, Southern Utah, Lake Powell. (Cali, 66 years)

Salt Lake City’s Reputation

What’s Salt Lake City known for?

Mormons (Coby, 2 years)
Headquarters for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. (Maria, 2 years)
Temple Square, Mormons. (Bekah, 4 years)
Diversity, history, bad air…. (Jamie, 4 years)
Skiing and Mormons. (Mary, 12 years)
Being the capital of a Mormon run state. (Anonymous, 15 years)
Jazz games (Tony, 15 years)
Olympics 2002. (Greg, 26 years)
Greatest Snow on Earth. (Fannie, 26 years)
The over-abundance of LDS and close-mindedness. (Dana, 29 years)
Mormons, outdoor life, and decent restaurants. (Rosie, 40 years)
Skiing, 2002 Winter Olympics. (Paula, 43 years)
Capitol Hill. (Treasa, 44 years)
LDS Temple. (M’Lisa, 45 years)
Temple Square. (Russ, 50 years)
2002 Winter Olympics, skiing, and nature. (Glenda, 50 years)
Known for Mormons and skiing, but really all outdoor activities are great here. (Jill, 54 years)
Skiing, the center of the LDS Church, and community excellence. (Cathlene, 55 years)
LDS Church, skiing, beauty, outdoor activities and beautiful national parks. (Jill, 60 years)
Good entertainment Theaters. Good restaurants. Easy to get around. (Sue, 62 years)

Salt Lake City Crime

What’s the crime like in Salt Lake City? (hot spot areas, etc.)

The closer to the temple you live the better the crime is. (Coby, 2 years)
Stay away from Pioneer Park and be aware of your surroundings when riding the tracks. (Maria, 2 years)
High over by the gateway/pioneer park. (Anonymous, 4 years)
Like definitely lock your car. Avoid the walmart by ballpark, it is creepy. West side is less nice. So if you see a deal for housing on west north temple there is definitely a reason. (Bekah, 4 years)
Mmm, lock your doors, people, stay away from 7-11, get a big fat lock for your bike, mind your own business, be kind to others. Crime in the city is as bad as anywhere else. (Jamie, 4 years)
Sketchy near the gateway mall, but overall pretty safe. (Anonymous, 5 years)
A lot better than comparable sized cities, but a lot of gun crimes. (Patricia, 11 years)
Scary in the city and some of the east side. (Mary, 12 years)
Bad in parts of Glendale, Fairpark, and South Salt Lake. (Greg, 26 years)
Rose Park, downtown SLC, West Valley, and Ogden are crime riddled. (Dana, 29 years)
SLC is a fairly safe city. Glendale is the ‘worst’ neighborhood I’ve lived in here. (Kaylene, 40 years)
Surprisingly high. Lots of street people downtown, some aggressive. (Rosie, 40 years)
Bad in Rose Park, West Valley City, and Kearns for gangs. (Paula, 43 years)
About the same as anywhere else. (Treasa, 44 years)
Doesn’t seem too bad. (M’Lisa, 45 years)
Worse than you’d think, especially property crime. (Russ, 50 years)
I always keep a wary eye, but only feel uneasy in really dicey neighborhoods which are pretty easy to avoid. (Jill, 54 years)
Rough in some downtown areas like any urban area. (Cathlene, 55 years)
Rose Park. (Anonymous, 55 years)
Not particularly noteworthy. Really, especially compared to other cities. (MHW, 56 years)
Increasing. (James, 58 years)
Crime is all over the city, but seems worse on the west side. It is much worse than it used to be. Still not as bad as many large cities in the country. (Jill, 60 years)
Some crime usually on the west side of State street. It’s seems to grow. Then gets cleaned up by the city…they just move on. Homelessness is getting worse. (Sue, 62 years)
Practically none. (Cali, 66 years)

Salt Lake City Advice

Any advice for people moving to Salt Lake City?

Don’t rent, buy. Property value is climbing excessively and rent is ridiculously high. (Coby, 2 years)
Take advantage of everything there is to do. (Maria, 2 years)
Check out all of the areas before you buy/rent. (Anonymous, 4 years)
Focus on the positives, enjoy the city scenery. (Bekah, 4 years)
Housing is becoming just as un-affordable here, folks! (Jamie, 4 years)
Do it! (Anonymous, 5 years)
Give it time. (Kelly, 5 years)
Go away, our rent prices are already outrageous. (Patricia, 11 years)
Get out and enjoy the surroundings. (Mary, 12 years)
Live in Salt Lake. (Anonymous, 15 years)
Get ready for culture shock. (Tony, 15 years)
Get a car. (Greg, 26 years)
It’s a culture shock for some. (Fannie, 26 years)
Be patient. If you’re not LDS, it can be intimidating. But most people are very friendly. (Dana, 29 years)
Salt Lake is a great city if you like nature, canyons & skiing. The air is atrocious in the winter. (Kaylene, 40 years)
Live and let live, you are not going to change things, and you will be perceived as hostile if you are. (Rosie, 40 years)
Give individual Mormons a chance. (Paula, 43 years)
Be prepared for cold weather. (Treasa, 44 years)
Give people a chance not every Mormon is close minded. (M’Lisa, 45 years)
Turn around and go back. It’s too crowded already. We need to clean up the air first. (Russ, 50 years)
Enjoy the beauty and cleanliness. (Glenda, 50 years)
Get to know a few neighbors, its good to have someone you can chat with. When looking to buy a home, drive around the neighborhood. Good areas and run down areas are often close together. Do the same if Renting, but you can move if you find out you don’t like it. (Jill, 54 years)
Be prepared for diversity. Utah is not as it is portrayed in social media, entertainment, etc. Get ready for different cultures, religions, and political ideals. Prepare to be happily amazed (Cathlene, 55 years)
Keep an open mind. (MHW, 56 years)
Lots of great things to do here no mater what your age! Many outdoor activities as well as the arts and entertainment. (Jill, 60 years)
Try to live near your work we are trying to keep the valley cleaner by not using our cars during the inversion time. (Sue, 62)
It’s getting expensive. (Cali, 66 years)

Salt Lake City Stories

Share an experience you’ve had in Salt Lake City (fun, crazy, dangerous, etc.).

My first time driving down a hill in snow. Wow. (Anonymous, 4 years)
South of Salt Lake (Murray/Holladay), middle of the night getting sodas from the grocery store. (Bekah, 4 years)
Finding some independence riding my bike just about anywhere I want to go. (Jamie, 4 years)
Everything, best 5 years of my life. (Anonymous, 5 years)
Mainly ski classes and night skiing. (Mary, 12 years)
Pride weekend 2008 EPIC. (Anonymous, 15 years)
Sugar house park fireworks. (Greg, 26 years)
Really good memories of the 2002 Winter Olympics. (Kaylene, 40 years)
Giving tours of the Gallivan Center when it was new. Great spaces and facilities, quite innovative. (Rosie, 40 years)
Sledding. (Treasa, 44 years)
I once got pulled over while riding my bicycle on 500 South at 3:00 a.m. Let off with a warning. (Russ, 50 years)
24th of July celebrations. (Glenda, 50 years)
Greek Festival, Paranormal Festivals, historical re-creations at “This is the Place”, Night life, andamazing outdoor concerts and venues (Cathlene, 55 years)
I have seen many great concerts here in the last 45 years. I love the theatre and the fact that we get broadway productions here! (Jill, 60 years)
My favorite time is summer and going to open air concerts . There are many going on. The evenings are beautiful. (Sue, 62)
Back in the 70’s the private clubs were fun. We had to dress up, we could eat, and we had great dance music. All our friends were there every weekend. That was the only way to get served alcohol drinks was to belong to a private club. Black Bull, Club 39, etc. (Cali, 66 years)

Salt Lake City’s Future

How do you think Salt Lake City will change over the next 10 years?

Much larger tech industry due to startups. (Coby, 2 years)
Keep getting bigger and more expensive to live in. (Maria, 2 years)
Hopefully it will have cleaner air and better transit. (Patricia, 11 years)
Not sure but I hope it maintains the nature and finds solutions to homelessness and inner city drug abuse. (Mary, 12 years)
Hopefully progress will spread and population doesn’t get too crazy. (Anonymous, 15 years)
More immigrants. (Tony, 15 years)
Lots of apartments going up. (Greg, 26 years)
It feels like it’s slowly but surely becoming more progressive. (Dana, 29 years)
It’s growing to the bursting point. I hope SL will continue to be progressive. For example, SLC mayor is lesbian! (Kaylene, 40 years)
It will become totally corporate, all national brands, nothing homegrown, such as Auerbach, ZCMI, Chalk Garden. You won’t be able to tell if you are in SLC or Cleveland. (Rosie, 40 years)
Overpopulation will be insane. Traffic will get unbearable like LA. (Paula, 43 years)
Continue to mix and have a blend of cultures. (M’Lisa, 45 years)
It’ll continue to increase in population without much serious thought about its long-term health, (I’m talking 100 yrs from now) with some exceptions, like the people of the Seven Canyons Trust. (Russ, 50 years)
Grow but hopefully not too much. (Glenda, 50 years)
SLC is gonna grow. Its already too big for my taste, but it will grow and get too crowded. (Jill, 54 years)
Will increase in diversity and be an even more exciting place to live. (Cathlene, 55 years)
Population growth. (MHW, 56 years)
Much continued growth. Sort of sad how much areas like Sugarhouse have changed. (Jill, 60 years)
We really need to improve the air . I think our transit will have to improve. (Sue, 62)
It’s getting too big and congested with traffic. (Cali, 66 years)

Salt Lake City Facts

Any other interesting facts about Salt Lake City?

Fantastic public transit system. (Coby, 2 years)
The history is interesting and the people are friendly so life is fun. (Mary, 12 years)
Grid system. (Tony, 15 years)
Temple square. (Greg, 26 years)
There’s a great genealogy library at Temple Square. Lots of good local brew. (Kaylene, 40 years)
It has one of the most liveable downtown areas of any larger city. Lots of housing if you can afford it, most of it attractive. (Rosie, 40 years)
Rich in history; Mining, Railroad, outlaws, and polygamy. (Paula, 43 years)
Too many panhandlers. (Treasa, 44 years)
Way more diverse and liberal than its stereotype. (Russ, 50 years)
Pioneer Heritage. (Glenda, 50 years)
Home to more Hallmark Christmas movies than any other US city and more reality contestants per capita. (Cathlene, 55 years)
With all due respect, Salt Lake City is much, much more than just the home of the Mormon/LDS Church. (MHW, 56 years)
Though Salt Lake City has grown so much it still remains a small town in many ways. You always run into people you know at events. Everyone seems to be connected by mutual friends and acquaintances. (Jill, 60 years)
We have a great University and many colleges. Good hospitals. (Sue, 62)
I love City Creek and how wide our streets are. It’s clean and beautiful. (Cali, 66 years)