Is SLC Right Moving Choice? (Salt Lake City: transplants, employment, buying)

[jj85]

Greetings Salk Lake City From Oregon
I'm a single male looking at moving to Salk Lake City this spring.


The economy here is horrible. Last year I did find work, but it was up in Portland. When I got laid off with the crew, I came back down to Eugene. I'm afraid that if I stay here it'll be nothing but unemployment all year long.

I enjoyed it up in Portland, but am looking for an area that has jobs, more sunshine, and cheaper housing, amongst other things like a nice single scene.

I've visited Salt Lake City in the Past, & I'm pretty sure that I would like the area.

Thanks for any advice & have a great day

[Superbear]

I moved from Salt Lake up to Olympia, WA and then Seattle, WA last summer and I'm about to move back to Salt Lake in a few weeks also mostly for better employment and lower cost of living. If you've already visited and like the area then I'm sure you'll be fine.
Theres a few things I'm not going to enjoy returning to though including; the bad air quality smog inversions that stick around for days or weeks at a time in the winter, the horrible drivers, and overall flakiness of people I experienced there. I realize these are things that all cities have but in SLC they're times 10, at least in my experience.
But overall it's a decent place to live with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the US so I think you're making a smart choice leaving Eugene

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by Superbear

Theres a few things I'm not going to enjoy returning to though including... overall flakiness of people I experienced there. I realize these are things that all cities have but in SLC they're times 10, at least in my experience.

You've piqued my interest. What is it about Salt Lakers you find "flakey"? If I were looking to move somewhere new, a statement like yours would really make me nervous.

[Superbear]

Originally Posted by Katzpur

You've piqued my interest. What is it about Salt Lakers you find "flakey"? If I were looking to move somewhere new, a statement like yours would really make me nervous.

I was born and raised in Salt Lake and the biggest change I've noticed living up in WA for 6 months is people I've interacted with follow through and are more proactive than people I lived with for 28 years in UT.
I'm a musician and I like to play sports. In SLC I'd meet musicians and other people who wanted to jam and play music or others who were looking for flag football players but when it came down to actually getting together and making these activities happen, it rarely would. I've found people up here in WA to be mostly eager to do these things and I've had a lot more fun doing social activities here because of it.
I use Craigslist a lot for finding roommates, buying and selling things, etc and I'd say the percentage of people on CL who'd follow through with whatever they were posting or responding to my ad about in SLC was far lower than up here.
Dating is another area where in SLC the girls I'd meet were frequently late for 1st dates and other past SLC girlfriends were just generally inconsistent in following through with things they planned on doing (being late for appts, talking about going back to school but never doing it, etc) In Seattle, again it's being mostly the opposite for me. I've met some cool women up here who had their act together.
Again, this is all just my experience. I'm sure many UT residents have never dealt with flakey people like I have and other potential UT transplants wouldn't have any trouble either but I can't deny the difference I encountered when moving up here from UT.
But to clarify, there are a lot of things I don't like about living up here, hence me moving back to UT. But social interaction with people up here isn't one of them.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by Superbear

I was born and raised in Salt Lake and the biggest change I've noticed living up in WA for 6 months is people I've interacted with follow through and are more proactive than people I lived with for 28 years in UT.
I'm a musician and I like to play sports. In SLC I'd meet musicians and other people who wanted to jam and play music or others who were looking for flag football players but when it came down to actually getting together and making these activities happen, it rarely would. I've found people up here in WA to be mostly eager to do these things and I've had a lot more fun doing social activities here because of it.
I use Craigslist a lot for finding roommates, buying and selling things, etc and I'd say the percentage of people on CL who'd follow through with whatever they were posting or responding to my ad about in SLC was far lower than up here.
Dating is another area where in SLC the girls I'd meet were frequently late for 1st dates and other past SLC girlfriends were just generally inconsistent in following through with things they planned on doing (being late for appts, talking about going back to school but never doing it, etc) In Seattle, again it's being mostly the opposite for me. I've met some cool women up here who had their act together.
Again, this is all just my experience. I'm sure many UT residents have never dealt with flakey people like I have and other potential UT transplants wouldn't have any trouble either but I can't deny the difference I encountered when moving up here from UT.
But to clarify, there are a lot of things I don't like about living up here, hence me moving back to UT. But social interaction with people up here isn't one of them.

Fair enough.

[jj85]

Wow thanks for the info, & having that kind of people in SLC doesn't scare me on account of the more possibilities there are there than here. I'm gay (more straighter type), so as in terms of dating being in Eugene is very frustrating, I don't think my type exists here lol. Where as on the outside looking in SLC looks a lot lot lot better.
And Seattle is an awesome city, but it's so expensive to live there. I was offered a job there in 2010, but couldn't find 1 room that I could afford, & parking wasn't included in rent. If I had chosen to drive to work (which they highly recommended city bus) I would have had to pay for parking there also.

[Superbear]

Originally Posted by jj85

I'm gay (more straighter type), so as in terms of dating being in Eugene is very frustrating, I don't think my type exists here lol. Where as on the outside looking in SLC looks a lot lot lot better.

strange, I've never been to Eugene but I picture it being fairly gay friendly. SLC, or at least parts of it are a little more gay friendly than most people would think. The downtown, avenues, and Sugarhouse areas are where I'd recommend a gay person look into. Also, i've met gay mormon return missionaries who appear straight in every way but came out at some point. So if you're the straighter type, you might find that in many of the gay men you'll meet in SLC as well

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

One of my gay friends was researching for a GLBT travel guide. He said that SLC itself had one of the higher proportions per capita of GLBT people in the country.

[jj85]

Thanks for the info, I was looking at the Marmalade District???

Eugene is pretty gay friendly, but everywhere I turn if there's a gay guy 98% of the time he's a female type. If I wanted a female I'd be straight.

Thanks for the stats also, am very excited about the move. I talked to my family today, & they're supportive of Salt Lake City

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by jj85

Thanks for the info, I was looking at the Marmalade District???

Good choice. Probably the highest concentration of LGBT folks in the city.