Considering relocating to Salt Lake. Help Please

[RockRat]

Originally Posted by Vivo33

I've been offered a job in SLC and I'm nervous about accepting it. I visited the city last week and liked it but I'm a single 30 year old female and I'm worried/nervous about leaving friends and family. I've never lived away from home. Has anyone has a similar situation and loved it or regretted it and why? Is there a lot of young people and things to do? Are the people really different from east coasters? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

You asked, so I'll give you my "two cents" :

You're young and single and you won't always be, plus you've visited the city and liked what you saw. Are we all nervous when we make a big change in our lives? Sure! Do you have to stay here if you don't like it? Probably not. Are people different here than other places in the country? Maybe not as much as some folks think.

I moved to Salt Lake City almost two years ago from the East Coast for school and, for the most part, I like it here. Sure, there are inversions and, in my opinion, the separation between Church and State is pretty much non-existent, but there are plenty of positives, too. The skiing and snowboarding are possibly the best in the world and the hiking, camping, and other outdoor activities are enjoyed by many Utahns, though not all. The restaurants are nice, the cultural events are plentiful, and the University of Utah provides the attractions associated with any university town, including, at times, younger folks all over the place! The people are made up of 99.9 % good, decent folk, just like anywhere else I've lived. Are there knuckleheads and extremists in the population? Sure, why wouldn't there be? You also have a wonderful public transportation system which might allow you to forgo owning a vehicle. In fact, several young people in my building use car-sharing options which they tell me works wonderfully for them.

Is it New York City? Of course not. In my experience, though, it offers everything New York City does, only on a smaller scale. I could go on, but, as we all know, books are written about differences between cities and states. So, for what it's worth, refer to my first paragraph and give it a shot. I guarantee you, for better or worse, you won't regret it!

[CCSLC]

I say give it a shot.

Salt Lake City is, in fact, majority non-Mormon, and there are a LOT of us in town. And we're not all outdoorsy types, either.

[MisfitBanana]

Originally Posted by Vivo33

I've been offered a job in SLC and I'm nervous about accepting it. I visited the city last week and liked it but I'm a single 30 year old female and I'm worried/nervous about leaving friends and family. I've never lived away from home. Has anyone has a similar situation and loved it or regretted it and why? Is there a lot of young people and things to do? Are the people really different from east coasters? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

I regretted my decision. I moved here for a great job six years ago (from CA - I was 27 at the time). I didn't realize it at the time, but my boss at the new job actually lived in CA, and he offered CA salaries to his workers. Boo for me - when the market dropped, and my company downsized a lot, I lost my job. And while there are a lot of jobs available, most of them are in the 10-14 dollar range, and many don't offer benefits. I do have my college degree, by the way, and I have experience working since I was 16, but it didn't help much.

I'm also going to go out on a limb here, and say something that may get me in trouble with other posters: I've noticed a fair amount of sexism here when it comes to getting a job. Men often get paid a lot more for the same job (the Ogden-Clearfield area of Utah is 2nd worst for pay disparity amongst men and women in the country - that's about an hour and a half north of SLC, and you can bet that similar attitudes filter down), and men are more often hired for full-time work with benefits. The idea seems to be that a man will be the breadwinner for the family, so he needs the job. A woman will eventually get married and a have a child, and then she'll choose to stay at home.

My point is, if you lose your job, you may have to settle for earning a lot less when you find something new.

If you look at my super long post under the thread "Non-LDS Considering Relocation to SLC..." you can see a post I made about being non-Mormon living here.

There are lots of outdoor things to do, though, so if you're into that, then you could have a lot of fun.

For anyone interested, this is the quote from the article I read about pay disparity:
2. Ogden-Clearfield, UT
> Women’s pay as pct. of men’s: 64.4%
> Median income for men: $51,766
> Median income for women: $33,331

The metropolitan statistical area of Ogden-Clearfield, UT, is the second-worst in the country for gender pay inequality. Government, education, and manufacturing are the metropolitan area’s largest industries. Public administration and manufacturing are both highly imbalanced sectors when it comes to gender pay equality. The city of Ogden’s largest employers are the Department of Treasury, Weber State University, automotive safety product manufacturer Autoliv, and McKay Dee Hospital. Utah, on the whole, performs poorly compared to other states with regards to equal pay, ranking third-worst in the country.

Read more: The Worst-Paying Cities for Women - 24/7 Wall St. The Worst-Paying Cities for Women - 24/7 Wall St.

[RLWBSW]

I've lived here 14 years. The Mormon thing is over exaggerated in my opinion. Yeah there are a lot of Mormons here. They do not have horns and four eyes. They are pretty average people like anyone else. Most all of them very friendly.

I would think the biggest difference would be moving from the East Coast to the Western States. That IS different. But, if you are welcoming that change. Utah is a beautiful state, with quite a bit of diversity in the SLC area. And by all means, if you're a skier or hiker, this is a nice spot.

It's not like you would be moving to Hildale or something! Which could be considered The Twilight Zone.

[Vivo33]

Thanks everyone. @simply1 I am very close to my family, 5 sisters and 5 nieces to mention a few. That is my biggest hang up. I've been given an extension until July to decide. Hope I make my decision by then.

[Vegas-to-?]

Be sure to thoroughly research the inversions. We have chosen not to move to Utah anymore, solely because of the inversions.

[RLWBSW]

Originally Posted by Vegas-to-?

Be sure to thoroughly research the inversions. We have chosen not to move to Utah anymore, solely because of the inversions.

I will second that! The "inversions" here are horrific. And seemingly getting worse and worse as years go by. We have considered moving because of it. Inversion so thick, they can completly hide a 10,000 ft. mountain range. If you were a newcomer, and you didn't know that a mountain range was right in front of you, you wouldn't be any the wiser, some days you can't even see it!! AT ALL! When you get up around the rim of the "valley bowl" 6 or 7 thousand ft. and look back down on the valley it can be disgusting. Other days are very nice though. If you have Asthma, breathing issues or something like that, I sure would think about it before coming to SLC. And even Park City (30 miles away) which has in past years escaped bad inversion, is seeing it just as bad now a days.

[CCSLC]

Originally Posted by Vegas-to-?

Be sure to thoroughly research the inversions. We have chosen not to move to Utah anymore, solely because of the inversions.

Woo hoo! Missions accomplished. Now if others would only come to the same conclusion.

[kaytidid]

Originally Posted by Zionide

Woo hoo! Missions accomplished. Now if others would only come to the same conclusion.

LOL..we tried so hard to use the Mormons to scare them off and it doesn't work as well anymore, so we had to break out the damn inversion to do the job!!