SLC Vs. Denver (Salt Lake City, Aurora, Boulder: sales, real estate, home)

[ladyfish]

How do SLC and Denver compare, as far as the city, affordability, weather, and culture?

[goldenmom7500]

Hi,

I was curious so I did a quick comparison from a money.com database.

Population: Denver: 556,000 to SLC 185,000

Family income: similar in the 50Ks, but I forgot to write down the exact number for Denver (SLC: $51.9K)

Job growth: Denver: -5%; SLC: +0.43%

Average home prices: Denver: $273K; SLC: $276K

Annual precipitation: Denver 15.81/year; SLC: 17.75/year (both are on the low side)

Temperature highs/lows: Denver: average summer highs: 88; average winter lows: 15 (I might have the characterization wrong); SLC: 89/25

SLC has strong funding for the arts (and statistically stronger than Denver), but I won't try to touch the culture question. I found culture to be strong in SLC (ballet was always huge, etc.).

I forgot to write down education statistics; I know that Boulder, CO and Ft. Collins, CO have very high numbers of people with masters, doctorates.

[coolcats]

Originally Posted by goldenmom7500

Hi,

I was curious so I did a quick comparison from a money.com database.

Population: Denver: 556,000 to SLC 185,000

Family income: similar in the 50Ks, but I forgot to write down the exact number for Denver (SLC: $51.9K)

Job growth: Denver: -5%; SLC: +0.43%

Average home prices: Denver: $273K; SLC: $276K

Annual precipitation: Denver 15.81/year; SLC: 17.75/year (both are on the low side)

Temperature highs/lows: Denver: average summer highs: 88; average winter lows: 15 (I might have the characterization wrong); SLC: 89/25

SLC has strong funding for the arts (and statistically stronger than Denver), but I won't try to touch the culture question. I found culture to be strong in SLC (ballet was always huge, etc.).

I forgot to write down education statistics; I know that Boulder, CO and Ft. Collins, CO have very high numbers of people with masters, doctorates.

Wow that's a great comparision. There is more similarity than I would have imagined. The population sizes of the cities might be a bit misleading. The Wasatch Front has about 2 million people. Salt Lake is the most well known, but the whole corridor is urbanized.

Wasatch Front - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Denver has about 2.4 million

Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So even though the populations of the actual cities themselves are quite different, the metro areas are again quite similar.

[goldenmom7500]

Good point!

Hopefully others can add more non-quantitative things about these cities. I could comment on SLC (but I shouldn't - I haven't lived there in ages) but I only know Denver from a few work trips.

[cottonwood2420]

Originally Posted by ladyfish

How do SLC and Denver compare, as far as the city, affordability, weather, and culture?

Here is a link to information on Culture and the Arts in Salt Lake City at the bottom of the page:
Salt Lake City, Utah - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Some of the more artsy neighborhoods in Salt Lake City are the Avenues and Sugar House.

[fromthebay]

oh this is cool i was looking for this info

[Snowbird]

Hi,

I grew up in Denver and now live in SLC. There are many differences and similarities. I would be happy to answer any questions.

[jazzlover]

Metropolitan Denver is much bigger in population than the metro Wasatch Front. Though people think the climates of the two cities are similar, they really are not. Winters tend to be a little more rigorous in SLC than Denver, and the summers somewhat drier. Both cities have air pollution problems (Denver is now out of compliance with the EPA on ozone), but Denver gets frequent Chinook winds in winter that will blow the pollution out of the city. SLC does not, and that is the biggest downer about SLC, in my opinion.

SLC's access to splendid mountain country is closer than Denver's. Both metro areas are suffering terribly from out-of-control growth and sprawl, but SLC is farther along in developing a meaningful light and heavy rail commuter system. Denver only has relatively limited light rail, and longer distance heavy-rail commuter systems aren't even in real planning yet--just some talk.

Economically, Denver appears to be stronger, but that is somewhat illusionary, in my opinion. Much of metro Denver's current economy is based on real estate speculation and construction. SLC has that problem, too, but SLC does seem to have a much healtier heavy and light industrial base than metro Denver currently does. The bursting of the real estate bubble is likely to really wreak havoc with the Denver economy, because so much of it is based on that speculation. I think that SLC will fare somewhat better.

I will leave the "cultural" differences for someone else to debate.

If I had to choose where to live (and I am a Colorado native), I would choose SLC over Denver every time. The main thing I DISLIKE about SLC is the air pollution problem--and, sadly, I don't think that is going to go away. Metro Denver is pretty much a lost cause--it is so sprawled and auto-dependent that it's future pretty much will look an awful lot like LA. A classic example of a great place absolutely wrecked by growth and greed. SLC would do well to learn from Denver's mistakes if it doesn't want to head down the same road.

[jazzlover]

I would add something that I just saw on CNBC after I made the initial reply above. Moody's Economic Service released their "regional recession forecast." Specifically mentioned was Utah as one of the few states (and the only Rocky Mountain state) with an economy predicted to grow, despite significant problems in the housing market. Colorado's Front Range was depicted as one of the areas "at risk" for entering recession. California, Nevada, and Arizona were depicted as states already in recession.

Interestingly, the states shown as being at least risk for entering recession are the Upper Midwestern and industrial Midwest states, excluding Michigan.

[goldenmom7500]

... interesting! According to one of my financial magazines or websites (can't remember what), Salt Lake had a rather huge growth in real estate sales or prices or values last year. [Am I helpful or what, don't even know what it was about!?] I thought it was ... hmm ... real estate values. I called my mother to congratulate her. It was not only large but it was the highest (or at least one of the very highest) of the cities listed across the country. Whatever it was.