Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hey, I have accepted a job in Salt Lake City and will be moving there in a few months. I am now researching the area to find a good place to live. My job will be in West Valley City, but on the upper Northeast corner (almost South Salt Lake) .
My husband and I are in our late 20's, non religions and we are looking for something that's of course convenient to work, but also to the ski resorts, hiking etc. We love the outdoors, which is why we are super excited to move to SLC, and our Labrador can't wait either We don't mind religious people, but we ourself are complete atheists that are on the liberal side, and don't want to clash.
We are looking for a 2 bedroom to rent, anywhere in the $1000 - $1500 range, but really access to nature, while still convenient to shopping/restaurants/venues is key.
Convenient to restaurants and shopping (and perhaps bars?) means you have to be in Salt Lake City proper. The commute to NE WVC will not be difficult at all from most anywhere in the city, and you will definitely be able to find a nice 2BR for under $1,500 in most areas.
Anything east of about 300 East and between South Temple and 1300 South would be great, especially if it's proximate to Liberty Park and Herman Franks dog park. It's more expensive the further east you get, with 700 East the major demarcation line. I prefer 500 or 600 East over the more expensive areas east of 700 because I like a little more diversity and cultural character---and Liberty Park and Trolley Square---and the areas are otherwise indistinguishable.
I expect Sugar House would also be ideal for you, though it's not as accessible to as many commercial venues as a downtown location---you pretty much just have the immediate Sugar House commercial district that's walkable (but it's a great little district).
You might enjoy the Avenues as well, particularly the lower Aves (below 6th), which is well within your price range. It's more immediately residential, but downtown and everything it offers is still very accessible.
I agree with Zionide. If you want convenient access to bars and restaurants you'll want to be in Salt Lake City proper. You can certainly find a 2BR place just about anywhere in SLC for that price range.
Access to the outdoors is going to be relative to what you're used to. If you're from a small town where you're surrounded by the outdoors the farther east you can get the better. (For access to the outdoors at least, there are certainly drawbacks to the east side) However if you're from Los Angeles and an hour is your normal drive to get to the "outdoors" then you can't go wrong anywhere you move in Utah. I live about as far west as you can get in Salt Lake County and it's only a 25 minute drive for me to get to a canyon.
As for the Non-LDS thing I would recommend staying in Salt Lake County, for sure. Don't go to North Salt Lake or Bountiful and certainly don't go down to Lehi or American Fork. In fact this is another point for remaining in Salt Lake proper. Even the Salt Lake County suburbs are going to have a large number of LDS folk in them. That being said, most (read: MOST) of them don't care if you are LDS or not and they make great neighbors because they don't party and typically care wayyy too much about what people think of their house, so they keep it clean (at least on the outside). SLC has considerably less LDS people per capita. Maybe 35-40%? And you'll definitely make more friends here to go to the bar with.
I lived in Sugar House for about two years and I liked it a lot. Homes are older. People are also... mostly older. But it's a nice quaint place. Downtown is younger. There are plenty of bars (not really, but by Utah standards there are), but you will likely be in an apartment rather than a house. I personally don't like the area of Salt Lake that runs from about 500 East to 1700 West. I think it's visually unappealing and just not really exciting to me, as a young professional.
As a liberal, another check for Salt Lake - or possibly Park City. Park City is going to be the highest concentration of the liberal atheist types, but SLC is fairly liberal as well (again, by Utah standards, but we do typically have a democratic mayor). However the commute is going to be garbage any time it snows in the winter (which actually isn't as often as some Utahans like to think it is) and renting will be on the upper end of your budget.
Move to Salt Lake City. Stay east of 700 East. You'll love it, I'm sure.
I was looking at the Sugar House area, but didn't really find any apartments that I liked. I do seem to see a lot of places in Murray and Cottonwood that look interesting, how do those areas compare?
And I apologize, what specifically is considered Salt Lake City proper, or better yet, SL County?
I am really excited about this move and all the exciting new things it will bring, but I know once we are there, it will be super busy, so I want to do as much research up front as possible.
Cottonwood Heights is a great place, with probably about the best access in the area to the ski resorts. It is situated right at the mouth of Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons. You can also easily catch the freeway to Park City from there. The Cottonwood Heights Recreation Center is a fantastic facility, too. There are lots of apartments in the area, and quite a few duplexes, too. For what you're willing to spend, you shouldn't have any trouble at all finding something. Murray's not a bad place to live, but I'd live in Cottonwood Heights any day over Murray. (Actually, I have lived in Cottonwood Heights for almost 32 years now.
Murray and especially Cottonwood Heights offer great access to the Cottonwood canyons, but be aware that they do tend to be more conservative and more heavily LDS. There are fewer young, single, liberal types in the south end of the county, south of Salt Lake City. Those areas are also not very walkable if you like to walk to dinner at night, or to a bar or some sort of art/music/cultural type of thing. In fact, there are very few bars there at all, and many more "chain" restaurants than locally owned "farm-to-table" places.
Salt Lake City proper's south boundary is approximately 2100 South or 2700 South, depending on how far east you are. Salt Lake County runs all the way to what is known as "point of the mountain" in Draper---way further south than you likely want to be.
Sugar House (which is about as far south as SLC proper goes) does not have a lot of rentals available, at least for those looking for more than student accommodations, and it seems to have more condos for purchase. You will find many more acceptable rentals closer to the downtown area; you might consider the Brigham apartments downtown (201 E. South Temple); they are very well-located in the city, have good reviews, and are within your price range. City Creek Landing, Liberty Gateway, and Northgate at the Gateway are also good options. Anything in the 84101, 84111, 84102, or 84103 ZIP codes will essentially be downtown.
Suburbs south of SLC (like Murray and Cottonwood Heights) will shave 5 or 10 minutes off your recreation commute (Cottonwood Heights will add to your work commute though) over downtown, but the trade-off is a lack of urban comforts like bars, restaurants, and non-Walmart shopping.
Murray and especially Cottonwood Heights offer great access to the Cottonwood canyons, but be aware that they do tend to be more conservative and more heavily LDS. There are fewer young, single, liberal types in the south end of the county, south of Salt Lake City. Those areas are also not very walkable if you like to walk to dinner at night, or to a bar or some sort of art/music/cultural type of thing. In fact, there are very few bars there at all, and many more "chain" restaurants than locally owned "farm-to-table" places.
I've been in Cottonwood Heights for nearly 32 years now. On my street alone, we have four practicing LDS families. The remaining seven families are not. We have Hispanics, Asians and Middle-easterners. We have no 20-something or 30-something people on our street, but there are quite a few within just a few of blocks.
As far as nightlife, walkable restaurants, etc. are concerned, you'd pretty much have to stick to Downtown, 9th and 9th or Sugarhouse for that kind of thing. Anywhere else in the Salt Lake City area would be much the same as Cottonwood Heights in that regard, except that the Avenues are a bit closer to the downtown area than any other desirable neighborhood.
Quote:
Suburbs south of SLC (like Murray and Cottonwood Heights) will shave 5 or 10 minutes off your recreation commute (Cottonwood Heights will add to your work commute though) over downtown, but the trade-off is a lack of urban comforts like bars, restaurants, and non-Walmart shopping.
Just as a frame of reference, my office was very near the airport. I could generally make the commute in 25 minutes. It's also roughly that same length of time to downtown Salt Lake City. We can be to the top of either Big or Little Cottonwood Canyons in 15-20 minutes tops.
You will find many more acceptable rentals closer to the downtown area; you might consider the Brigham apartments downtown (201 E. South Temple); they are very well-located in the city, have good reviews, and are within your price range. City Creek Landing, Liberty Gateway, and Northgate at the Gateway are also good options. Anything in the 84101, 84111, 84102, or 84103 ZIP codes will essentially be downtown.
Thank you for these great suggestions, but what I've noticed with these downtown properties, is that they either don't allow dogs, or only lap dogs. Mine is a 75 lbs pup that likes to run That being said, I may have given off the wrong impression. We are not necessarily the typical "downtown" people that need to be able to walk to a bar or restaurant. While that would be nice, it wouldn't be a priority. I would be perfectly fine with driving a bit, if that means a bigger apartment with outdoor space (I noticed a lot of apartments further South have walking trails and such).
What about the Millcreek area? Maybe a good point to mention here is that my husband will be working in the Murray area (even though he is still trying to get a job with Snowbird, that ol' skibum (-: )
I guess above all, we are looking for convenience. I'm assuming living in downtown SLC comes with the same issues as living in any downtown area, such as nightmarish traffic?
Millcreek is a very nice area and would probably suit you well. Skibarbie may be along shortly, and she can extol its virtues better than I.
I am surprised about the dog thing, actually. I have 4 dogs, and though I own my home now, I had 3 dogs before I bought (all over 60 lbs.) and didn't run into that problem. But that was a while ago and perhaps things have changed. I tended to focus on renting entire houses with yards though, and not an apartment. (That said, you may be able to find 2BR homes with yards for rent in the Central City and lower Sugar House areas for $1,500, if that's something you'd be interested in.)
And no, I actually find traffic is much worse in the suburbs and on the interstates than in town. I-15, Bangerter, I-80, US201... they're all so often congested, especially during commute times (I-215 tends to be better than the others).
SLC's inordinately wide streets have kept the downtown area from have the congestion that most United States' downtown areas experience. You do have to pray for synchronized traffic lights on your commute (the city is still working on perfecting that, particularly with light rail crossings), but congestion is certainly not a nightmare unless you're trying to leave the arena area at the end of a Jazz game or something.
(That said, you may be able to find 2BR homes with yards for rent in the Central City and lower Sugar House areas for $1,500, if that's something you'd be interested in.)
While that does sound nice (having a yard for my Lab is a definite plus), we do like the advantages that come with apartment living.
Just looking at a map, it seemed like the areas down 15 and east on 80 that would make sense to me, just from a location stand point. It looks like it would be easy to jump on a highway and get down to the ski areas.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We don't mind religious people, but we ourself are complete atheists that are on the liberal side, and don't want to clash.
