Where to live in Salt Lake City area?

[Katzpur]

I guess maybe it gets down to what you consider to be "heavily Mormon area." You'd be hard-pressed to find anywhere in the Salt Lake area where at least 40% of your neighbors weren't LDS. If that's acceptable, you could probably find a number of areas. But if you're looking at anywhere around here that is, say, only 10% LDS, good luck.

[Zionide]

I think it also depends on your definition of "area." There are many blocks in the Salt Lake area that have no Mormons, but a full street of LDS families one block away. I own two homes, one downtown in Central City and one in West Valley. In Central City, there are 18 homes on the block and only 2 are LDS. In West Valley, there are 26 homes on the block and NONE are LDS (really!), so it's definitely possible to find less than 10% LDS in the Salt Lake area.... as long as your "area" isn't too large!

[Poqui]

Interestingly enough, the lower concentration of Mormons = the higher concentration of crime and slums.
We live in Murray and it's about half and half Mormons/non and it's just perfect. But you must be willing to be an active participant in your neighborhood activities and get to know your neighbors. People with chips on their shoulders will always find the worm in the apple. Attitude makes a huge difference.

[MyTakeOnIt]

Originally Posted by Poqui

Interestingly enough, the lower concentration of Mormons = the higher concentration of crime and slums.
We live in Murray and it's about half and half Mormons/non and it's just perfect. But you must be willing to be an active participant in your neighborhood activities and get to know your neighbors. People with chips on their shoulders will always find the worm in the apple. Attitude makes a huge difference.

I live in Washington State and we are moving to Utah next month. I have spent a lot of time in Utah and have never had an issue with Mormons. I'm not LDS. Mormons live by a code or at least try to and that code is strict on crime and criminal activity. It's pretty simple there. It's why even though my husband and I aren't Mormon we would have no problem living in a neighborhood with a lot of Mormons. We have some Mormon neighbors here in Washington now and they are the nicest, best neighbors always ready to help and fine upstanding people. They have never treated us like outsiders or made us feel unwelcome. I have come to appreciate and respect their presence and their history and I show respect towards their religious beliefs. I think this helps a lot too. If you show respect, you will usually receive it. And I keep in mind that Utah is as nice as it is because of the Mormon influence. So I plan on assimilating as best as I can and show respect to those who really made the state as nice as it is.

[frogandtoad]

Originally Posted by Poqui

Interestingly enough, the lower concentration of Mormons = the higher concentration of crime and slums.
We live in Murray and it's about half and half Mormons/non and it's just perfect. But you must be willing to be an active participant in your neighborhood activities and get to know your neighbors. People with chips on their shoulders will always find the worm in the apple. Attitude makes a huge difference.

That is completely untrue. Many of the Samoan/Tongan gangs are made up of LDS (in name anyway). The "slums" as you call them, are often islanders who moved moved here for "the church", and their disenfranchised children turn to crime as teens, though the community is still LDS.

And of course there are lots of very low crime areas with high concentrations of LDS in other areas.

The East bench has less than 50% LDS, yet very little crime.

As with everywhere else in the U.S., crime and "slums" is related to socio-economic status, not religion. And in this state, those two are not correlated.

[dcisive]

I'd have to say given the choice the preferences lean towards the following and I'm not LDS:

Sugarhouse: Very eclectic with lots of shopping nearby and reasonably low crime, more so singles, families and such with minimal gang activity.

East Side from Foothill down to Cottonwood Hts. to include E. Millcreek East of 2300 East, Holladay and the Highland Park area. All minimal crime with plenty of good shopping nearby and a decent mix of singles, couples and families. Not overly LDS in some spots.

I know it is this boards main controversy, but given the choice I'd advise to stay out of the ANYTHING on the West side such as Taylorsville, West Valley City, Kearns etc. until you get SOUTH of 7800 South and West of Bangerter right down to Herriman is fine.

There are spotty bad areas in parts of Sandy and certainly South Salt Lake has sucked recently with crime so avoid those. Midvale and parts of Murray are also suspect as well. I'm in the security industry so I do stay informed daily so as to make these assessments. The folks on this board that live in places like West Valley City and Magna are real testy about folks that criticize those spots. But all you have to do is watch the TV news nightly and you get the reality check on those spots pretty quick. You don't even have to be in touch with local law enforcement agencies a I am daily to learn this. Sorry if the truth hurts guys..........

[Poqui]

I concur with dcisive.

[Zionide]

Originally Posted by dcisive

I know it is this boards main controversy, but given the choice I'd advise to stay out of the ANYTHING on the West side such as Taylorsville, West Valley City, Kearns etc. until you get SOUTH of 7800 South and West of Bangerter right down to Herriman is fine.

The folks on this board that live in places like West Valley City and Magna are real testy about folks that criticize those spots. But all you have to do is watch the TV news nightly and you get the reality check on those spots pretty quick. You don't even have to be in touch with local law enforcement agencies a I am daily to learn this. Sorry if the truth hurts guys..........

This isn't anything new, but I disagree (and I do NOT live on the west side).

If you can show me objective crime numbers, maybe I'll believe you, but the data I have access to does not support your assertions. What the local media chooses to report (and not report) and the areas those reports focus on are not a valid tools for an accurate crime concentration analysis.

Your "truth" is merely unsubstantiated opinion Moderator cut: rude without valid statistics.

[dcisive]

Moderator cut: rude My line of work is in the security industry, and it is my business to KNOW where the crime is occuring (primarily commercial) but I am in touch nearly daily with law enforcement officials throughout the entire Wasatch Front. I DO know what I"m talking about, and if you want the straight but hard to take truth, aside from the obvious bastions of crime we all are well aware of (like Glendale and Rose Park) West Valley City and South Salt Lake have become all but a cesspool at this point. You DON"T want to hear it, nor do those that own property there, but if you don't want to hear it from me, go right ahead and MAKE THE CALL to those police departments. Find out for yourself if you must what is going on and where it's going on.

You're right, the media has no clue. The stuff you hear on TV about WVC and SSL is but a pinch of the reality and not the entire package. It is actually considerably worse than they present on TV. You may have a bug up your posterior about this, but it is what it is. I'm pretty tired frankly, of hearing folks defend that which is NOT defensible. It has NOTHING to do with what I say, it is just the way it is. I happen to make a living off of protecting commercial business, so it is my business to be informed or I can't do my job. What do YOU do for a living? Bet it has NOTHING to do with knowledge of crime or defending against it. Now get over yourself and stop pointing fingers. Crimereports.com most certainly does NOT tell the whole picture....it is but a slice of it. And believe me there's a LOT of pasted icons in WVC to say the least.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

closed for review