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.
About 6 years ago relocating to Utah became an interest of mine. I had the employment that supported a move from the East and I had visited Utah several times and had had my interested peaked. I came to this forum seeking details about housing, location and more and it was from here I made those final decisions. I am a divorced male, late 40s, professional, that had moved from Louisville, Kentucky (what is known as a transplant). At that time I was absolutely thrilled with the prospect of moving here. But today I am unhappy with my choice. So this posting is for those of you that may be in my similar circumstances and considering life here. Read on.
With those 6 years (and 6 full weather seasons) I have reached the culmination of being informed from my demographic on life in the Salt Lake City metro area. Just for more detail: I am not LDS but respectful of Christianity. I am single/divorced living solo in one of the most recognized communities in the area: Daybreak. One of my desires was to possibly meet someone here and form a long term relationship. Moving cross country can be very exciting. A fresh start, new chapter on life. I was very excited about high mountains and low humidity’s.
My first two years were full of awe and amazement. Like many “transplants” those mountains kept me mesmerized. I am a motorcyclist and I quickly joined a riding club. We did rides all over the area and region. What’s not to love with the scenery here? Southern Utah in particular is incredible. Even if you do not live here you owe it to yourself to see the Southern Utah National Parks. They are truly enchanting. But from here I will begin to digress.
1. Focus on outdoors. If you are skier, hiker, camper, and more you have found nirvana. However if you are a metropolitan inner city type you will probably be disappointed. Salt Lake City is really more a backdrop and airport stop for those activities. As someone that visits Boston and Washington DC Salt Lake City is a driver’s world. While they do have Trax train transit, it’s limited to various directions. In other words going from the Airport to Sandy would take you over an hour easily. Better have a car.
2. Weather. This is one of the biggest negatives to me. I will be very concise. North Utah is a “bi-polar” type of yearly weather experience. One half the year is nice. One half of the year is not. There can be exceptions but for the most part that’s the norm. Utah people jokingly say there are two seasons here: Winter and construction. That is absolutely correct. If you enjoy being indoors half of each year then you’ll be fine with the weather here. Also with mountain ranges to both our east and west you will never see a horizon based sunrise or sunset. For the record I knew I'd experience winters and snow falls here. The problem is the duration. Full summer kicks in mostly by June with some rare exceptions. Yes you can have snow in June here. That leaves you until about the second week of October when summer is gone. So from November to late May/June you will have mostly poor weather. So look at it this way: November (thanksgiving), December, (Xmas holidays), January (New Year). What's not to like about winter over those holidays? Problem is even after that you still have 5-6 months more to go before Summer comes.
3. Religious influence. No article about life in Utah would be complete without covering this. The LDS church is a very strong influence of the culture of the state. Local morning news stations will have LDS church news as their opening headlines if it is significant. You will see an LDS church on every street corner in the suburbs as you pass them. They have a very strong influence on state laws. Read my alcohol section for more on that.
4. Single life. This dovetails from religion. As I had stated, I am upper 40s and single. Believe it or not the church has a major influence on being single for all ages. LDS members are taught that physical activity between the opposite sexes requires marriage. Therefore it is very common for couples to marry at younger ages. As young as 17 and 18 is common. Typically devoted Mormon couples tend to have a lot of children. Families can be 4-6 children. The problem is that many of these couples are immature and inexperienced in life. So many marriages end up in divorce with the mother usually keeping the children and having to go out upon the work force. If you are single man and looking after the age of 35 this will be the predominant single prospect for you here, with some uncommon exceptions. These mothers are the quintessential example of being a soccer mom. They are very busy and committed and this will not end until most of them reach their mid-40s. Be advised. Single professional women past 30 are very rare here. Also for single 35+ women considering life in Utah most the men will have children from their first marriages with some uncommon exceptions.
5. Social life. Families dominate Utah society. Living single without family at 35+ will be a lonely prospect here I can assure you. While you can join clubs and other interest groups most those members regard those activities as far secondary to their families understandably. Again for 35+ singles, national holidays will be some of the loneliest weekends you will experience. Over the Christmas holidays even worse. My advice: book airline tickets early and fly out to enjoy those holidays with your of out of state families if you have them. Even visiting distant friends will be a better prospect than staying here solo over those periods.
6. Alcohol laws. This was another problem for me. The state of Utah runs their DABC Bureau. I happen to partake in the consumption of alcohol. I enjoy domestic beers mostly. All domestic beer is what I call college beer. It is 3.2% no matter where you buy it. The state controls and oversees all alcohol sales. The DABC also runs what we call “sting operations” mostly at restaurants that also serve. They typically bring in young, close to 21 –often by days- into a restaurant on busy weekend night for instance and try to catch servers that slip up. The result can be devastating for the business and the server.
Unlike many states there is only (3.2%) beer in supermarkets. No liquor, no wine.
In conclusion I just placed my home under contract and am making the arrangements to leave Utah. This just did not work out for me. Yes Utah is beautiful if you are going east. For the record I do not fault this state. I should have done more research before I moved. So if you are in a similar boat as me in terms of status, age, family, etc I’d think very hard before you make the move.
At an older age (59), I moved to Utah for work. I was single. I never found anyone to date more than once or twice. I DID have many friends of both genders, married and single, and I had a world of things to do most of the time. I was there 11 years. The only reason I left was because my grandkids were getting older and I wanted to be around them more. I have achieved that, living about 5 min from them. But I don't have the same wide circle of friend here in a Dallas suburb as I did in SLC (I lived in Sugar House). Daybreak is not where I would advise a single person to move! Stick to the city itself.
Daybreak though? Daybreak? Even 6 yrs ago, it was an obvious stepford wives community. Why wouldn't you have lived in SLC? I would NOT consider Daybreak as "Salt Lake City metro area"? Have I misread that?
Also, did you never find the actual liquor stores that sell alcohol? They sell all sorts of beers. My beer I had last night from the DABC bottle shop was an 8.4% oat ale. Did you not find the breweries?
I am sure your other points are valid but Daybreak makes me chuckle a bit, even as a wife that place gave me the willies.
Micro brews and some imports receive exceptions but ALL mainstream domestics are 3.2% no matter where you buy them.
I've lived here 6 years. If you believe Daybreak, in Salt Lake County, is an exception of a "Stepford Wives" community compared to everywhere else...LOL I'd suggest you visit Washington DC or Boston for some true perspective. ALL of Utah is family USA with very few exceptions.
This will be my last comment on this thread. I hope for those of you that are considering living here that are similar to my demographic segment find my posting useful.
The 3.2% is by weight (ABW) and equates to 4% by volume (ABV). All of the mainstream domestics are in the 4-5% ABV range and the light beers are barely above 4% ABV. The exception is bud ice, miller icehouse, etc which are about 5.5% ABV and you can buy at the state liquor stores. There are several nice locally brewed lagers you may have liked as well, but being true to style, they mostly fall in that 4-5% range as well. If that's the beer you like, that's great, but it's not like your drinking 4% IPAs instead of the normal 6-7%. There is plenty to dislike about Utah alcohol laws, I just don't think you were missing much here.
Sorry it didn't work out. Looks like you have bigger reasons than the beer. Hope the next place is a better fit for you. Good luck.
It is what it is. And I agree 1000% on the beer story. The whole thing is absurd. Some will protest and point out that you can get 'real' beer at the state liquor store. Sadly that's not really an answer at all. The selection is terrible, it's by the bottle () and outrageously expensive -- really a completely absurd scenario, and I've pretty much stopped drinking beer as a result. [That said, I've concluded that the local microbrewers manage to make much better low gravity beer than the mainstream breweries. I suspect they've done more taste optimization around the low alcohol limit.]
But back to the OP's comments. At at the end of the day it sounds to me like the real problem was moving to Daybreak instead of SLC proper, or maybe Millcreek. WORLDS apart. Seems to me that the issues described in items (3), (4) and (5) would be greatly amplified by living in Daybreak instead of SLC. I'm saddened by the your plight there as a mature single person. Daybreak gives my wife and me the creeps. Sorry it didn't work for you and best wishes wherever you land next.
Thanks for your post, Chaserx. I have considered moving to SLC before, and am once again at a crossroads where I have to decide if I want to spend more time in my current location (which has not worked out very well so far) or try something different. One of my "backup plans" in case I was not able to find suitable employment in my current location (Raleigh, NC) was to take a job with the Utah Transit Authority. With my prior work experience I am confident of being able to get a job there, and believe it or not, it would actually pay better than any job I have been able to get an interview for here in Raleigh.
However, the negative aspects of living in SLC as an older, unmarried adult are exactly the things that have me hesitating about moving there. The dominance of the LDS church into everyday life of residents, lack of a social life/opportunities to meet other middle-aged (non-LDS) singles, and long periods of cold, snowy weather. Here in Raleigh I've got what seems like half the year being hot and humid (very much like Florida, only without the palm trees), and in SLC it would be half the year being cold and snowy. What's a guy to do? :think
I'm sure I would love the scenery there, and the opportunities for outdoor recreation in low humidity. But it's the other things that you mentioned in your post that have me concerned about whether I would enjoy being there long term.
He moved to Daybreak, a master-planned community way at the other end of the valley from downtown, married-with-4-kids heaven. Don't move there, come check out downtown and Sugar House.
I'm sure I would love the scenery there, and the opportunities for outdoor recreation in low humidity. But it's the other things that you mentioned in your post that have me concerned about whether I would enjoy being there long term.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SouthernBelleInUtah
He moved to Daybreak, a master-planned community way at the other end of the valley from downtown, married-with-4-kids heaven. Don't move there, come check out downtown and Sugar House.
SouthernBelle is right. Daybreak would be perfect for some people but terrible for others. Not all of Salt Lake City is like Daybreak. Other areas are a lot more diverse, both religiously, racially, and culturally. I'm sure you would fit in other places very well. And UTA is a great company to work for. My husband retired from there six years ago.
However, the negative aspects of living in SLC as an older, unmarried adult are exactly the things that have me hesitating about moving there. The dominance of the LDS church into everyday life of residents, lack of a social life/opportunities to meet other middle-aged (non-LDS) singles, and long periods of cold, snowy weather. Here in Raleigh I've got what seems like half the year being hot and humid (very much like Florida, only without the palm trees), and in SLC it would be half the year being cold and snowy. What's a guy to do? :think
If you decide to move here, I would seriously suggest that you take up skiing. I'm not a winter-lover myself, and at nearly 68, I'm a little old to start skiing myself. I can practically guarantee, though, that if you are an outdoor recreation enthusiast, skiing would make the winter months much more enjoyable than they would be otherwise. You might just end up loving winter. I don't, but it's probably at least partly my own fault for not taking advantage of the winter sports activities here in Utah when I was much younger. For a lot of people, winter in Utah is pure heaven.
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.
