Salt Lake City for Gay Couple in 20s (Other Ideas Welcome) (Sandy: neighborhood, cinema)

[peterslo]

Hi. My boyfriend and I are looking to relocate within the next year. He is 27 and I am 22. We currently live in Fort Myers, Florida, and we are largely uninspired by our surroundings. More than that, we are bored – there are only a few gay bars, nightlife is lacking altogether, the restaurant scene is weak, the age demographic is high (and ultra-conservative), and we are tired of the heat and humidity. My boyfriend has been to SLC many years ago and he was so in love with the natural beauty.

Salt Lake City stands out to us for many reasons.

Size: We don’t want a huge metropolis. My boyfriend especially hates New York City. So we’re looking for a place that has all of the amenities of a big city but with a sort of small city vibe, as long as there is a thriving downtown area with energy and culture.

Nightlife: We are not overly concerned with nightlife. There is hardly any nightlife where we are now so anything will be a step up. Here we have only two gay bars, so it would be nice to have more options than that. We also enjoy after-work happy hours. I like trying new craft beers and he is into trying new cocktails. If we can have that, then we will be happy.

Nature: Probably the biggest reason we are attracted to Salt Lake City. We love being outdoors! We would love to be able to hike, explore national parks and maybe even pick up skiing. The nature we have now includes swamps and beaches. We want a mountain experience!

Jobs: We both have bachelor's degrees and are just starting our careers. My boyfriend is an interior designer and I work in public relations. We need a city with a great economy and plenty of job opportunities. After all, wherever we end up we would like to stay for at least five years.

Gay/liberal views: Obviously Utah is not known for being liberal, but I have read that Salt Lake City is actually a great place for LGBT people. We’re not really bothered by the Mormon presence.

Travel opportunities: As avid travelers, the fact that SLC has an international airport and we would easily be able to take flights to Cali, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, etc. is very appealing. Neither of us have spent a lot of time out West, so this could be our gateway!

Honestly, my biggest concern about SLC is the air quality. My boyfriend has asthma and I’ve heard the inversions can be really intense.

Based on some of the things I’ve shared, can anyone offer their opinion on SLC? Or if there are similar cities that hit all of this criteria, feel free to suggest some other options. Once we narrow our list down to 2 to 3 cities we will be sure to visit them to find out for ourselves.

Thanks in advance!

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

The air IS bad during inversions. People with asthma are advised to limit their outside exposure. But they are not continuous, as in all winter. SLC itself is very gay friendly and has a large Pride parade each year. Notice I said the city itself.

[KaytiSeanee]

I have several friends who live in SLC who are gay and they love it. SLC is very accepting as far as I can tell. I am also a white woman who is married to a man My husband and I live about 45 minutes outside of Salt Lake City and it is so closed minded, which is why we are looking to move to Salt Lake. You will find haters everywhere though.

The air does get bad during inversion. The winter seems to be the worst, all the cloud cover just holds all the junk in.

Salt Lake City and Murray and Sandy would be good to start looking

[Geo-Aggie]

Though people would never know this if they didn't look, SLC has a thriving gay scene. Surprising at face value, but if you dig a little deeper it makes sense. It's the only place within about an 500 mile radius that a gay person can be accepted, so many move here. I'd say probably 20% of the city is non cis-gendered of some sort. That drops off very fast when you leave the city. Contrary to what another poster has said, don't look at Murray or Sandy or any other suburb. Live in SLC. Additionally when it comes to nightlife, the city is your only real choice.

Interior design exists there, you won't be paid much as SLC is a largely financial and tech economy, but there are opportunities. The economy is good and you won't have trouble finding work, but for the most part, entry level wages suck - think ~$12/hr. for entry level wages with a non-technical/non-medical bachelors degree.

Nature and travel is top tier, if you like the desert. People who haven't been to Utah are often taken aback by just how brown the state is. Statistically it's the 2nd driest state in the nation (after Nevada.) If that's not something that bothers you, you'll love the nature and travel opportunities in the state. One thing I hated is how far you have to travel to get to another city (~10 hours to the Bay area or LA, 7 hours to Vegas, 5 hours to Boise), but if you want to see nature that shouldn't be a problem.

[kletter1mann]

My wife and I moved recently from NY region. We wanted mountains, 4 seasons, reasonable costs (which would be anyplace after NY) and a big enough city to actually be a city (including major airport, health care, restaurants, etc). SLC proved to be the perfect choice.

For reference we're in a part of Holladay that until recently was a part of East Millcreek. East Millcreek, in turn, is the area directly bordering the SLC on the southeast (the neighborhood of Sugarhouse). It has much in common with Sugarhouse, a funky and interesting neighborhood that people here will probably recommend to you.

Anyway, see embedded comments below........

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Size: We don’t want a huge metropolis. My boyfriend especially hates New York City. So we’re looking for a place that has all of the amenities of a big city but with a sort of small city vibe, as long as there is a thriving downtown area with energy and culture.
The downtown is NOT thriving with energy. In the evenings it's pretty dead. That said, there are a few areas that are a bit livelier, but the downtown itself doesn't have many residential buildings, hence few actual residents hence pretty quiet. But, there IS culture (huge library with free lectures, art cinemas, symphony, etc.).

Nightlife: We are not overly concerned with nightlife. There is hardly any nightlife where we are now so anything will be a step up. Here we have only two gay bars, so it would be nice to have more options than that. We also enjoy after-work happy hours. I like trying new craft beers and he is into trying new cocktails. If we can have that, then we will be happy.
You'll probably be OK. There are plenty of bars. Unfortunately happy hour, as practiced everywhere else in the world, is absent. Cheap happy hour drinks aren't allowed!

Nature: Probably the biggest reason we are attracted to Salt Lake City. We love being outdoors! We would love to be able to hike, explore national parks and maybe even pick up skiing. The nature we have now includes swamps and beaches. We want a mountain experience!
There's no major metropolitan area with better access to the outdoors. None. Not even close. It's also a super healthy place. The number of runners, cyclists, etc is astounding. Best place in the world to learn to ski.

Jobs: We both have bachelor's degrees and are just starting our careers. My boyfriend is an interior designer and I work in public relations. We need a city with a great economy and plenty of job opportunities. After all, wherever we end up we would like to stay for at least five years.
Can't comment on this....

Gay/liberal views: Obviously Utah is not known for being liberal, but I have read that Salt Lake City is actually a great place for LGBT people. We’re not really bothered by the Mormon presence.
Quite so. However, you want to live IN SLC PROPER. NOT suburbs (except maybe Millcreek?). This can't be stressed strongly enough.

Travel opportunities: As avid travelers, the fact that SLC has an international airport and we would easily be able to take flights to Cali, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, etc. is very appealing. Neither of us have spent a lot of time out West, so this could be our gateway!
SLC is a great base for getting to those places. This was one of our reasons form moving here.

Honestly, my biggest concern about SLC is the air quality. My boyfriend has asthma and I’ve heard the inversions can be really intense.
This is a hot button topic. My wife and I are unaffected and we both think it's somewhat overblown (we're from NYC region). But, we don't have asthma or other respiratory problems so YMMV. Regardless, the inversion season is quite short (mid Dec - Feb) and they aren't constant. A storm will roll through and blow it all out and then it gradually builds up until there's another storm. The rest of the year the weather is great. Note that humidity is zero. Even if it's 100deg outside it won't feel anything like what you experience in Florida.

Hope this helps!