Considering move to SLC (Salt Lake City, Highland: appointed, transplants, home)

[Bearhamcat]

I posted this in the city vs city, but only got a small handful of responses, so I figured i’d try here.

My wife and I are looking to finally set down some roots, and are trying to decide where we think we should live. Right now we live in Portland, but I only have six months left on my contract here and only recently moved here from the East Coast. I have potential job opportunities in Portland, Salt Lake City, and Dallas which we are looking at. We were hoping to get some guidance on what might be the best fit for us.

About us - we are in our early 30's, planning on having children soon, but probably not for another year or two. In our spare time, we love walking around to different areas of the city and being amongst the people. We love food, and really enjoy trying new restaurants and bars. We enjoy hiking and being outdoors, but aren't obsessed with it. Not mormon and lean liberal, but don't mind if others have divergent views. I'd be working at the medical centers (University of Utah, OHSU, or UT Southwestern), so we'd need to live close to these areas. We really enjoy walking to an area with a bunch of unique restaurants and trying new food.

Things that are important to us:

Cost of Living
Ease of making new friends/friendliest neighbors
Walkability & Bikability (we hate sitting in traffic)
Restaurant & Bar options
Outdoors options
Weather
Good schools in a neighborhood that is still close to restaurants and stuff to do


Thanks for your help!

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forum/city-...#ixzz5b082Umpi

[stiffnecked]

Stay in the Portland area. The air quality in Salt Lake City sucks. Traffic is bad and if you like good food just take the time to learn how to cook. I lived in Salt Lake City and couldn't get out fast enough. Plus the traffic sucked to.

[irman]

Originally Posted by stiffnecked

Stay in the Portland area. The air quality in Salt Lake City sucks. Traffic is bad and if you like good food just take the time to learn how to cook. I lived in Salt Lake City and couldn't get out fast enough. Plus the traffic sucked too.

Fully agree ...

Cost of Living (Maybe a bit lower but not really that much ...)
Ease of making new friends/friendliest neighbours (Depends on where you will live, it is a crap shoot -- Katzpur will tell you to only live in her neighbourhood, because the rest sucks -- I kind of agree with her!)
Walkability & Bikability (we hate sitting in traffic) (It can be nasty depending on the time of day and the location)
Restaurant & Bar options (Restaurants are so-so, and bars are alright if you agree to drink less than you are used to ... Utah just lowered the alcohol content of your body to almost nothing, so you better agree on one of you NOT drinking to get home)
Outdoors options (Lots of them but not necessarily less than the PNW ...)
Weather (Winters have really bad air for a few months (inversions), summers OK but can also have bad air!)
Good schools in a neighborhood that is still close to restaurants and stuff to do (not really an issue since it is just like any other city anywhere else.)

""Not Mormon and lean liberal, but don't mind if others have divergent views""
You say that today, but you might change your mind when it comes to your future children when they can not get along with their peers ...

My advice, move north from where you are now and you may be happier in the long run.
I do not see Utah change much for at least a lifetime. Latter Day Saints are stubborn people.
Like it or not, this is and will be Mormon Country for a long time!

Lots of people, somewhat like you, here and they are miserable.

[ut new]

What is the main miserable complaint?

[Hiruko]

Cost of Living
(Most to least expensive) 1. Portland, 2. Salt Lake City, 3. Dallas/Fort Worth
Ease of making new friends/friendliest neighbors
(Easiest to more difficult) 1. Dallas/Fort Worth (Home to a lot of transplants of diverse backgrounds), 2. Portland (Home to a healthy number of transplants, but home to a lot of stereotypical people, homogeneous), 3. Salt Lake City (depending on your background this could be the easiest, but most people will find it more difficult if they aren't outdoorsy or a member of the Church)
Walkability & Bikability (we hate sitting in traffic)
1 (tie). Portland, 1 (tie). Salt Lake City (both highly dependent on your neighborhood), 3. Dallas (DFW has a lot of traffic and is not walkable or bikeable at all)
Restaurant & Bar options
1. Dallas, 2 (tie). Salt Lake City, 2 (tie). Portland
Outdoors options
1. Salt Lake City (so many mountains, conservation areas, and outdoor activities close by), 2. Portland, 3. Dallas/Fort Worth (horrible, just horrible, least outdoorsy, walkable, or bikeable city in the country—worse than Houston)
Weather
Very subjective, but I prefer Salt Lake City's four distinct seasons and drier summers.
Good schools in a neighborhood that is still close to restaurants and stuff to do.
Oregon, Utah, and Texas rank among the worst performers for public schools nationally. However, Dallas/Fort Worth has several very high-ranked public high schools. Two come to my mind: Highland Park and Carroll High Schools. For privates there are Hockaday and St. Mark's among the best in the country. Portland and Salt Lake don't have the population to compete with Dallas/Fort Worth, the fourth largest metro in the country.

[stiffnecked]

Originally Posted by Hiruko

Cost of Living
(Most to least expensive) 1. Portland, 2. Salt Lake City, 3. Dallas/Fort Worth
Ease of making new friends/friendliest neighbors
(Easiest to more difficult) 1. Dallas/Fort Worth (Home to a lot of transplants of diverse backgrounds), 2. Portland (Home to a healthy number of transplants, but home to a lot of stereotypical people, homogeneous), 3. Salt Lake City (depending on your background this could be the easiest, but most people will find it more difficult if they aren't outdoorsy or a member of the Church)
Walkability & Bikability (we hate sitting in traffic)
1 (tie). Portland, 1 (tie). Salt Lake City (both highly dependent on your neighborhood), 3. Dallas (DFW has a lot of traffic and is not walkable or bikeable at all)
Restaurant & Bar options
1. Dallas, 2 (tie). Salt Lake City, 2 (tie). Portland
Outdoors options
1. Salt Lake City (so many mountains, conservation areas, and outdoor activities close by), 2. Portland, 3. Dallas/Fort Worth (horrible, just horrible, least outdoorsy, walkable, or bikeable city in the country—worse than Houston)
Weather
Very subjective, but I prefer Salt Lake City's four distinct seasons and drier summers.
Good schools in a neighborhood that is still close to restaurants and stuff to do.
Oregon, Utah, and Texas rank among the worst performers for public schools nationally. However, Dallas/Fort Worth has several very high-ranked public high schools. Two come to my mind: Highland Park and Carroll High Schools. For privates there are Hockaday and St. Mark's among the best in the country. Portland and Salt Lake don't have the population to compete with Dallas/Fort Worth, the fourth largest metro in the country.

Outdoor options in Utah are desert, desert and more desert. I much preferred Portland and the PNW for outdoor activities over the desert. There was a reason THE CHURCH settled in the Salt Lake valley, no one else wanted it.

[kletter1mann]

Originally Posted by stiffnecked

Outdoor options in Utah are desert, desert and more desert. I much preferred Portland and the PNW for outdoor activities over the desert. There was a reason THE CHURCH settled in the Salt Lake valley, no one else wanted it.

This ignores the mountains entirely, makes about as much sense as saying of Florida "alligators, alligators and more alligators."



The mountains are spectacular year round. Winter sports are pretty much unsurpassed and accessibility is better than any other real city in the US (I'm ignoring tiny mountain towns, resorts etc).


That said, if you're any kind of foodie you'll be disappointed by the food scene. There's a lot of good Asian food though because of refugees. But also a lot of garbage out there. Gotta pick and choose.

[Code Stemi]

If you are in the medical industry, be aware that the Salt Lake Metro typically pays substantially lower than neighboring states. Are you in nursing? The U of U has high quality healthcare, but low pay.

[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by kletter1mann

That said, if you're any kind of foodie you'll be disappointed by the food scene. There's a lot of good Asian food though because of refugees. But also a lot of garbage out there. Gotta pick and choose.

I think that there are a lot of great restaurants in Salt Lake and the surrounding area—and I'm from Chicago. With new restaurants appearing in the area at a pretty robust clip, I don't think you will find yourself at a loss for new opportunities to explore your palate.

[kletter1mann]

Originally Posted by Hiruko

I think that there are a lot of great restaurants in Salt Lake and the surrounding area—and I'm from Chicago. With new restaurants appearing in the area at a pretty robust clip, I don't think you will find yourself at a loss for new opportunities to explore your palate.

As they say, De gustibus non est disputandum. I've been consistently disappointed by restaurant scene and have yet to be blown away. The chichi, upscale places here serve up what I'd say is just mid-market fare and often with an attitude of too-cool -- and I'm from New York. And if you crave Italian (whether northern or southern) you're just flat out of luck. Good Italian should be better than you could easily do at home. Here it's universally worse.