Considering a move to the Logan area... (Provo, Ogden: insurance, crime rate)

[Nomianca]

Hello there. My family and I currently live in Southern Utah (St. George, to be exact) and are considering a move to the Logan, Utah area. We are middle class but do not have a great income. We have two young children that will both be school age in the fall. My husband works in the grocery business and I work in Customer Service in a national craft store chain. We are both able to transfer with our jobs, so that isn't a huge huge concern right now. My husband also has a background in manufacturing and could always get a job in that field if he wanted.

Neither one of us are very familiar with Logan. I have never been there and my husband has been there once. I am from Montana originally so the snow and cold won't bother me. The summers here bother me. Much too hot for this girl.

We are LDS so the usual arguments about how if we aren't LDS we won't be welcome won't apply to us. (Which personally, I think that is bull. I have been left out of things much much more because I WAS LDS, but this is neither the time nor place for that discussion.)

While we love St. George and would love to stay here, the simple truth is that we can not afford to live here. Would we be able to make a good living in Logan? (By "good" I mean quality of life and affordability.) We were living in MT as short as 6 months ago but my husband didn't like it there, so we moved back here.

We have also considered Brigham City but we need my husband's job to maintain our insurance and there isn't a store for the company he works with in Brigham. We don't really want to have to commute either. I do like the smaller look of Brigham though. The bus transit system in Logan appeals to us as well.

I have a friend that lives in Brigham City and she says she would much rather pick Ogden over Logan. IS Ogden better than Logan? I have also heard that the air quality is bad in Logan. Our son has asthma...would this be a foolhardy move on our part to take him to Logan? It appears from what I have looked up online that there is quite a bit to do there...the zoo, hiking trails, etc.

Do those of you that live in Logan or close by love it there? What do you love? Is it a great place to raise a family? This will (hopefully) be our last move and we plan to stay there long term. I have also read that the traffic is horrendous, but I think that is a given in pretty much any place that has a growing population.

Is it hard to find a place to live? Are rents expensive there? What about monthly utilities? Is the electric and water and gas (sewer, garbage, etc.) rates very high?

Any and ALL info would be appreciated.

[Nomianca]

I just read back through my post and realized that some of it could be offensive. Let me change that to read, that while I DO think that some people are left out because they are not LDS, I do tend to think it may be exaggerated as well. However, I do not know as those experiences were from the person and not from me. I DO know from my own experiences that I have been left out of activities and such because I AM LDS.

Again, I apologize if anyone took offense. That isn't how I meant it but in reading back I realize that it could have come across as less than charitable.

[annem1967]

I have lived in Logan a number of years and to answer some of your questons. If you like more of a city invironment you would probably like Ogden better. As for your sons Asthma, there are people here that have asthma we have a dry heat up here. but they do say the best place for people with Asthma is Arizona. I wouldn't say we have a "zoo" we have Willow park and it has birds and raccoons and some deer and a bobcat or 2 but as for a real zoo there is always Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. And speaking of that Salt Lake is only an hour away so for family adventures it's fun to go to the city for the day but coming over Sardine and back to our little valley is the BEST way to end a day. It's very beautiful here we are surrounded by the mountains and we have a big dam for boating, swimming and fishing. The people are nice and it's pretty peaceful here, not alot of violence and its in general a great place to raise your family. Hope this helps

[Nomianca]

Thank you so much. That does help alot. I have talked to several people that are familiar with it keep telling me that we will love it there. I have also heard someone say there is a really bad inversion there..is that true? I personally wouldn't think there would be because of the mountains, but I don't know.

As far as environment goes, I prefer more laid back and slower. I don't think Ogden would appeal to my family at all. We lived in Provo and I hated it. I KNOW that I wouldn't be able to live in Salt Lake too.

[lisan23]

There is an inversion in the winter, we have red air days fairly often. However, bad inversions are also common in Ogden and Salt Lake throughout the winter. The plus side is that Logan doesn't really get an inversion in the summer, just the winter. (I know that Salt Lake has an inversion in the summer as well, as for Ogden - I'm not sure.) To be honest, I would STAY AWAY from Ogden. They have a MUCH higher crime rate than Logan. I had a boss live in North Ogden in a brand new house, he thought that since he lived in the nice area it wasn't like "most" of Ogden. However, a few weeks later there was a shooting 2 blocks away from the house.

Logan is much safer, and it's also a lot easier to get around up there. Just about everything you'd ever need is on Main Street. Unlike bigger areas (like Ogden and Salt Lake) you don't really have to travel more than 15-20 minutes to get anywhere. The schools are good, and there's a lot of kids and after school programs for kids as well. (I have 1, but she's not old enough for school.) There's a lot of little parks, and a lot of small outdoor things going on throughout the summer. Personally, I LOVE Logan and will be moving back as soon as we find a decent place to live. (Oh, and the housing is WAY affordable. What I would pay for a decent 2 bedroom in Salt Lake would get me a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage place in Logan.)

[Nomianca]

Thanks for the information. We went up to Logan this past Monday and kinda poked around a little bit. We really liked what we saw. I think we would like it there alot. My kids loved it. We went to The Bluebird and got some candy for my mother in law...she said if we are going to Logan that we HAD to stop and get her some.

As far as housing goes, here in St. George we are paying $1000 a month for a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath townhome, around 1400 square feet. From what I have seen I could get a place that SOUNDS pretty comparable to this one for as much as $350 dollars less than what we pay here. That's a pretty big chunk of change.