Phoenix vs Salt Lake City (living, best, better, compare)
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This hasn't been discussed very much in the forums and I have been reading the forums for quite a while but haven't really posted until now.
My current situation is that I am living in Pittsburgh, PA and just moved onto the second set of interviews for two separate jobs. One is based out of Salt Lake City and the other in Phoenix. The way the discussions have been going, I am fairly confident I will get job offers for both of them.
So my question is, what are some of the Pros and Cons between living in Salt Lake City and Phoenix and which would you prefer?
About myself:
I am in my mid 20's, single, love the outdoors, and love the diversity of the city. Outdoor wise, I love camping, hiking, snowboarding and must have reasonable access to them. I have a 3 year old lab that accompanies me so the the city should be dog friendly with access to parks. With regard to city life, I would like to have a variety of food options, bars, and other places to socialize.
Great weather is also important and it looks like both of these should achieve that.
Last thing is that I have 3 friends that are located in each of those cities so I won't necessarily be moving without knowing one person.
I would overwhelmingly vote for Salt Lake City. The stereotypes don't hold up for the most part for those who talk smack and then visit. It's a beautiful city in an amazing setting with clean air and much less congestion than Phoenix. The downtown area offers quite a bit of entertainment in terms of restaurants, bars and shopping (Check out the open-air Gateway complex). Given your desire for the outdoor recreation (easy drive to Park City) and dog-friendly aspect you can't go wrong. Check out the neighborhoods of 15th and 15th, Sugar House, Liberty Park and The Avenues.
I am in my mid 20's, single, love the outdoors, and love the diversity of the city. Outdoor wise, I love camping, hiking, snowboarding and must have reasonable access to them. I have a 3 year old lab that accompanies me so the the city should be dog friendly with access to parks. With regard to city life, I would like to have a variety of food options, bars, and other places to socialize.
If you like camping, hiking, and snowboarding then consider Salt Lake City by all means. Maybe the best access to big mountains of any city in the US---you've got the Wasatch practically at your doorstep. As far as restaurants and bars, Salt Lake City isn't as bad as it's reputation would have it...It's still weird drinking at bars in Utah at some level with the whole private club deal, but they've eased up some restrictions. And downtown is a lot better these days from the last times I visited SLC. Personally I feel that SLC is underrated for even a small city in the West... in a ways the whole Utah Mormon thing seems scares away people. But SLC and nearby Park City actually have the lowest percentage of Mormons in Utah.
"clean air and much less congestion"
This is a blatant fallacy. i live in slc and everything that has been said about it is true, it is beautiful, small, diverse and a great setting for the activities you are interested in. however if you have every been to slc in january-feburary then you know that "clean air" is not what you'll find. the inversion is horrible! however if you can deal with a little pollution for a month out of the year i'd definately recommend SLC over Phoenix. and the stereo types dont hold true, its a very great place to live
It is great to see people sticking up for SLC. I was there in mid-February for the first time and thought it was a really cool city. I went out one night downtown but actually stayed in Sandy right outside of Little Cottonwood Canyon which was convenient since I was there for a ski trip to Snowbird and Brighton.
With regard to Phoenix though, I don't think it would be a terrible decision. Skiing and snowboarding would definitely be sacrificed but camping, hiking ect are available but a further drive away. Summers would be awfully long and hot though from what I hear. My brother lived out there for 4 years and I visited a few times and was able to handle the mid-summer heat but I'm not sure how I'd handle it for 7 or 8 months straight.
What are some of the selling points of Phoenix? How would you compare summer heat between Phoenix and Salt Lake City?
Salt Lake City has the same dry hot summers as Phoenix, but it's a solid 20-30 degrees cooler. However when it comes to winter weather, it's obvious that Phoenix is the winner.The stereotypes are not true of either city proper (Both SLC and Phoenix themselves are relatively democratic and artsy) but they can be true of the suburbs. Provo and Mesa are some of the most Republican (and Mormon) cities in the U.S.
SLC all the way. Great infrastructure, and access to outdoor activities is unmatched by any city in the US, except for water. There is even talk of rail being expanded to Park City and some ski resorts.
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