Neighborhood Suggestions near SLC (Salt Lake City, West Valley City: appointed, apartment complexes, to rent)

[2sha23]

Hi all!

I will be relocating to Utah from Michigan for a job in downtown SLC. I have been doing some online research and think I like the North Salt Lake/Woods Cross/Bountiful area. Does anyone have some personal insight on this area and how life really is there? I am not Mormon. Will that greatly affect my experience in these areas? I am also open to hearing about other areas that may meet the requirements below:

1. Rent <$1200/month for 2 or 3 bedrooms, preferably <$1000
2. Low crime, safety is a big concern as my 1-year-old and I will be moving together
3. Diverse families/population, we're a non-LDS minority member and don't want to be the only ones in the town/neighborhood/school
4. Close to downtown SLC, 35 minutes max driving time in traffic, preferably 20 minutes or less

I plan to rent for at least a year so names of good apartment complexes or specific areas to rent a home are desired as well. Thanks!

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by 2sha23

Hi all!

I will be relocating to Utah from Michigan for a job in downtown SLC. I have been doing some online research and think I like the North Salt Lake/Woods Cross/Bountiful area. Does anyone have some personal insight on this area and how life really is there? I am not Mormon. Will that greatly affect my experience in these areas? I am also open to hearing about other areas that may meet the requirements below:

1. Rent <$1200/month for 2 or 3 bedrooms, preferably <$1000
2. Low crime, safety is a big concern as my 1-year-old and I will be moving together
3. Diverse families/population, we're a non-LDS minority member and don't want to be the only ones in the town/neighborhood/school
4. Close to downtown SLC, 35 minutes max driving time in traffic, preferably 20 minutes or less

I plan to rent for at least a year so names of good apartment complexes or specific areas to rent a home are desired as well. Thanks!

My gut feeling would be to suggest that you not look in either Woods Cross or North Salt Lake. I believe Woods Cross and North Salt Lake would be cheaper than Bountiful, but there's a reason for that. They aren't as desirable. You might consider the area immediately north and east of downtown. That is known as "the Avenues." The area called 9th and 9th is also popular, as is SugarHouse (although SugarHouse may be out of your budget range). Seriously, you can get to downtown Salt Lake City from practically anywhere in the Salt Lake area within 35 minutes, so I would suggest not limiting yourself to places that may only be 20 minutes away. You'll be overlooking a lot of good areas if you do.

[2sha23]

Originally Posted by Katzpur

My gut feeling would be to suggest that you not look in either Woods Cross or North Salt Lake. I believe Woods Cross and North Salt Lake would be cheaper than Bountiful, but there's a reason for that. They aren't as desirable. You might consider the area immediately north and east of downtown. That is known as "the Avenues." The area called 9th and 9th is also popular, as is SugarHouse (although SugarHouse may be out of your budget range). Seriously, you can get to downtown Salt Lake City from practically anywhere in the Salt Lake area within 35 minutes, so I would suggest not limiting yourself to places that may only be 20 minutes away. You'll be overlooking a lot of good areas if you do.

Thanks for your response! What are some of those areas?

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by 2sha23

Thanks for your response! What are some of those areas?

I'd suggest you look in zip code areas 84103, 84105, 84106, 84108 and 84109 for starters.

[slomofo]

There's an oil refinery on the west side of North Salt Lake with a large/ugly looking mountain on the East side which some developer decided to build a bunch of yardless mansions on, while the main road running through it is littered with used car lots that sell salvage title cars, a fairly large trailer park, apartments, older houses, and various other businesses. The entire city is like 2 miles wide so it's a pretty ugly looking place IMO. I personally wouldn't live there, but I have a few friends that live near Eaglewood golf course on the mountainside who love it, so YMMV.

Most people consider Bountiful, Woods Cross, and North Salt Lake to be the same city because those cities are small and in the same area. You can drive down the main road (US89) in NSL and pass through both Bountiful and Woods Cross in the span of 5 minutes without realizing it. NSL is just the less attractive section of that area.

Based on your criteria, I think Bountiful and Woods Cross would suit you well. Other areas I personally would consider that may fit your budget: Farmington, Sunset, Taylorsville, the South & West ends of West Valley City, West Jordan, Murray, Magna, and maybe Sugarhouse. You may find a spot in the avenues for your budget too, but you'll have little to no yard with little to no parking so your quality of life may be lessened. Of my suggestions, diversity is very low in Sugarhouse and Farmington, but unless you're the type who has to be among minorities, it shouldn't be an issue, unless you're a Black person looking for a haircut, because you may run into some trouble finding a competent stylist/Barber.

[2sha23]

Originally Posted by slomofo

Based on your criteria, I think Bountiful and Woods Cross would suit you well. Other areas I personally would consider that may fit your budget: Farmington, Sunset, Taylorsville, the South & West ends of West Valley City, West Jordan, Murray, Magna, and maybe Sugarhouse. You may find a spot in the avenues for your budget too, but you'll have little to no yard with little to no parking so your quality of life may be lessened. Of my suggestions, diversity is very low in Sugarhouse and Farmington, but unless you're the type who has to be among minorities, it shouldn't be an issue, unless you're a Black person looking for a haircut, because you may run into some trouble finding a competent stylist/Barber.

Thanks for this insight!

I liked the Clearfield-Sunset area (based on research) but think it’s just too far from downtown for me. So is Farmington. Everyone recommends Sugarhouse but I have not been able to find much there. It seems that apartments are small or out of my budget. I have found some promising options in west West Valley City but am skeptical due to what I’ve read about the city. Murray, Magna, and Taylorsville normally aren’t highly recommended either. West Jordan I have not read much about but it was recommended to me outside of this forum. Also, I am a Black woman so hairstylist availability is relatively important . I rather not have to travel an hour to find someone.

Of the places listed, or anywhere else you think may be good, which are the top 3-5 cities or neighborhoods given this list ordered by importance:

1. Safety
2. Proximity to Downtown SLC
3. AA population
4. Family-friendly (parks, activities, families outside to play, etc.)
5. Affordability/Cost of Living

[Katzpur]

I didn't mention the Liberty Wells area. Both of my kids (who are in their mid-to-upper 30s) live or have recently lived there and like it very much. I think it would probably fit your criteria fairly well.

[Montygirl]

Originally Posted by Katzpur

I didn't mention the Liberty Wells area. Both of my kids (who are in their mid-to-upper 30s) live or have recently lived there and like it very much. I think it would probably fit your criteria fairly well.

Friend just bought house there, shes from out of state and was living in Sth Jordan before. Loves it there and house is lovely with lots of character !!

[slomofo]

Originally Posted by 2sha23

Thanks for this insight!

I liked the Clearfield-Sunset area (based on research) but think it’s just too far from downtown for me. So is Farmington. Everyone recommends Sugarhouse but I have not been able to find much there. It seems that apartments are small or out of my budget. I have found some promising options in west West Valley City but am skeptical due to what I’ve read about the city. Murray, Magna, and Taylorsville normally aren’t highly recommended either. West Jordan I have not read much about but it was recommended to me outside of this forum. Also, I am a Black woman so hairstylist availability is relatively important . I rather not have to travel an hour to find someone.

Of the places listed, or anywhere else you think may be good, which are the top 3-5 cities or neighborhoods given this list ordered by importance:

1. Safety
2. Proximity to Downtown SLC
3. AA population
4. Family-friendly (parks, activities, families outside to play, etc.)
5. Affordability/Cost of Living

1. You're not going to find much if any part of the state unsafe depending on your definition of the word. If you're a White person who is accustomed to living in areas with 95%+ White people with 75%+ Mormons, which makes up the group the majority of people in this subforum fall into, then you may feel uncomfortable anywhere West of 900 E in Salt Lake County.

2. Downtown should be easily accessible anywhere from Lehi to Farmington in under 40 minutes. If you're closer to the center of the Salt Lake Valley, that time will be cut down to 10-15 minutes. My job has me doing a lot of driving between 5:00-10:00AM on the weekdays bouncing around to office buildings between Logan and Spanish Fork (majority of the time I'm in Lehi or downtown SLC), but the company car has a top speed of 69 mph where we have a 70mph speed limit, so I have a good idea on how long it takes to get to downtown.

There's two reasons why Farmington and Lehi are the limits. First reason is because the freeway bottle necks from 6 lanes to 3 lanes about a mile from the last Lehi exit and from 5 lanes to 3 right around Farmington. Second reason is because Mormons are submissive in nature and this submissiveness has passed on to their driving skills or lack thereof. The problem here is that when it's time to merge into another lane because of a bottleneck, Mormon driver #1 whose lane is about to end will wait for Mormon driver #2 in the left lane to pass them instead of speeding up and jumping in front of them like they're supposed to do. Mormon driver #2 will want to slow down to let Mormon #1 get in front of him because he's a courteous Mormon driver. Both drivers will press on their brakes in an attempt to let the other go in front, sometimes ending with driver #1 coming to a complete stop. For an outsider, you may think this is complete BS, but as soon as you get here and see how many brake lights come on at freeway merge points, you'll see what I mean.

3. There aren't a lot of AA in the state, but the highest condensed population have historically been in Ogden which is outside of your commute area. In Salt Lake, they're scattered all over the place from Cottonwood heights to Magna, but if you're expecting to have a similar Black culture here as you find elsewhere, you'll be disappointed because outside of skin color, Utah people (all races) are just people and since racism is nearly non-existent out here, there's never really been communities where any single minority groups have dominated unless they all arrived as immigrants at around the same time, but even then their tight knit communities drift apart once they assimilate.

4. The cities I've mentioned are affordable for the most part. Sugarhouse and the avenues are borderline affordable because most of what you'll find in those areas are old and sort of crappy, but the hipsters and yuppies have driven the prices up.


Of the places mentioned thus far, my top three for your criteria would be:

1. Bountiful 84010
2. West Jordan 84084/84088
3. Taylorsville 84129

The bottom three with #1 being the worst:

1. North Salt Lake 84054
2. Anything in SL County between 300 E and Redwood Road from 900 S to 4500 S. (Get a map, block that area out, it spans 5 cities).
3. The Avenues 84103


Not mentioned, but will for sure show up on a property search that I would steer clear of: 84104 & 84116. Those areas aren't bad, but they're not that good.

[pk_imobile]

While I personally don't live there, I happen to be a big fan of Murray. It's a beautiful independent city at the center of everything in the Salt Lake valley. It's very accessible and has a lot of great housing and business options. It's also easy to get around, with lots of options from [url=http://www.rideuta.com]Utah Transit Authority[/url] and