Moving to Moab from Texas (Manti, Junction: real estate market, 2014, apartments)

[Blake94]

Hi,

I am a 22-year-old male from Ft. Worth Texas and have interest in relocating to Moab.

A little bit of my background, I recently graduated from college in May, 2017 and now work as a construction safety guy for a large general contractor in Dallas. Though I love the company I work for, my goal in life is to make a living in a beautiful rural/remote area of the country. I hate everything about Dallas: the hustle and bustle of the city, the constant road construction and traffic, and the shear amount of people. The obvious struggle is that it's harder to find a good job in my field in rural America, especially being that general contractors mostly do work in major metropolitan areas.

Why Moab?
Although I have not been to Utah since I was very young, I am in love with the southwest geography. I've been to New Mexico many times and love the desert shrub/mountainous geography, the dry weather, and how the populations are more dispersed. I've heard good things about Moab and the pictures are beautiful with all of the rock formations and canyons.

So tell me...
What does the job outlook look like in Moab? Is there any construction work, manufacturing facilities, mines, or any other industry that might hire someone with my background in Occupational Safety? Or any good paying industry at all that hire college graduates?

What is the outlook on the real estate market/cost of living? Also, what about religion? I understand that Utah has a large Mormon population. I am a Southern Baptist, what is it like for Evangelical Christians in eastern Utah?

I would love to hear some feedback,

Thanks!

[f5fstop]

What he ^^ said.

I moved FROM Moab in 2014 but it was not job related, I retired.
The largest employee in the Moab area is the US government. Two National Parks (Arches, Canyonlands-Islands in the Sky District), BLM-1.8 million acres around Moab, Forest service-Manti Lasal National Forest, plus USGS makes for a very large presence in the area.

So my advice is to get on the USA Jobs website, register and search for jobs in that area. BLM does a lot of construction with some large road equipment for campground creation and upkeep, plus some on roads and trails (most roads and trails on BLM lands are maintained by the county road crews (Grand and San Juan). So the counties might be a possibility too.

There is a large uranium removal project south of town by the CO River; UMTRA (Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action); however, from what I understand from still reading the local papers is that the project has cut down on workers due to a drop in Federal funding last year, so probably not hiring; but not sure.

Basically, all other employment in Moab is seasonal via outfitters for river trips, desert trips, selling merchandise, working in hotels, restaurants, etc. Very little full time employment but it does exist in places like City Market, Village Market, Shopko, etc. But needless to say they do not pay much. (National Parks and BLM also have quite a few seasonal jobs.)

Housing is hard to find in the Moab area for a decent price. That is one of the largest complaints of the area, with the limited pay from seasonal working it is hard to find a place to rent. Home pricing is out of sight. I moved there in 2008 and left in 2014; however, I had a good job the entire time so housing was not a problem. The price of my home went up considerably. Not sure if it was actually due to Californians moving there, or just the normal expansion of the place from people moving there from all over the USA. To be honest, I only knew two people who moved to Moab from CA; one was a Federal Law Enforcement Ranger, the other a good friend who know ones the largest wood distributing company in Moab area; and I knew a lot of people who moved to Moab, but not everyone of course. And who I worked for had a large number of people, and only two were actually local to Moab and all others moved from other states.

Biggest influx of CA plates was during the summer and were tourists, but in one day you could easily see license plates from all states.

One of the other big problems with housing is rental prices. Those who bought homes or Condos, learned that they could rent these places for enormous amounts during the spring/summer/fall to tourists and make a fortune. This priced out those that came to work seasonally in Moab.

There are some apartments that look decent, there is a few mobile home parks, one is not that bad (knew someone who rented a place there for two years), but most did not look great when driving by on the main roads. Problem with apartments was finding a vacancy from what I was told.

Now, I will also add that Moab is probably the most beautiful city I have ever lived in. The weather can be very hot in the summer, but for me it was not a problem. I live hot/dry weather. Plus I did an awful lot of off-roading and there is NO place better than Moab for off-roading. (And Ouray CO is only about 3 hours away for the second best place.) That is all my opinions so no arguments please from others.

Also a great place for hiking, mountain bike riding, photography etc. Just a general great place to live. However, if you need anything other then small items it is usually via online retainers or a 2.5 hour drive to Grand Junction CO. Only options in Moab tend to be higher priced or not available at all. (I believe living in Moab makes an Amazon Prime membership also a requirement.)

Mormons are not a problem in Moab, it is not a heavily Mormon area due to many who live there came from other states. Not to say they are not around, they are, and you will get the knock on the door, but they are polite and will go away with a no thank you. (I used to work for a Mormon bishop and had many Mormon friends and that is where I learned all my good Mormon jokes which I can not say on here.)

One of the reasons I moved when I retired was the cost of living was very high, the lack of services, wanting better healthcare, and the tourists were starting to drive me crazy. There were just too many tourists during the three seasons and it was starting to expand into the fourth season. Used to be a saying that from March to November it was not possible to make a left turn in town except from a traffic light due to the traffic. However, that was expanding to include all months.

(NOTE on healthcare. Moab has a small hospital that opened sometime around 2010, not sure. It is nice, has some features, and has some great Doctors (I can recommend one if needed); however, it was limited in facilities. If you were hurt in a major accident or had a heart attack or other serious problem you were airlifted to St Mary's in Grand Junction or north to SLC. IF you needed some specific tests, you might have to drive to Grand Junction to get them.)

Again, look at USA Jobs, or the local job market. Read the local papers MOAB Times, and Moab Sun News for further info. Both available online, both only update on Thursday and both don't have much in them, but they are local.

And good luck.....