Tampa, fl to ??? salt lake possibly (Sandy, Bountiful: apartments, leasing, health insurance)

[Tim Tim Tim]

Im 21, engaged to my fiance who grew up in sandy. I live in tampa, fl now with her in a house we bought together. Im really just fed up with this place. The climate is way to hot, its so overcrowded, the people are terribly rude and the traffic is crazy. I went there once to visit her family and loved every minute of it. Although, at the time I wasnt thinking of moving there so i didnt pay much attentio to anything but how much fun seeing snow was haha.
Anyways, I have several questions regarding living in general.
How hard is it to find a job in the salt lake region, possibly smaller surrounding cities? how much does it cost on average to have a decent living there? (what are going rates for a couple in roughly a large apartment to small home? as far as power, water, gas, insurances and such?)
I can obviously figure my car payments, car insurance, house payments and so forth by the internet but figuring the other bills is quite important.

Last but not least, was I just in a great mood when I went, or are the people genuinly nice, helpfull and was the place overall not overcrowded?

[BuhByeCalifornia]

Hi there...

Congrats on your upcoming wedding!

Generally, the job market in SLC is pretty good...what industry are you looking into?

But not all the jobs are in downtown...the nice thing about Utah is that since jobs seem to be available even in the smaller, surrounding cities, you can have a really short commute to work!

We are building a home right now but we are currently renting a 4 bedroom duplex and we pay $815 / month (cheap cheap cheap compared to Los Angeles!) and we're in Bountiful...only 10 minutes away from downtown.

Don't know what water bill is as our landlord pays it but we pay around $50 for electricity and around $40 for gas. A heckuva lot cheaper than L.A.! Our car insurance was literally HALF of what it cost in LA.

People here are GENUINELY NICE. I had to get used to people actually making eye contact with me AND SMILING on the street (unheard of in Southern Cali)!

Since you liked the snow when you visited, I think you'll really love the change of seasons here.

Good luck!

[eggalegga]

I've never lived anywhere but Utah so I'm not sure what your definition of overcrowding is. Traffic can get congested during peak hours so the trick is to coordinate your home and your job so that you're going opposite of peak travel times.

I have low utility bills compared to most people. I live alone in a 1550 sq foot home. I have a swamp (evaporative) cooler rather than central airconditioning which drastically reduces my power bills in the hot summers. A swamp cooler requires more maintenance and usually can only cool the outside temps by about 20 degrees max. So on extremely hot days, it struggles to cool a home. My montly Gas, Power & water bills for 2006 were $62.93; $21.04, and $19.73 respectively. For 2007, the averages were $58.22,; $26.78; $21.15. My yard is quite small so my water bills are lower than most and my water charges are really low compared with other water districts here in the Salt Lake Valley.

My homeowner's insurance is included in my mortgage payment and I don't remember how much the premiums are.

You'll love the lack of humidity here. Just be prepared with lotion, chapstick and lots of hair conditioner.

[Tim Tim Tim]

Its VERY humid here. bubuycalifornia it sounds like your had generally the same problemsI have here!

As for my job industry, im not sure what I want to do.. im only 21 right now so i dont really have an established carreer, I have been working for my parents company for a long time installing cabinets. Im not to sure that is a field I would want to keep moving foward in.. She is into apartment leasing and will most likely try to find another job out there doing the same.. I think I would like to get into a career with an airline (ill leave it at that instead of blabbering on).

815 a month is near un heard of for a decent place here. There are alot of one bedroom apartments going for that much here. I am hoping my car insurance would drop, I pay 385 a month just for my rx8, I have another car now that my parents pay for under there business policy (considerd one of my benifits, since I have no health insurance or anything through them).

I cant wait to go, im quite sure ill be making the move some time next year after the wedding and when the housing market pics up a little here so i can get out ahead!!! thanks for your input

[EdLo]

Tim, you pay $4,620 a year for car insurance? WOW, what kind of driving record do you have? That sounds quite excessive. Are you sure it's not $385 a year? I have four cars and one boat and pay only about $1,000 a year total. (in San Jose, Ca.) But then again, I'm not 21, which could be also a reason for your high premium. If you move to Utah, get rid of the RX8, get an old car and get liability only. That should save you a lot!
Eddie

[Haai]

I did the exact opposite...I moved from Salt lake to Tampa.

You'll find Salt lake to be a much safer place, but also a lot quieter. And be prepared to go through bone-chilling winters and scorching summers. While Utah heat isn't humid, it's very stifling.

I don't mean to discourage you, I'm just giving you my two cents. You might like what I didn't like about it, and vice versa.

[SLCPUNK]

I've lived in both, twice, and currently in Tampa. I will settle back down in Utah as soon as the planets align.

I have to disagree on Hai's description of the winters. They are cold, but nothing like NE winters. It will snow for a day or so, then clear up, and be quite sunny. Coming from a hot, humid climate, I adjusted to the Utah winters easily, and so did my wife (who is from Miami.)

I first lived in Utah at your age and was a little bored. If you crave the nightlife that Tampa has, you will not get that in Utah. But IMO, no matter what the age, the outdoor recreation in Utah trumps any nightlife you could ever want. Learn to ski, learn to snowboard, travel with your wife down to all the amazing parks, hike in the canyons next to the city (Millcreek, Big Cottonwood, Little Cottonwood), camp during the summer, go to the Grand Canyon on the weekends, go to Las Vegas on the weekends, go to YellowStone, The Tetons up north. On and on and on. There is so many amazing things to do out there. The Wasatch front alone will keep you nice and busy before you even think about stretching your legs.

What are you going to do in Tampa? Walk down bayshore? Pffft!!!

There are certainly some "isms" and oddities to SLC that you won't find anywhere. But they infrastructure is much better than many other cities, the cost of living is affordable, and it's really easy to get around.

PM me if you want more specific details.

Edit: Also remember what you feel on a trip somewhere isn't always how it will be when you live there. People are more friendly, cars stop for pedestrians on the street and in parking lots (they will run you straight over here, no doubt about it), and the air feels much more clean and crisp. But I've also sat in traffic and dealt with nutty drivers in Utah too.

[kneadgirl]

You will love SLC, I currently live in South Jordan, right across the way from Sandy. Day Break is a new development in Herriman (right by Sandy), if I was moving here and about your age, I would move there. They have a community idea - lakes to fish, walking paths, it is beautiful and open (about 30 minutes to down town). Housing prices have just dropped here- good news for you!

[Tim Tim Tim]

Originally Posted by SLCPUNK

I've lived in both, twice, and currently in Tampa. I will settle back down in Utah as soon as the planets align.

I have to disagree on Hai's description of the winters. They are cold, but nothing like NE winters. It will snow for a day or so, then clear up, and be quite sunny. Coming from a hot, humid climate, I adjusted to the Utah winters easily, and so did my wife (who is from Miami.)

I first lived in Utah at your age and was a little bored. If you crave the nightlife that Tampa has, you will not get that in Utah. But IMO, no matter what the age, the outdoor recreation in Utah trumps any nightlife you could ever want. Learn to ski, learn to snowboard, travel with your wife down to all the amazing parks, hike in the canyons next to the city (Millcreek, Big Cottonwood, Little Cottonwood), camp during the summer, go to the Grand Canyon on the weekends, go to Las Vegas on the weekends, go to YellowStone, The Tetons up north. On and on and on. There is so many amazing things to do out there. The Wasatch front alone will keep you nice and busy before you even think about stretching your legs.

What are you going to do in Tampa? Walk down bayshore? Pffft!!!

There are certainly some "isms" and oddities to SLC that you won't find anywhere. But they infrastructure is much better than many other cities, the cost of living is affordable, and it's really easy to get around.

PM me if you want more specific details.

Edit: Also remember what you feel on a trip somewhere isn't always how it will be when you live there. People are more friendly, cars stop for pedestrians on the street and in parking lots (they will run you straight over here, no doubt about it), and the air feels much more clean and crisp. But I've also sat in traffic and dealt with nutty drivers in Utah too.

sounds perfect!!

I am 21 but Im really not into partying or clubbing or any of that stuff. Id rather hang out with some friends and do exactly what you said. Go skiing, snowboarding, hiking and camping.

I know that a vacations is no way to tell how a place really is, which is why I posted up in here

When I went to utah it was in the winter (feburary I believe) and I loved it. It was cold, expessially since I only had jeans and thin florida style sweatshirts, but I loved it. With a little better clothing for a real winter time I think i would love it.

The only real reason im debating is because im pretty close with my family and everyone is down here. It would be pretty hard to leave them. other then that, I CANT WAIT! haha

[bob rulz]

If you don't yet have an established career, don't absolutely crave nightlife (although as long as you're not used to really big city nightlife, I don't think you'd have a problem here anyway; there's still options), and are looking for cheap housing compared to Florida, then Utah is the place for you!

A few things to know, though:

-In winter, it snows a lot. Usually it's not really big snows in the valleys, but it'll snow on a lot of days.
-Sometimes winter, especially January, can be very hazy. The valleys that the cities sit in trap pollutants and we get an inversion. You'll get horrible air quality and it will be one of the ugliest things you'll ever see on some days.
-People seem to drive BETTER in the snow here. Also, nothing closes when it snows. I'm sure if they saw a snowflake in Tampa it would be like the Apocalypse.
-It's VERY dry. I think the dryness would be more difficult for someone from Florida to adjust to than the cold or the snow. A girl I knew who moved from Florida in the summer told me, in SEPTEMBER, that it was too cold. Also, she said she felt like she was breathing in dust all the time. However, moving from a humid to a dry climate is probably an easier adjustment than moving from a dry to a humid climate.
-Summers and LONG and HOT, although being from Florida that shouldn't be an issue. The difference is is that you can literally go WEEKS without rain in summer. And if it does rain, it doesn't rain for long. However, summer nights are nice. In Florida, it's still hot and sticky in the middle of the night. Here, it will drop into the cool 50s or 60s most of the time, and it'll be dry.
-If you might get a career with an airline, Delta has a hub here. It's one of the most dominant industries here, so that shouldn't really be a problem. Seriously, if Delta decided to close their hub here, it would hurt the economy big-time and a lot of people would be pissed off.
-People are definitely overall more friendly and curteous than many other large cities.

Hope you enjoy it! It seems like a good place for you.