Moving from Ca. can't decide between Utah or Colorado. HELP! (Salt Lake City: ski resorts, home)

[5280milehiguy]

Since you guys are patting everyone on the back, I thought I'd try to answer the OP's question.

You will find all those things (you probably don't ski) in both Utah and Colorado.

The deciding factor should be if you are looking to date or not. You didn't mention much of your personal life but that too is an important consideration. You will find dating in Utah much harder than what you are used to. If you want to date new people, concentrate on SLC.

Also, if you have kids, schools are less funded in utah.

All in all, both states offer alot. Good luck.

[ironlocal]

Take a look at Southern Utah. It has a small poulation but only a few hours to Las Vegas or Salt Lake for shopping malls. Recreation is nearly unlimited. You can go from 2500 feet in elevation in St George to over 10,000 feet in Brian Head in less than 2 hours. at certain time of the year you could ski and golf on the same day. Moderator cut: RE advertising not allowed

[MikeGS]

I moved to SLC from Atlanta a few years ago. I checked out both Colorado and Utah with long visits prior to moving. I preferred Utah for a few reasons: Closer to the mountains and better skiing IMO, SLC is smaller than Denver, but you can still get most of the amenities, closer access to the greatness of southern Utah, nicer people (from my non scientific, short term study), Delta hub (frequent traveler and long time Delta customer), etc. There will be some challenges in SLC that are unique to the area/culture, but for me it's an awfully easy place to live.

[osugirl2]

Originally Posted by 5280milehiguy

Since you guys are patting everyone on the back, I thought I'd try to answer the OP's question.

You will find all those things (you probably don't ski) in both Utah and Colorado.

The deciding factor should be if you are looking to date or not. You didn't mention much of your personal life but that too is an important consideration. You will find dating in Utah much harder than what you are used to. If you want to date new people, concentrate on SLC.

Also, if you have kids, schools are less funded in utah.

All in all, both states offer alot. Good luck.

There are some good private schools though, and that of course depends on what you can afford, but the tuition here is reasonably priced. Utah does have the highest graduation rate in the country I believe, so even if the funding is low, the kids are finishing up high school. I moved here from Oklahoma, which is very different than Cali, but I had my heart set on Colorado Springs. When I put in my relocation choices I ended up with Utah instead of Colorado and I was devestated. I switched gears and started researching Utah and learned a lot. Everyone here at CD was very helpful and eased a lot of my fears, but until I actually got here I was still pretty scared. We ended up moving to Ogden (which is another topic in itself, because a lot of people, especially natives don't care for Ogden much) and we are loving Utah. I think deciding on a place really depends on what kind of change you are looking for. Colorado isn't quite as dry and gets (on average) a few more days of sunshine per year. Utah gets hotter in the summertime because basically it's a dessert. Colorado tends to stay rather mild with temps averaging in the 70's (at least in the Co Spgs area). Colorado gets more moisture, and they get lots of good thunderstorms like I'm used too back in Oklahoma, in fact Colorado Springs gets the most lightning strikes in the continental U.S. ( I believe). Colorado has a huge evangelical christian base, so believe it or not, there are a lot of questions in the Colorado forum about religious issues. Focus on the family is located in the springs as well as a bunch of other religious organizations. Colorado's history has a lot to do with mining and the gold rush and it's really interesting. Cripple Creek is supposed to be the most haunted town in the U.S.. Utah has a rich history as well with the settling of the Mormons and the railroad and mining in Ogden and Park City. I can't say a lot on the dating aspect, as I brought my boyfriend with me. I have noticed that dating seems to be tough around here no matter what culture or religion you're apart of. One of my co-workers in LDS and a returning missionary and is now in college. He is 26 (which is rather "old" to not be married yet for the LDS, these are his words, not mine ) and he can't find any LDS girls to date, because most marry young, so all the girls his age are already taken, so it appears it's slim pickens all the way around. Honestly, I think both are great places, especially if you love beautiful scenery and the outdoors. I really don't think you can go wrong, no matter which state you pick.

[cinnabon]

I was in this same situation and I picked UT. I am single, and if you are looky for "outdoorsy" guys there are tons of non-LDS ones. I picked SLC over Denver because of the proximity to the mtns and skiing. It is alos much more beautiful, mostly for that reason. It's a long, traffic filled trek to the mountains from Denver. SLC is a really nice sized city, and is very accessible. I am very glad I chose it.

[TRW22]

Which direction do you lean politically? If you are a liberal, you might enjoy the political atmosphere in Colorado more (hint, hint). Utah is 75% mormon and thus a very conservative state.

Biggest complaint we have in Utah is every time there is an economic crisis in California (every 5-10 years like clockwork) we get a big influx of Californians disgusted with California and happy to leave it. But, the first thing they do when they get to Utah is try to turn it into California.

Not to pick on Californians, as New Yorkers and New Jerseyans did/are doing the same thing to Florida.


TRW22
Utah native
Previous 21 year California resident
Current New York state resident

[osugirl2]

parts of Colorado or more liberal; like around Denver, but you get down to the Colorado Springs area, and there are a lot of christian based groups there, and the atmosphere tends to be more conservative, so I guess it would depend on where in Colorado the OP would live. Utah is definitely conservative everywhere

[hilgi]

Originally Posted by TRW22

Biggest complaint we have in Utah is every time there is an economic crisis in California (every 5-10 years like clockwork) we get a big influx of Californians disgusted with California and happy to leave it. But, the first thing they do when they get to Utah is try to turn it into California.

Not to pick on Californians, as New Yorkers and New Jerseyans did/are doing the same thing to Florida.

That is funny; I worry about people thinking about me that way. The last thing I want is to see Utah run it's state like CA. While I hope to see Utah lighten up a bit on social issues (I don't give a darn what you do, who you do, how you do it and what you do it with, as long as you aren’t using harm or force on innocent people) but I do like to live around conservative acting people, just not busybody's.

I am supporting an Osmond for Mayor, I hope that helps to reduce my California image among the neighbors. :-)

[jazzlover]

I think that I'm probably one of those "dour" posters over on the Colorado forum that people in this thread have mentioned. They can just get over it. Here is my take on the two states--I've spent a fair amount of time traveling both of them on business and pleasure over a number of decades. I live in Colorado, but my locale is just about equidistant to the metro areas of both states.

First, the bad about both. The metro areas of both states are making the same heinous mistake--building tons of sprawling, auto-dependent suburbia that is chewing up irreplaceable agricultural land and water resources. That is a disaster in the making for both states--and that social, economic, and environmental disaster is probably a lot closer than people want to admit. Colorado is probably ahead on the road to destruction because of its larger population, but Utah has more limited water resources and prime ag land, so it may hit the wall first.

If I were to choose a metro area in which to live, I would probably lean toward Salt Lake City--it is closer to prime mountain country, has--in my opinion--more foresight in its development of a workable mass transit system, and is more centrally located to prime semi-wild and wilderness mountain areas of the Rocky Mountain region than are Colorado's metro areas. If there is one deal-killer, though, for the Wasatch Front, it is its abysmal air quality--especially in winter. Sadly, its geographical location makes it pretty difficult to do much about it.

Culturally, the two states are quite different. Utah's heritage is strongly tied to the Mormon Church. Colorado's is tied to its earlier mining and ranching heritage. Utah is religious and pious; Colorado tends to be pretty secular and more morally "relaxed." Rural Colorado tends to be either very liberal (the resorts) or relatively conservative (the farm, ranch, and mining towns). Most of rural Utah--excepting the few resort areas like Park City--tend to be very conservative. Though I have numerous LDS co-workers and friends, I will say that it could be difficult to be a "gentile" living in many rural Utah communities. Even some of my Colorado LDS friends say that they would not be especially comfortable living in some rural Utah areas.

All of that said, Utah has some of the most stunning scenery of the Rocky Mountain West, and much of it is much less despoiled than Colorado's.

As to the "California invasion"--if what some of my native Utahn acquaintances say about it is typical, I don't think long-term Utah residents are any happier about it than are long-term Coloradans. Both groups don't like seeing their states headed down the road to be another mess like California.

[Alene]

Having lived in both places (Denver and Salt Lake) I can tell you that both have definite pluses and definite minuses. Salt Lake is way closer to the mountains and nature and the nature is much more untouched. You can drive 10 minutes and go hiking in the wilderness and not hit another person all day. In Denver the mountains are an hour away and they are well used by the locals. It was impossible for me to hike without running into dozens of people. Even the ghost towns in Colorado were busy - in Utah they are actually ghost towns. Salt Lake proper is a very fun city, lots to do and very welcoming people. Good food and good parks. Denver has a great city too but the people there have more of an attitude of "this is my state." They even have bumper stickers declaring that they were there before you were.

However, Denver is a much livelier town. They have more clubs and bars, a more liberal youth and attitude and way better dining if you are into that. As others have mentioned - the dating scene here is hard if you aren't mormon. Not impossible, especially in Salt Lake because there is a real counter-culture there if you know where to look. But in Denver you don't have to look, it is a bustling social scene without any ties to religion.

They are both awesome places to live, it just depends on what you are looking for.