Salt Lake City R3V'rs, tell me about your city......

[z31maniac]

Like the title states, SLC is on the short list of places the wife and I are considering a move to in the next 2-4 years.

IMHO, I love Tulsa, but it is on the decline and I don't see our local leadership doing anything to turn the tide. This city has been on a slow decline since the oil companies moved to Houston in the '81/82 Recession.

Likes/dislikes/insight/etc.

Boise/Albuequerque/Denver-ish/Las Vegas are also a few of the places on the short list.

[Farbin Kaiber]

We are gonna have so much gay sex.

[Sagaris]

I am from Sandy, a suburb of SLC. I have lived in 4 countries outside of the US and in 10+ cities outside of Utah. All I can say is that I cannot wait to get back to Utah! Yes I call SLC home and there's no place like home, but, during the economic issues these past few years SLC was not hit very hard. Construction projects are still going on everywhere as compared to Milwaukee where new construction (besides roadwork) are nearly non-existant. Check out any statistic maps and you will see low unemployment, reasonable average income and lower cost of living than Denver.

The weather is so much nicer than here in the Midwest. The relative humidity is typically between 15-30% as opposed to 60-90% where you are there in Tulsa and here in MKE. The winter gets plenty of snow, but temperatures are typically between 30-40F so a lot of the times that it snows, it wont stick to the road.

With the nice dry weather, you can actually enjoy being outside and the mountains offer so much to do. ~8 ski resorts are within an hour drive of SLC, There are tons of hiking and mountain biking trails. One unique aspect of SLC, which Denver shares to a limited extent, is the diverse landscape which is available within a few hours of driving.
From SLC, you are either on the mountain or just a few minutes from being in them. Drive an hour west and you are in the salt flats. Drive 2.5 hours southwest and you have sand dunes. Drive 4-5 hours and you have the incredible red-rock canyons. And if you long to see farms, you can drive 2 hours north.

Crime is low, and the overall standard of living is above average. If you are like some people from other states, you are concerned about being the only non-mormon in the state, SLC is ~40% Mormon. I have had many jobs that didnt have any Mormon employees working there. I enjoy living amongst them, much better than living around thugs and drunks.
The car scene is excellent there, all groups are well represented and many aftermarket companies are based out of SLC (COBB tuning, Jim Conforti, Eurosport, AeroTurbine, Squires Turbo Systems to name a few). Older cheaper rust free cars can be had too.

As far as negatives go: Due to the geography, the winters can attract some nasty inversion and some days have very bad air quality.
Since the population density is somewhat high, freeway traffic can suck, luckily there is a lightrail system in place that is constantly expanding, a new freeway between SLC and the county to the north, and most of the streets are nicely sized and have generous speed limits which allow you to take city streets during rush hour without too much headache.
The big worry as far as disasters are concerned are earthquakes. I have only experienced 1 , a 4.5 in about 1991 or so.

Another thing that could be seen as a negative is that you will tend to run into some snooty people both Mormon and non-Mormon. I have found in my travels that Utahns arent as approachable as people from other parts of the world, but thats not to say that everyone is a dick.
As soon as I am finished with my business here in Milwaukee, I am going straight back to Utah ASAP My wife is from Wisconsin , has lived in Boise, and a few other places and she cannot wait to move back to Utah either. It just offers so much.

Boise: I have visited and passed through. from what I have seen it is a really nice clean place, I wouldnt mind living there. Denver: same story. Add Spokane to the list of places you have mentioned and you have completed the list of places that I would consider settling down in.
Hopefully some of my info is helpful and not too biased, it really is an incredible place though. If you have any questions about anything , feel free to ask.

[jasonsnoddy]

the olympics was there

[Danny]

Move to Vacaville, CA.

[Beastolizer]

mormons.

[87e30]

I am from Sandy,
............
, feel free to ask.

You just made me want to move to Utah.

[e30pwr]

fucking. mormons.

[Sagaris]

fucking. mormons.

There are a few Jehovah's witnesses in the area I live. Do I agree with their beliefs? no, Do I act hateful towards them because I do not share their beliefs? no. I actually had two of them stop by yesterday while I was out in the garage. I didn't tell them to GTFO or give them an annoyed/hostile tone, I simply told them that I respect the fact that there are still people that have some sort of standards and beliefs and are trying to better themselves then told them that I have my own beliefs.

I'm not trying to start an e-fight, but Instead of making a comment that shows intolerance and hate, why not have a little respect for a person or people that are trying to better themselves?

[Skafrog]

I spent a little while in Sandy UT a few months back, and now I want to move there.
Beautiful place. It was snowing in May, but it was awesome.

[jeff_b]

I was stationed at Hill AFB ~35 miles N of SLC. Great climate, great people, it helps if you are LDS (Mormon). Oh yeah, being white helps a lot, too. I loved it out there and would go back if I could.

[mr.vang]

stockton..1 hour away from the bay and 1 hour away from the mountain....lol

[markseven]

Utah would be cool.

Do not move to ABQ. The closest track is what, 750 miles away? 100+ in the summer, snow in the winter, heat in between. No pro sports teams, no amusement parks, no large indoor (or out door for that matter) facilities; bands don't stop by... there is nothing to do there.

On the plus side, the movie industry is growing, and they have Sandia Labs, White Sands and Los Alamos. That's it.

[KenC]

Other than having an absolutely insane belief system (which religion doesn't though?), Mormons are typically a very nice and family oriented group. I would suspect the high LDS population contributes to the low crime rate.

The moutain resorts are the only thing that could drag me to Utah though.

[KenC]

stockton..1 hour away from the bay and 1 hour away from the mountain....lol

Stockton's great if you want to get stabbed. I won't even stop for gas there.