Salt Lake City

[T.S.]

How is life in the Salt Lake City area for non-mormon singles, families, and children?

[cloudnine]

Salt Lake is a great city for visiting. If you aren't mormon, it can be a tough place to live. We were there for 17 years and trying to transfer out for 14 of them. There is somewhat of a nightlife if that is what you are looking for. The clubs are all private (state laws) and the alcohol laws can be pretty confusing. We have 3 children and while my sons haven't had too many problems with making friends, my daughter never really had any good ones. The girls get wrapped up in church activities at a very young age.

While the city is generally safe, there are definitely areas to watch out for. Salt Lake has at least 30 active gangs (I think more like 70 but I can't remember). A lot of people have moved into the area for the family values and brought the trouble with them.

While I didn't really like living there and my husband hated it, it does have its advantages. Utah probably has the most diverse landscape-mountains, deserts, canyons, and slickrock. It is a beautiful state. The public transportation system is pretty good and getting better. The roads are improving. The economy is moving pretty well. Housing costs are higher than Texas but lower than many areas of the country. I hope this helps.

Keelie

[T.S.]

Originally Posted by cloudnine

Salt Lake is a great city for visiting. If you aren't mormon, it can be a tough place to live. We were there for 17 years and trying to transfer out for 14 of them. There is somewhat of a nightlife if that is what you are looking for. The clubs are all private (state laws) and the alcohol laws can be pretty confusing. We have 3 children and while my sons haven't had too many problems with making friends, my daughter never really had any good ones. The girls get wrapped up in church activities at a very young age.

While the city is generally safe, there are definitely areas to watch out for. Salt Lake has at least 30 active gangs (I think more like 70 but I can't remember). A lot of people have moved into the area for the family values and brought the trouble with them.

While I didn't really like living there and my husband hated it, it does have its advantages. Utah probably has the most diverse landscape-mountains, deserts, canyons, and slickrock. It is a beautiful state. The public transportation system is pretty good and getting better. The roads are improving. The economy is moving pretty well. Housing costs are higher than Texas but lower than many areas of the country. I hope this helps.

Keelie

Thanks for the reply. It does look nice, but I have heard similar stories of other non-mormons having a hard time feeling like they fit in around there.

[Wyody]

I also moved to Utah (via CA from OH/MI/FL) and found things a "little strange" and spent most of my many years there trying to get out. I'd get into WY for a while or into MT, only to return to SLC as it's the only area between Denver & Reno to go when times get tough elsewhere.
You can live with Mormons. It's not very hard at all. Many are nice folks. You really can't relate to their idiosyncracies until you're among them.
The "gang" thing in SLC used to be a joke - all "wannabes" - now, it's dangerous. Best just to avoid their areas after dark - and there have always been a couple of areas to avoid in the daytime, too! For the most part though, there are plenty of areas where the gangs aren't. Stay on the east side of the valley. Sugarhouse is nice - 'specially if you're on the younger side (say, under 50?). South Salt Lake is still pretty safe and not as trendy or expensive (home-wise) as Sugarhouse. Now have been based out of SW Wyoming for several years with side-time spent in OH and ID and central WY. Out here though, it's either Salt Lake or Denver - even if you're up in Billings.

[RodFarlee]

Salt Lake metro area is increasingly diverse. One estimate puts the Mormon population of the entire state of Utah at 62%, with only 42% observant church members. The Salt Lake metro area is less than half that, I'm sure.

The church continues to exert a strong influence on civic affairs, but it is certainly not uncomfortable to be non-Morman in Salt Lake. In Brigham City, perhaps; in Provo, maybe; but not Salt Lake.

[Wyody]

[quote=RodFarlee;2577]Salt Lake metro area is increasingly diverse. One estimate puts the Mormon population of the entire state of Utah at 62%, with only 42% observant church members. The Salt Lake metro area is less than half that, I'm sure. "

Rod, it was just a few years ago (5?) when I heard that the SLC Mormon/non-Mormon percentages had reached 50/50.
And just like any denomination, there are the avid, the near-avid, etc. They call those that rarely go to church or get involved "Jack-Mormons" and I have tagged a few as "chuck-Mormons", i.e., those who have just tossed it out of their lives entirely. I have also known a few folks (writers, mostly) who were excommunicated - mostly for publishing works speaking against the general authority of the church ... (had to make sure which site I was posting on) ... remind you of another group we mention often here?

[RodFarlee]

Originally Posted by Wyody

Rod, it was just a few years ago (5?) when I heard that the SLC Mormon/non-Mormon percentages had reached 50/50.

Alas, the U.S. Census cannot collect official data, so we're left with only anecdotal information.

A history says "By 1890 half of the city's 45,000 residents were non-Mormons..."

Still, in 2000 the Church claimed 59% of the Salt Lake-Ogden metro area population, according to the widely cited ARDA survey. (And as I'm sure you know, Ogden is higher, SLC lower.)

An article cites "Brigham Young University demographer Tim Heaton noted in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism that attendance at weekly sacrament meetings in the early 1990s was between 40 percent and 50 percent" of church members.

So, choose your number, but 59% * 40% = 24%.

[kimbercuddles]

We visited the Mormon Tabernacle Concert Hall and the acoustics were incredible! We were actually able to hear them practice and perfection is their trademark, definitely. Utah is a beautiful state...I loved it. The great Salt Lake was fascinating, also, although I felt as though I had been pickled after we took a quick dip in it.

I didn't know much about the Mormon faith until we actually sat down and talked with a pastor. The one thing that has always impressed me is their family-oriented views and focus on parent/child relationships. Unfortunately, there are some warped people involved like Warren Jeffs.

[Wyody]

Originally Posted by kimbercuddles

- Unfortunately, there are some warped people involved like Warren Jeffs.

I'm glad you enjoyed Salt Lake City, uddles.
When I first moved there, I was impressed with how wide the streets were (like Dallas) and how clean (wind sweeps it clean).
They've removed a couple of the old neighborhoods of the downtown area and now it's beginning to look a bit like anyplace else. Still, it's the only town with the glory section of the Wasatch Front (western front-range of the Rockies) and not much in America can beat that view ... from anywhere in the Salt Lake Valley (unless you're [i]on[i] the Wasatch Front.
There are more like Warren Jeffs. It's a low-percentage problem that just hasn't been fully dealt with over the past 160 years. Modern-times ain't happening everywhere in the country.

[kimbercuddles]

Originally Posted by Wyody

[font="Comic Sans MS"]I'm glad you enjoyed Salt Lake City, uddles.
When I first moved there, I was impressed with how wide the streets were (like Dallas) and how clean (wind sweeps it clean).
They've removed a couple of the old neighborhoods of the downtown area and now it's beginning to look a bit like anyplace else. Still, it's the only town with the glory section of the Wasatch Front (western front-range of the Rockies) and not much in America can beat that view ... from anywhere in the Salt Lake Valley (unless you're [i]on[i] the Wasatch Front.
There are more like Warren Jeffs. It's a low-percentage problem that just hasn't been fully dealt with over the past 160 years. Modern-times ain't happening everywhere in the country.

It's been a long time since I've been to SLC, but the vivid beauty remains in my memory like a postcard.