If you’re thinking of moving to Utah, here 10 Things To Know About Moving To Utah! You might be wondering what the pros and cons are of moving to Utah, what to know before moving to Utah, things to do in Utah and more.
If you’ve read about me, you know that I moved to Utah (Salt Lake area) from California in 2002 when I was in my 20’s. I also briefly lived in Colorado as an adult. Utah has definitely changed since I moved here 18 years ago but here is my list of things to know.
One thing I didn’t mention in this video is “everything is closed on Sunday’s”. It was really that way back when I moved here but now not so much. There are still things closed on Sunday’s – all car dealerships are closed, a few restaurants, City Creek Shopping Center, and some things here and there; but for the most part malls, restaurants, stores, movie theaters, and gyms are open.
Check out my video about moving to Utah.
Video Transcript:
10 things to know about moving to Utah, or if you’re even thinking about moving to Utah and trying to get more information. Now, I’ve lived in Utah since 2002 and I moved here after being raised in San Diego, California, and I also briefly lived in Colorado. So this is my list from someone that is not from the state of Utah and I was not raised here. Now, I know most people are wondering about the alcohol laws in Utah and I will get to that in a bit but the first thing on my list is Utah is full of outdoors people. And why not? It is absolutely beautiful here. Seriously, I do more outdoors stuff in Utah than I ever did in California or even Colorado. There’s hiking, biking, skiing, dirt biking, fishing. We have the most national parks of any state, and on and on and on. People are always asking me, “How did you leave San Diego for Utah?” And my response has always been that I actually do more now in Utah than I ever did in California, aside from the ocean of course.
Number two, some people pronounce things weird in Utah. And I mean still after 18 years of living here, it still confuses me. So if you come to Utah and somebody asks you if you want to go down by the crick, what they’re actually saying is, “Do you want to go down by the creek?” And if you’re driving down Interstate 15 in southern Utah, you might come across a sign for a city that says Hurricane. But in Utah, it’s actually pronounced hur-a-can. Now, this next one you really have to listen for, but you may notice that people in Utah don’t say oh my God. You hear it everywhere else you go but Utah, you really don’t hear it. You’ll hear oh my gosh, oh my goodness. And again, if you really listen to it, you might hear oh my gulll, galll? Like a seagull? Like a gallbladder? I don’t know, it’s really weird.
Number three, everything is on a grid system in Utah for the streets and it does take a minute to get used to but once you do, it’s absolutely amazing. It’s not like when you go to other cities and you can’t figure out, well, where does Main Street come in relation to Center Street? If you’re in Salt Lake County and I tell you that I’m gonna meet you at the Starbucks on 123rd and 1300 East, you know exactly where I’m talking about. And you’ll also know that you’re going to be in the south end of Salt Lake County and you’re going to be east towards the mountains and away from the 15 freeway.
And that brings me to number four, which is you can easily tell where you’re at based off of the mountains in Utah and it’s way easier than doing the sun. So we have mountains both east and west in Salt Lake County and they’re huge so you can’t really miss it. So it’s always easy to tell what direction you’re going to.
Number five, Salt Lake International Airport is a hub, or a connection city, for Delta Airlines, and our airport is currently under construction and expanding even more. At the time of this video being recorded, Salt Lake City is one of Delta’s eight connection cities in the United States. And when I searched their website for non-stop flights from Salt Lake City, there’s actually 69 non-stop destinations, including London, Paris, Mexico. So you really can get to many, many places from Salt Lake City.
Number six, Utah is considered high desert. So we have dry heat here, not humid, and that’s one of the reasons Utah is known to have the greatest snow on earth. The dry heat here is going to be similar to Vegas, it’s just not nearly as hot as Vegas. So let me put it in perspective. If I go back to San Diego, that is humid to me. If I go to the Midwest, or even back east in the summertime, I feel like I’m drowning from inhaling so much moisture in the air compared to Utah.
Number seven, the economy is really good in Utah. In December of 2019, the “Salt Lake Tribune” published an article that stated in November of 2019, our unemployment rate in Utah was 2.4% and Utah ranked number one in the nation for the rate it was adding jobs in the previous 12 months before that. We have Silicon Slopes being developed all along the Wasatch Front with companies like Adobe, Tesla, Amazon Distribution Center. Actually, there’s gonna be a second one built in the Salt Lake area in the near future for Amazon.
Number eight, let’s talk winter inversion. It’s not a fun topic but something you need to prepare for moving to Utah. Now, the Wasatch Front, it’s like a bowl and you have the city right here in the center at the bottom and we’re surrounded by mountains on the east and west. So when it gets cold, all the pollution particles get trapped with nowhere they can go and that is when you’re gonna wish for a storm, a windy day, or a warmer temperature to let that particles get out of the air. It reminds me of June Gloom in Southern California but dirtier. Now, we don’t have it all of the time but sometimes it can last a couple of weeks.
Number nine, we have two professional teams. We have the Utah Jazz and the Real Salt Lake. But you’ll find that people really get into supporting high school and college sport teams here. In fact, I’ve actually done more tailgating at high school events and college events than I ever did when I lived in San Diego with the Chargers being there. And there’s one day a year when all eyes are going to be on the Holy War, which is when BYU and the University of Utah play each other in football. And I’m talking flags on cars, you wear red or blue to represent who you’re cheering for. It gets crazy. It’s very similar to what you would experience with the Superbowl.
And finally, number 10, the one you’ve probably been waiting for, liquor laws. Utah does have some of the strict liquor laws but they’ve gotten better too and you get used to it. Now, of course, always read up on the laws because I’m not an attorney, I don’t work in the field to know all the ins and outs of alcohol laws or law enforcement, but I’ll share with you the things that have been the most impactful living here. If you want to buy alcohol besides beer and malt beverages, you’re going to need to buy that at the state-run liquor store. Wine, tequila, whiskey, champagne, all of those cannot be purchased anywhere but the state-run liquor store. So there’s no run in real quick to the grocery store for those things. And you better plan ahead because the liquor store is not open on holidays or on Sundays. And seriously, they have people directing traffic in the parking lot on New Years Eve. If you want to go out and have yourself a mixed drink with dinner, like a margarita or something, they meter how much alcohol they’re going to mix into your drink and that has actually been increased to one and a half ounces per drink as of the time of filming this video. There are no free pours in Utah. If you want an extra shot to add into your mixed drink, not happening in Utah. You can have a shot before they set your mixed drink down or after they take it away but you can’t have it on the table at the same time and add it to your mixed drink. It’s a little different. And finally, the DUI limit in Utah has changed to .05%. So there you have it. Those are my 10 things to know about moving to Utah. If you have any real estate related questions, feel free to reach out to me any time. I’m here to help. This is Melissa with Utah Homes By Melissa. Make it a great home buying and selling day.