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There is a small but growing chance that I may be moving to Salt Lake City soon, however, despite having relatives there I know relatively little about the place.

My sister and her husband live in West Valley, and if I move, I'd probably start by living with them at least initially.

All input appreciated.

ASAP, leave West Valley and move either downtown or to sugar house.

West Valley is garbage.

Not sure if oyu are moving for work, or as a student or what, but you should be able to find a decent place in the downtown/sugar house area for a reasonable price, usually in the $500-$800 range.

If you are looking for jobs, there are plenty. Serving jobs are easy to come by, and can obviously pay well, but if you want something a little more stimulating it shouldn't be too hard to find.

Good luck. Ask all the questions you want.

sugarhouse/east bench are the nice places to live. downtown/aves are better if you are younger / if you are more into the bar scene.

Don't live anywhere else if you can afford not to.

never go further west than Taylorsville, go east my friend

West Valley is probably one of the worse areas in SLC but it has some good spots. Sugarhouse is a great place to live (had a buddy live there for awhile). If you're looking for someplace outside of the city that's calm and pleasant I would recommend Bountiful. It's only 10 mins outside of downtown and is a great place to live.

Rates for apartments in SLC run from around $500 and up, Bountiful is probably more like $650 and up unless you go to one of the few junkers around.

Buy a car with 4 wheel drive.

If you end up moving out here and can't find anything to do just let me know and I'll hook you up with some good places to go and have some fun. SLC gets a really bad rap for being boring but there really is a lot more to do here than people realize.

West Valley isn't that bad, especially if you are Mexican or Vietnamese. If you look at the Salt Lake Valley on Google maps you can divide the valley into 4 parts based on the freeways. Everything East of I-15 and north of I-215 is younger and more progressive. Based on your need to live with someone else first I am guessing you aren't a homeowner now, so Sugarhouse area is perfect. Lots of inexpensive apartments, lots of variety in restaurants and grocery stores. I live in Sugarhouse and live within walking distance of 7 bars. This is the only spot in the state besides Downtown and Main St. Park City where this can be done.

Where is your job going to be? Commuting in the Valley isn't much trouble.

Commuting into SLC is easy thanks to good freeways and lots of mass transit options. Since you didn't give your age, I have no idea as to where you are in life, but there are some really great suburbs to the north and east of Salt Lake, with some of the best public schools in the country. I live about 30 miles North of Salt Lake, and its never a problem to get into downtown for Jazz games or shopping or just a nice night out.

I know a good federal halfway house...

yeah to echo what others have said, the further east you live generally the better area to live (we're talking about state street and east so go to google maps and check that out). It depends though what area of west valley you're going to because there is good and bad in that area.

Not all west valley is bad but that's the general rule (and i say that with a LOT of respect to people who live on the west side.. ) but hey least they have trax and better public transportation on their side *shrugs* that's one positive...so you'll have easy access to jazz games via public transportation at least..

Anyway good luck on the move, Salt Lake in general is very safe so don't stress about west valley but yeah it's not the best area in the valley.

West Valley isn't as bad as people say. It's mostly boring suburbs.

Sugarhouse is great, as are the areas behind the capitol and the avenues. Bountiful is terrible, don't go there. West Valley is also sort of horrible in its own rights. I'm also partial to Cottonwood Heights and Sandy but most aren't.

The best part of the suburbs is Murray/Holladay, hands down.

Vernal, Payson, Brigham City, Mexican Hat, Bluebell are all examples of places where you want to be. Sugarhouse is trash, don't listen to these people. If all else fails, Malad, Idaho is just a stones-throw away...enough meth up there for the whole town.

Just be sho ta pack plenty of overalls, therms, hot choclat an fone cables, becuz them un-wired intrantent company sattlites done haven't pointed theyr radars down yonder yet.

How much cattle u bringing with ya?

west valley and west salt lake has good restaurants.

but almost every night, that area of town is on the news for something bad that happened earlier in the day.

babyjax13 wrote:Sugarhouse is great, as are the areas behind the capitol and the avenues. Bountiful is terrible, don't go there. West Valley is also sort of horrible in its own rights. I'm also partial to Cottonwood Heights and Sandy but most aren't.

I'm kinda interested to hear why you think Bountiful is terrible.

UTJazzFan_Echo1 wrote:

babyjax13 wrote:Sugarhouse is great, as are the areas behind the capitol and the avenues. Bountiful is terrible, don't go there. West Valley is also sort of horrible in its own rights. I'm also partial to Cottonwood Heights and Sandy but most aren't.

I'm kinda interested to hear why you think Bountiful is terrible.

The commercial areas are dirty, the refineries are near buy, the lake-effect weather is terrible and the air quality is worse than down-town. Most people like it, I was unimpressed when I lived there.

Definitely look east side. If you are young and single I would specifically look Sugarhouse area. It's laid back and attitudes there aren't LDS conservative but more liberal and accommodating to a non-LDS person (assuming you are one). It has good local nightlife and somewhat close to downtown.

I don't like Bountiful, but I don't like South Jordan or Orem or Kaysville either.

I like:
Salt Lake
Murray
Holliday
Ogden
Park City

I could tolerate West Valley too, since I like mexican supermarkets and Pho restaurants but won't argue if someone claims it's a over traffic laden dump.

babyjax13 wrote:

UTJazzFan_Echo1 wrote:

babyjax13 wrote:Sugarhouse is great, as are the areas behind the capitol and the avenues. Bountiful is terrible, don't go there. West Valley is also sort of horrible in its own rights. I'm also partial to Cottonwood Heights and Sandy but most aren't.

I'm kinda interested to hear why you think Bountiful is terrible.

The commercial areas are dirty, the refineries are near buy, the lake-effect weather is terrible and the air quality is worse than down-town. Most people like it, I was unimpressed when I lived there.

Personally I feel as if it's one of the cleanest places around so I find that interesting you feel as if the commercial areas are dirty. In all fairness, the refineries are further away then you would think and it's not like the refineries aren't close to the downtown SLC area either.

I'll give it to you about the smog during inversions but no place has perfect weather in Utah.

I feel like it's an awesome area to live. Very little crime, tons of great places to eat, has it's own recreation center, has practically two golf courses (Bountiful and Eaglewood), has it's own movie theater, bowling, bike paths, nearby hiking grounds....it's got everything you would want and more plus it's still close to downtown if you wanna go chill down there.

But I guess not everyone is going to like as you've stated.

DelaneyRudd wrote:I don't like Bountiful, but I don't like South Jordan or Orem or Kaysville either.

I like:
Salt Lake
Murray
Holliday
Ogden
Park City

I could tolerate West Valley too, since I like mexican supermarkets and Pho restaurants but won't argue if someone claims it's a over traffic laden dump.

I love "little Vietnam" on 35th and Redwood. Great asian quisine there. I wouldn't recommend living there though.