Where to Live in Salt Lake City, Utah (& Surrounding Areas)

Okay, where to live in the Salt Lake City area or the surrounding areas? When people make the move to Utah, they're not just looking to make the move to Salt Lake City or any of the other cities, whether it be St. George or Provo or Ogden or Park City, they're actually making the move to Utah. In fact, people identify more with the state of Utah than they do any particular city more often than not. And that's precisely why I've labeled this channel Living in Utah, because when people say they're moving here, they typically say we're moving to Utah. And this is precisely why I enjoy diving into this type of content to make sure that I can answer your specific questions, where you might find value and find answers to your specific questions as to where you might live here in Utah when you make the move. Okay. And in today's video, I'm going to focus on the three major metropolitan areas along the Wasatch Front in Northern Utah. And yes, I completely understand that we have another metro area up north in Cache Valley in the Logan area, as well as a booming metropolitan area down in the Southwestern corner of the state of Utah in St. George. And those of course will be future videos. But in this video, I'm going to highlight the three major metropolitan areas along the Wasatch Front, namely the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, the Provo metropolitan area, and the Ogden metropolitan area. Now, regardless of where you live along the Wasatch Front, you're more than likely within about 45 minutes from downtown Salt Lake City, as Salt Lake City sits pretty much at the center of these three major metropolitan areas. Now, of course, if you live in the further most area of the Ogden metro area up north or the Southern most area down in Utah County, it could be a little bit further than 45 minutes, but ultimately within an hour and a half, maybe two hours maximum, you're driving all throughout the majority of the population area that makes up the vast majority of Utah's population. Now, Utah has been the fastest growing state since 2010. And with over three and a half million people now living and making Utah their home, over two and a half million of those people make the Wasatch Front their home. So it's these three major metropolitan areas that make up the vast majority of the population here in the state of Utah. And I have the unique perspective where people reach out to me every single day that are making the move here to Utah. And we are growing immensely in terms of the number of people that we're able to serve as a real estate team here along the Wasatch Front. So why do people reach out to me? They need guidance as to where are the best places for them to live. And this is a specific question that pretty much every single person that's making that move has at near or at the top of their list. And the answer is not so simple. The answer will definitely be more specific to your specific situation. And this impacts your lifestyle, your way of life, your interests, your hobbies, your work, your commute, your school and education. There are so many factors that come into play that are going to dictate where the best place for you to land might be. So in this video, I'm going to talk about the fastest growing areas, but I'm also going to talk about the most established areas because I typically have people reaching out to me and there's usually not a whole lot of crossover. It's usually one or the other and there are pros and cons to each. So I'm going to talk about the most established areas and where people are looking to make that move as well as the new construction areas, the development areas, the areas that are really booming as well. Okay. To begin, I want to touch on the topography of Utah just really quick. Utah is a very unique state in that it's incredibly large in size. However, the vast majority of this state is not a place where we can actually call and make a home. So we have the Western third of the state, essentially that's made up by the West desert and the Bonneville salt flats and everything that you see on that map. When you pull up a map of Utah and you see the Western side of the state completely white, well, that's the salt flats and you can't really make that home. So we already lose a great deal of land on the Western side of the state due to that West desert, but we also lose the bottom quarter of the state because most of that land is national parks, it's state parks, it's national recreation areas, and it's protected lands as it should be Southern Utah is one of the nation's greatest gems in terms of scenic beauty and outdoors. It is just an amazing place to visit. So when you take those two areas of the state and you look at the topography of the remaining areas of the state, you're left with the Wasatch mountains that run vertically through the state of Utah, as well as the Uinta mountains that run East West up in the North Eastern corner of the state. So we have a lot of mountains here and it's those mountain valleys. Those are the places that we can live. And so we don't have as much land as other states, including neighboring states like Idaho and Wyoming and Colorado. When you look at the maps in those states, you see a lot more open land in Utah. It's pretty confined. And this is precisely why Utah's growth and development is centered in these pockets, in these valleys along the Wasatch front. All right, next let's talk about the fastest growing areas along the Wasatch front. If we first look in Salt Lake County and we go to the Southwest quadrant or the Southwest corner of the Salt Lake Valley to the Southwest of downtown Salt Lake city, you'll notice cities like Harriman and South Jordan that are growing immensely, including West Jordan, just North of that. So between West Jordan, South Jordan and Harriman and Daybreak falls into that South Jordan area as well, those are the fastest growing areas in all of Salt Lake County. So if you're looking for new construction, it's likely going to be the case that that is the area and the region where you might be looking. There's also other development happening along the Western edge of Salt Lake County, leading up North from West Jordan into West Valley, as well as Magna. So we do have the vast majority of the growth in Salt Lake County happening along the Western edge of the Salt Lake Valley. But if we move directly to the North, up into Davis and Weber counties, we'll notice the towns and the cities of Syracuse, West Point, West Haven. These are the fastest growing areas in the Ogden metropolitan area, and they're growing so quickly that they're adding new freeways, including the West Davis Corridor that is serving that Western side of Davis County and leading up into Weber County to provide transportation and infrastructure for the vast amount of growth that's happening and taking place up there. But the fastest growing area along the entire Wasatch Front is the Provo metropolitan area in Utah County. Now, Utah County sits directly south of Salt Lake County. And if we look at that northern region in Utah County that borders up against Salt Lake County, and those are the cities of American Fork and Lehigh and Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain. Those are the areas that are the fastest growing in Utah County right now. But in coming years, we're going to see more growth happening in Vineyard along the eastern edge of the Utah Lake right there up against Provo. But if we go south of Provo into the southern region of Utah County, we're going to see an immense amount of growth down there in the coming years. And I do suspect that as Lehigh and Saratoga Springs fill up, it's those areas in southern Utah that will continue to grow and thrive. So those are the fastest growing areas throughout the Wasatch Front. So if you're looking for new construction, new developments, new suburbs, maybe you're looking for those HOA developments with trails and park systems and all of the amenities that come with new construction. Those are probably and likely the most important areas to consider. Now, depending on which one you find most appealing to you is going to be dictated by your lifestyle. What are your interests? What is your job situation like? What is your commute going to look like? And of course, how important is it to have access to downtown Salt Lake City as well as the Salt Lake City International Airport? All of these things are things that we're going to consider when directing you to investigate or look into a certain region, because each one of these areas that's growing quickly has its own set of pros and cons. And if we haven't met yet, my name is Scott Steele and I'm a local real estate agent and broker, and I love helping people discover all things Utah, including Utah real estate. I love sharing these videos to make sure that I'm answering your specific questions when making the move to or within the state of Utah. But lately, I've been helping a lot of people that are looking for those more established areas. In fact, this past week, I spent numerous days with several clients that are visiting in town right now, looking and shopping for a neighborhood and a home to call their new home. And it's so exciting to see people make the move to Utah and to be able to feel the spirit of Utah when they visit these different local points of interest and just taking in the natural beauty of the surroundings and being able to appreciate that. It's something I truly enjoy in making sure that my clients get to feel the different areas and make sure they're finding exactly the right place for them. So it's these more established areas that I really focused on a lot this past week. And I wanted to share some of that in this video because some of these more established areas are incredibly popular and a lot of people are looking specifically to make these areas home. So if we start in and around Salt Lake City, I want to highlight a few neighborhoods within the Salt Lake Valley, first and foremost. So within Salt Lake City itself, there are certain neighborhoods that are truly inspiring that people are really looking to when they're looking for a new home in a more established area. And so we're going to start with neighborhoods like Yellcrest. It's a little more expensive there, actually substantially more expensive there. But then we have neighborhoods just directly to the south of that in Sugarhouse, to the east over in the East Bench neighborhood, as well as just in the northeast up in Federal Heights. These are some of the top neighborhoods in Salt Lake City. And despite the fact that many of these neighborhoods can be quite expensive because you do pay to be close to the city and have those beautiful big tree lined streets, you can have access to the city in neighborhoods that are a little less expensive. For example, Liberty Wells is directly south of downtown Salt Lake City and provides some of those same benefits without the high cost. So depending on where you want to be in the city, there's a lot of neighborhoods right there close to Salt Lake City. But if we move just a little further south, there are neighborhoods in Mill Creek and Canyon Rim, as well as a little further to the south. One of my favorite neighborhoods and honestly, one of the more expensive neighborhoods in Holiday. Holiday is one of those neighborhoods that's incredibly appealing. In fact, this past week, I had clients in town where Holiday was one of their two picks in terms of the areas they want to land in. And the other one was directly south of Holiday. And that's in Sandy in a neighborhood known as Pepperwood. Now, Pepperwood is a master plan community with hundreds and hundreds of beautiful homes, some of which were built 40 years ago, and some are brand new estate style homes. So Pepperwood and Holiday are two of the premier areas outside of downtown Salt Lake City that a lot of people are looking to make their home. But if we continue to look beyond Salt Lake County and go south into Utah County, there are so many neighborhoods not only in Highland and Alpine, but also in Cedar Hills and down south into Provo along the bench that a lot of people are making home. And when I say the word bench, what that means is as the valley comes and approaches up into those mountains, there's usually a slight elevation change and we call that the bench. So if you live along the bench of the Wasatch Mountains, you're typically elevated just a bit and you have really good views of the sunsets of the lakes. And of course the access to the mountains because they're right there in your backyard. So there are so many pros and cons to not only Salt Lake County and Provo and the Utah County area, but if we go up north, there's a lot of neighborhoods that very similar to this as well. I not only see incredibly desirable neighborhoods in Bountiful, Farmington, Kaysville and Fruit Heights, but if we go north, I've got clients that are specifically looking for that nice, beautiful forever home in Pleasant View in North Ogden and even up into the mountains near Mountain Green and Morgan. In fact, one of my clients has decided to make a home in Morgan, their new home, which is just outside of the Ogden metropolitan area. And it's a quick 25 to 30 minute drive to get them into their workplace. So there's a lot of benefits with living in Ogden or around the Ogden metropolitan area, including up in the mountains. And these are the more established areas that people are really looking for when they're not looking for those new construction developments. And the phrase that I hear over and over again is people are looking for neighborhoods that maybe don't feel so cookie cutter. They don't want those cookie cutter homes where every single home feels and looks the same. And if that's you, let me know because these neighborhoods are hot and I want to make sure that I'm giving proper guidance based on your unique situation. Okay. Next I want to talk about future growth and up and coming areas. So it's no surprise that Utah is continuing to grow. It grows at an incredibly fast rate. Despite the fact that we build more homes per 1000 residents in Utah than any other state, we're still not keeping up with the demand. And I'm hoping that as we look to the future and we see that growth, we can manage it well because I know exactly where that growth is going to take place. Each and every year at the University of Utah, they release a forecast for that year, including a population forecast and what's to come in the coming years. And this is every single year that takes place in January. And I really look forward to this each and every year. So it's coming up fairly quick and I'm excited to see what they're going to say in terms of how we are managing the growth, but also where that growth is taking place. But as I look to the population forecasts, there's one or two areas that stick out to me as being the areas that are going to explode the most. Number one is in Utah County directly West of Saratoga Springs and that's Eagle Mountain. Now Eagle Mountain is already growing, but as you look to the South of Eagle Mountain on the Southern end, there's an entire valley of land that is ready to fill up with homes, subdivisions, businesses, all sorts of things. So I see Eagle Mountain being one of those areas that is going to continue to grow and grow considerably in the coming years. So in Utah County, I view Eagle Mountain as one of those long-term growth areas. That's going to explode not only now in the next few years, but for many, many years to come. In the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, the place that I see growing the most simply because the Salt Lake Valley has almost filled up is an area directly West of downtown Salt Lake City. And that is in Tooele County. Now Tooele is one of those funny words. When you see it, it's spelled T-O-O-E-L-E. To pronounce that correctly, it's Tooele. There are a bunch of towns in that Tooele County area, including Tooele itself, as well as Erta, Stansbury Park, Lake Point, Grantsville. There's a lot of different areas here and they are primed for growth. They're already growing, but there's still a lot of room for growth in the coming years. And in the next 15 years or so, that area is going to fill up. And so as we see this growth continuing to move Westward, the reason why this area is growing so quickly and will continue to be one of those hotspots for growth in the coming years is because number one, it's got plenty of space, but number two, it has the absolute best access outside of the Salt Lake Valley to get into Salt Lake City. So if you work in Salt Lake City, if you need to get to the airport or perhaps you have other reasons to get into the Salt Lake City metropolitan area outside of the Salt Lake Valley, this is one of those areas that provides that value. And I find it interesting because as locals, we oftentimes used to say that if you lived, you know, 30 minutes away from downtown Salt Lake City, that was just way too far for us. And so it's all perspective because so many people that are moving here are coming from bigger cities, whether that be California. We've got tons of people moving here from California, my wife included. She came from Southern California in the Los Angeles area, but there are people moving here from cities like Houston and Dallas and places in Florida and New York City and New Jersey and Michigan. People are coming here from all over the country, including places like New York City, where they're exchanging something for something else entirely to have a new quality of life and new way of life because Utah provides something so incredibly unique that none of those other cities can provide. Okay. Next, I want to talk about the challenges that lie ahead for Utah and Utah's growth. Now that starts first and foremost with the scarce resource of water. Water is a topic of conversation a lot here in the state of Utah, including right here on my YouTube channel. And I've done a fair amount of research to find out exactly where we sit in terms of our water supply, as well as our water usage. Now the only reason that we can actually sustain life along the Wasatch front is those mountains themselves. We get our water from those beautiful Wasatch mountains and from the snow pack that fills those mountains every single year. And as that snow melts and runs off into our reservoirs, we capture and harness that resource and use that resource to live year round. And so we live here and we can sustain life here because of that snow. And yes, it's the greatest snow on earth to ski in and to take advantage of snowboarding or snowmobiling or any winter activity. But for us, it's a sacred resource because it provides us the means of life along the Wasatch front. I get a lot of people commenting on my YouTube channel that we just don't have enough water for future growth. The fact is that the population of people that live here use less than 4% of our water supply. So where does the other 96% of our water go? Well, the vast majority of that water is used for agricultural purposes. And the vast majority of that agricultural water usage is used to water a very thirsty crop called alfalfa, which is of course, hay that is used to feed livestock. Unfortunately, for every acre that we develop from farmland into a suburban area and neighborhood where more and more people are living, it actually saves us a lot of water because those neighborhoods use far, far, far less water than the farmland ever did before. So does that mean I'm an advocate for getting rid of our farmlands? No, of course not. But it does mean that we have future growth coming. And as we have that growth, we are obviously going to need more water. And if we doubled our population in the state of Utah, we would likely need about 8% of our overall water resources allocated for the population. So where are we going to save that other 4%? Where are we going to make up that difference? Part of that, a massive amount of that will be because a lot of that land will be converted from farmland over to something like a neighborhood or a subdivision, but we have to carefully manage this resource. And up until a couple of years ago, we were in dire straits in terms of a drought, not only here in Utah, but throughout the Western states. And we had a record breaking year just a couple of winters ago that completely changed the course of our water supply. It filled up all of our reservoirs within just one season. And it really got us back to that spot where we really needed to be. Then we followed it up last year with another very good water year in terms of the snowpack from last winter, we ended up with 139% of normal, which was another phenomenal year. And we entered this new water year in a phenomenal position, a better position than we've been in in a decade. So hopefully as we manage this natural resource, we can funnel and channel more and more of that water into the great Salt Lake to let that Lake recover as it is recovering over these last couple of years. It still has a long ways to go. The other place in Utah that really needs to recover in terms of its water levels is Lake Powell down in the Southern area of the state, which is of course fueled by not only the Colorado river, but the green river as they feed into that Lake. And from that Lake, they go through the grand Canyon into Lake Mead, which of course provides water for the entire Southwest. And so we want to see these two lakes in the state of Utah be restored, but all of the other reservoirs that we really live on in terms of the population are doing incredibly well. And now as we grow in population, we do have the water to manage that growth. As long as we do so wisely, as long as we make sure that we're being efficient with our usage moving forward in other areas and not just residential use, but we have other challenges as well. Some people are really truly against the more densely populated developments that are happening in places like the point in Draper, as well as Utah city down in vineyard in Utah County. Many people are not for these more densely populated neighborhoods or cities. And that's okay. I completely understand that and it's only natural that we're going to build up and closer together in some of these areas, but it does provide challenges for those people, especially those that have made Utah their home their entire lives. So beyond traffic and growth and densely populated areas, as well as water, what are some of the challenges that you see as Utah continues to grow? Drop a comment below. Let me know your thoughts, but also if you yourself are considering making the move to Utah, my team and I would love to be your real estate resource of choice. So hit us up. You can find our contact information down in the description below, or you can book a call with me and make sure that we can connect and get off on the right foot and get you started in making that smooth move to Utah. So if you want to learn more about life in Utah, check out this playlist next and until the next video. Thanks.