Moving From California To Utah | What To Expect When Moving To Utah

What's up, you guys? This is Cody Steck, your Utah Realtor back with another article. Today we're going to be discussing a topic and a couple of questions that I get very often. I've had a lot of people reaching out to me, thinking about relocating here to Utah. And I've noticed that most of these people are coming from California.

Now, I think there are a couple of things to take note of on this topic, and that's that California is still relatively close to Utah. We've got a high standard of living, and the cost of living here is really good. So comparing it to California, it's a really good spot for those people to move. And you may be in that same exact situation. You might be in California or even one of the surrounding areas, maybe Oregon, Washington, or anywhere else around the country, and thinking about making a move here to Salt Lake City.

So we're going to be discussing a lot of the good things that you need to know when moving here to Utah. And we're going to discuss a couple of those negative things that you should be aware of when coming here. So before we jump into that, I just got to say, if you're thinking about making a move here to Salt Lake City or any of the surrounding cities, make sure to get in touch with me. I absolutely love it when you guys reach out.

So my information will be listed down at the end of this article, call me, text me, shoot me an email, just get a hold of me in any way that you need to so we can chat about the type of home and the type of lifestyle that you would like when you make your move here. So without further Ado, let's jump in. Like I mentioned, when it comes to moving to Utah, especially from California, there are a few things you need to know and expect when making that move.

The Pros.

First off, let's talk about some of the good stuff.

High Employment rate.

Like I mentioned, we've got a very high standard of living. We've got high incomes, and we've got very low unemployment. The unemployment rate right now in Utah is absolutely phenomenal. We're below the national average, and we're exceeding that number month after month here in the state of Utah. There's a lot of growth going on. There's a lot of building.

There are a lot of new tech jobs coming into the industry. There are healthcare jobs coming. There are a lot of new jobs coming here to the state. And it's causing unemployment to drop significantly. So we've kept that number low, and it's really about as low as it can get without going any lower.

So it's looking really good. And there's a lot of places hiring because of that. Employers are having to pay more because it's harder to find qualified workers to come and work those positions. So this is driving incomes up, especially for those higher tier positions within the company. A lot of times that means that employers will bring in employees from out of the state, give them a very high income and give them that high standard of living.

Home Prices.

The next thing I want to talk about is home prices. Of course, everybody knows that California has insane home prices. The median home price in California is about $600,000 (USD). Now, I know that's going to vary based on where you're at, whether in Los Angeles or San Francisco or even in a small town out in the country. You're going to find prices that will vary.

But overall, you're looking at a medium price of $600,000. Here in Utah, we're sitting at about half of that. Now, again, you can find cheaper properties if you get way outside of town. But if you're living in one of the urban areas, you can expect to spend between $300,000 to $400,000 for a medium-priced home.

Low Crime Rates.

The other thing that I should mention is the high safety that we've got here in Utah, especially when it comes to violent crimes.

The violent crime rate here in Utah is lower. It's lower than the national average. And when you look at it from a grand scale, it's actually pretty damn good. Now, unfortunately, we do have a little bit higher property crime than other States, but I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather get my car broken into than get beat up or lose my life.

Outdoor Activities.

The next thing on our list is that there's a ton of stuff to do outdoors.

I know that when I've been to California, I've been to San Francisco, I've been to Los Angeles, I've been to Monterey, I've been to a ton of different cities in California, and unfortunately, there's just not the same access to those outdoor activities there as you get here in Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas. So having access to all of those outdoor activities within just a 30 to 60 minutes drive is really meaningful for me. That makes a big difference. Being able to wake up on a weekend and just decide, “Hey, I want to go do this weekend” and have it be possible. So being able to take advantage of those opportunities is awesome, especially if you really like the outdoors.

The Traffic.

The other thing that I should mention is that our traffic is way better than in California. Coming from California, you're going to think that our traffic here is awesome. We still get that rush hour traffic. You'll still see the freeway slow down or even come to a standstill when there's a problem or right at 05:00 P.m. But overall, the traffic is pretty good driving through city streets.

It's not very often that the roads will get shut down. There's always construction going on. People are always going to complain about that, but that's just the way it is. In fact, they're actually just finishing up a project here in the next couple of months on the i-15 southbound, which is our main freeway right through the heart of Salt Lake County. They're adding another Lane to that, almost the entire length of it from close to downtown all the way to the point of the mountain on the south end of the county.

And that's really going to help that traffic flow for that 05:00 p.m rush hour when people are heading back out to the suburbs to go home after work. In the next couple of years, they're going to be adding another Lane and a collector on the i-15 northbound freeway to really help the traffic going into downtown and going north during the rush hour traffic in the morning. This is really going to help the traffic going into the i-215 belt route as well as help get people north in the county in a quicker amount of time. All right.

The Cons.

Now let's talk about some of the bad things that you're going to want to know when moving from California here to Utah.

Different Weather or Climate.

Unfortunately, you're going to give up that temperate climate. I know that California is one of the best things about being there, and one of my favorite things personally is just how nice the weather is. It's awesome, especially if you're near the coast, to be able to just wake up and know that it's going to be somewhere in that 60 to 80 deg range pretty much every day.

I really like that. I think that's really cool. And who knows, maybe that gets old after you live there for a few years. You've lived there for 20 years. That could get old.

I don't know. But you are going to give that up. When you come here to Salt Lake City or even just to Utah, for that matter, you're going to have different seasons. You're going to have hot, dry summers, and you're going to have the cold winters. You're going to get a lot of snow, and you're going to get a little bit of that spring and fall weather in between.

So I would just say be prepared to give up that moderate climate and get ready for the four seasons.

Pro Sports Team.

The other thing about living in California is you've got access to multiple pro sports teams. Unfortunately, here in Utah, the only professional sports teams that we've got are the Utah Jazz and Real Salt Lake. So those are the only two pro sports teams. We do have a number of amateur and semi-pro leagues for other things like football and hockey, as well as baseball.

But we just don't get the same exposure that you get living in California or any of the other major cities that have all those professional sports teams.

Major Concerts or Events.

In addition to that, it seems like we can kind of get the short end of the stick when it comes to different things like conferences or big events. This could be anything from concerts to special events and different hobbies that you may have a lot of times unless they're related to the outdoors. It seems like they never come here. Over the years, there's been a lot of really cool stuff that's come to the United States or even just to other major cities around the United States, and unfortunately, they never seem to land in Utah.

So I've been kind of bummed out about that. It's not like you're going to miss out on everything. You can still go to see great singers, great concerts, a lot of the big bands still come here. There still is a lot of that stuff, but you're not going to get as much of that in salt Lake city as compared to, let's say, Los Angeles.

Far From Other Major Cities.

When you're living in California, especially in the Southern end or in the Northern end, you know, the Bay area, you can get to other major cities within just a couple of hours' drive. If you're in San Francisco, you can get to San Jose in about an hour. If you're in Los Angeles, you can get to San Diego in like an hour and a half. So that's really nice to have that flexibility there. When you're in Salt lake city, you're pretty far from the next major city.

The next closest city on the list would be Boise and that's about four and a half hours away and it's Boise, unless you've got family or specific reason to go there, it's not really a place that you're just going to want to go visit for a weekend just because just be prepared that you're going to be a little bit out of the way. When you're in Salt lake city, it is a longer drive or even a flight to get to one of those other major cities for a weekend getaway or just for a week's vacation.

So that wraps up our list, guys. If you're thinking about making that move from California to Salt Lake City, make sure to get in touch with me. I love it when you guys reach out.

My information is here down below. Call me, text me, shoot me an email. Just get a hold of me anyway that you need to so we can chat about your upcoming move. If you like this article, share it with your friends and family members who are interested and might get interested in moving here to Utah my team and I cater the whole state from northern to southern Utah. With that being said, I'll see you in the next one.

Cody Steck, Realtor

Real Broker, LLC

801- 244- 2297

Cody@fastutahhomes.com