Considering moving to Utah

[Strawberry]

Hi Everyone,
This isn't a physical exchange. We have been prayerfully considering moving to Utah. We are just tired of communist Oregon and ready for a big change. We are thinking Octoberish. Just have a few more things to get in order before we go. Job wise, we can live anywhere.

We have lots of friends and family there in the valley. We don't want to live there. We are looking for something a little more remote and off the beaten path. We'd like it to be somewhere that is not terribly prone to earthquakes and natural disasters, somewhere where it will be relatively safe to be should society collapse. Something like what Skousen suggests in his Strategic Relocation book, which we don't have

We've looked at Eagle Mountain, Price, Cedar City. I think St. George would be way too hot for us. We also are not fond of the cold. Where we live now is very beautiful and has a temperate climate.

Any thoughts or personal experience would be very much appreciated.

Strawberry

[marc]

I live in Brigham City and love it. If I die in an earthquake, then that's the way it is.

[Sheol27]

Southern Utah is really beautiful. Cedar City is actually really affordable.

[uglypitbull]

PM sent....

[embryopocket]

My parents live in West Jordan, but are moving to Mapleton soon. It's a really nice area.

[Sheol27]

My parents live in West Jordan, but are moving to Mapleton soon. It's a really nice area.

Shhhhh!!! Don't tell them about there. I'm trying to find a place there and I can't. =)) Anyways, nice area but it is fairly close to the fault line. Which is my only concern.

[Steve Clark]

I would move to Ceder in a heart beat, but I have no marketable skills there. My first thought when I read the title "Considering moving to Utah" was DON'T! I honestly want to leave, but my wife loves it here.

[Sheol27]

I would move to Ceder in a heart beat, but I have no marketable skills there. My first thought when I read the title "Considering moving to Utah" was DON'T! I honestly want to leave, but my wife loves it here.

If you are in the SLC area I don't know how you deal with all that traffic? There are gems in Utah, in other words nice places to live.

[Cowboy]

If I had a choice...Brigham City, Tremonton area.
Quiet and peaceful.
Safe

[Rose Garden]

Hi Everyone,
This isn't a physical exchange. We have been prayerfully considering moving to Utah. We are just tired of communist Oregon and ready for a big change. We are thinking Octoberish. Just have a few more things to get in order before we go. Job wise, we can live anywhere.

We have lots of friends and family there in the valley. We don't want to live there. We are looking for something a little more remote and off the beaten path. We'd like it to be somewhere that is not terribly prone to earthquakes and natural disasters, somewhere where it will be relatively safe to be should society collapse. Something like what Skousen suggests in his Strategic Relocation book, which we don't have

We've looked at Eagle Mountain, Price, Cedar City. I think St. George would be way too hot for us. We also are not fond of the cold. Where we live now is very beautiful and has a temperate climate.

Any thoughts or personal experience would be very much appreciated.

Strawberry

So moving from communist Oregon to Nazi Utah, eh? If you insist . . .

Forget trying to find anything temperate here. In Ceder City it's cold in the winter, but only a few miles South in St. George, it's scorching hot. There's no in between as far as I know.

I really can't think of any place that would meet your criteria, except there are a lot of open spaces here. The one problem with being remote is that with the mountains and valleys, when you are remote, you are usually really remote. It's not too bad, though. Alaska is much worse. As long as you don't mind scaling a mountain every time you want to visit a big city, you should be fine.

I personally would recommend checking out the Manti area. That whole area is very beautiful, somewhat remote, but still only an hour or two away from Utah Valley. I would love to move down there but it was too far for my husband's work for him to go every day. He works in Salt Lake Valley.

[idahommie]

Utah is beautiful, you'll love it there. Stay away from Idaho, it sucks there. REAL COLD, lots of earthquakes. Utah, God's country it is! South of Salt lake is better. Tremonton? Ewwwww.... Beware though, there is Mormons in Utah.....or is that Utah Mormons.?.....?

All joking aside, and that is what I was doing, Utah s a pretty State.

[jdawg1012]

So moving from communist Oregon to Nazi Utah, eh? If you insist . . .

Forget trying to find anything temperate here. In Ceder City it's cold in the winter, but only a few miles South in St. George, it's scorching hot. There's no in between as far as I know.

I really can't think of any place that would meet your criteria, except there are a lot of open spaces here. The one problem with being remote is that with the mountains and valleys, when you are remote, you are usually really remote. It's not too bad, though. Alaska is much worse. As long as you don't mind scaling a mountain every time you want to visit a big city, you should be fine.

I personally would recommend checking out the Manti area. That whole area is very beautiful, somewhat remote, but still only an hour or two away from Utah Valley. I would love to move down there but it was too far for my husband's work for him to go every day. He works in Salt Lake Valley.

Amen and amen. There is no "happy medium" in Utah. The weather is lovely compared to say, Death Valley, or Antarctica, but nothing like back East. At least in Northern Utah, it's cold enough to be terrible in winter, and Hot enough to be terrible in summer. There are places in central Utah, that are somewhat more temperate than northern or southern Utah, but they're still dry, and still have huge temperature swings. As a friend recently noted, the Latter-day Saints settled Utah, because it's precisely where no one else wanted to be.

Just to give you an example, say Portland Oregon, there is only a 44 degree temperature swing through the year. So, in other words, The average high in Summer is 80 degrees (I checked weather.com, you can also compare cities, if you like), where the average low in winter is 36 degrees, at it's coldest. A 44 degree swing is not that bad (there's better, but that's not bad). Now, compare, say Salt Lake: The average high in summer is 90 degrees, where the average low is 27 degrees, that's a 63 degree swing. Or Logan (Northern Utah, in Cache Valley) Average High in summer is 89, average low is 13, or a 76 degree swing. In Saint George: the average High in summer is 102, the average low is 31, or a 71 degree swing. In Cedar City the average high is 90 degrees, the average low is 16 degrees, a 74 degree swing. So, nowhere in Utah is Temperate on the order of what you are used to. It's cold in winter and hot in the summer. The worst of both worlds. However, in the 5 or so weeks of fall and 5 or so weeks of spring it's a nice temperature. But remember you can literally be so hot that you need the AC on in the day, and so cold that you need a furnace at night. That means that there is a large swing throughout the day, between the high and the low. To compare again, Portland has a swing of: 23 degrees in the summer (daytime highs minus overnight lows), and 9 degrees in the winter. Salt Lake has: 21 degree swing in summer, 11 in winter. Logan has: 34 in the summer, 18 in the winter. Saint George has: 27 degrees in summer, 23 in winter. Cedar city has 34 degrees in summer, 25 in winter (terrible in both seasons).

So you see, it's not temperate AT ALL, when you look at it objectively. People get used to it though, but if you start out in a nice climate, you're likely to be miserable for years. I was (from Nevada), my wife was (from So. California), my brother (from Ohio), hated it here, weather wise. It's also very dry, all over the state, compared to where you are at. You can compare weather for cities, on weather.com, it's a great tool. The cost of living is also high compared to the low wages for much (maybe all?) of Utah. Wages in Northern, Rural Utah, are close to the same as Rural Ohio, for example, but houses cost between 2-3x as much. Also, if you like to garden, most of Oregon is in Zone 8. Some of Utah is zone 4. Some places cannot grow things like watermelon, without a greenhouse. It's a big shock if you're not used to it.

As Called to Serve mentioned, Utah is indeed fascist, there is literally a law for everything, including gathering rainwater (illegal, but now, legal up to a limit, with a permit). There's some leeway on some laws like gun control, but these are superseded by a multitude of laws on about every other subject, like grass height, etc., depending on locale. It's not the worst place to live, and everywhere has it's own bad and good, but I'd say it's best to stick with the metaphorical "devil you know." Some parts of the state are VERY cliquish, as was a common complaint from people that moved from Salt Lake to Las Vegas. They'd talk (and they all were in agreement), that if someone moved a block away, and into a new ward, that they'd never be seen or heard from again. It may not be a universal, but it was certainly talked about by a lot of people that it cannot be uncommon.

Furthermore, like someone mentioned to me on another thread (they also moved here from elsewhere), be prepared for some of the worst drivers also. I've seen worse drivers from Idaho, but the average Utah driver is about as good as the non-licensed illegals were in Vegas. And don't even expect a properly used blinker.

Take care.

[BroJones]

At this time, the small Albany Missouri branch is welcoming incoming saints. All types, really. Preppers, Constitutionalists, sure even Mitt supporters. Please come with willingness to serve. Missionary field, ripe for harvest. 25 miles from Adam-ondi-Ahman, and prepping for His return to that spot. And what a lovely green area it is! Land is rich and fertile, water abundant, houses are relatively inexpensive(!!)

Unlike the Wasatch front, Earthquake potential here is very small -- New Madrid is hundreds of miles away. Brigham City is -- how far from an active fault zone? Please don't sit on top of a EQ fault zone in the last days! (Just IMO)

Ok, your choice with your family.

[Rose Garden]

Well, gee, we're not doing a great job of selling you on Utah, are we? I forgot to mention to steer clear of Eagle Mountain, or be very careful if you want to buy there because the HOA's are murder there.

[Elizabeth]

Australia is best

[Still Learning]

Well, gee, we're not doing a great job of selling you on Utah, are we? I forgot to mention to steer clear of Eagle Mountain, or be very careful if you want to buy there because the HOA's are murder there.

I could start a whole topic on HOA's. Maybe someone has already. They are a joke. Talk about welcoming communism to a neighborhood near you! It seems like all the nee construction is hoa's. Nothing like giving your rights away to your neighbors. They can tell you where to park you car, where to out your trash can, how late friends can stay, what kind of dog you can own, the color of your patio furniture...the list goes on...and on...if your neighbors don't like iy and you say there isn't a rule against it, they can make one. It is utterly ridiculous! Oh, but at least they mow the lawn and the yards look nice. Commies!!!

[Sheol27]

Well, gee, we're not doing a great job of selling you on Utah, are we? I forgot to mention to steer clear of Eagle Mountain, or be very careful if you want to buy there because the HOA's are murder there.

I could start a whole topic on HOA's. Maybe someone has already. They are a joke. Talk about welcoming communism to a neighborhood near you! It seems like all the nee construction is hoa's. Nothing like giving your rights away to your neighbors. They can tell you where to park you car, where to out your trash can, how late friends can stay, what kind of dog you can own, the color of your patio furniture...the list goes on...and on...if your neighbors don't like iy and you say there isn't a rule against it, they can make one. It is utterly ridiculous! Oh, but at least they mow the lawn and the yards look nice. Commies!!!

Ok chill out please. You are getting me all worked up now.

[SmallFarm]

Have you considered Arizona? The mountainous areas aren't as hot as down in Phoenix. Very few earthquakes here, not too many natural disasters either. Prescott is pretty temperate.

[ebenezerarise]

Don't understand why people bash on Northern Utah. We have absolutely loved it here since leaving Babylon, er, Sandy. Both cold and heat in Utah are not like other areas of the world, due to lower humidity. People warned us about the air in Cache Valley in the winter...but we haven't found it worse than anywhere else. Superb people, beauty all around, easy costs, close enough to Idaho not to be Idaho...

[Rose Garden]

Have you considered Arizona? The mountainous areas aren't as hot as down in Phoenix. Very few earthquakes here, not too many natural disasters either. Prescott is pretty temperate.

That's a good suggestion. There's some really pretty areas in North Arizona.

[wingsfan9]

At this time, the small Albany Missouri branch is welcoming incoming saints. All types, really. Preppers, Constitutionalists, sure even Mitt supporters. Please come with willingness to serve. Missionary field, ripe for harvest. 25 miles from Adam-ondi-Ahman, and prepping for His return to that spot. And what a lovely green area it is! Land is rich and fertile, water abundant, houses are relatively inexpensive(!!)

Unlike the Wasatch front, Earthquake potential here is very small -- New Madrid is hundreds of miles away. Brigham City is -- how far from an active fault zone? Please don't sit on top of a EQ fault zone in the last days! (Just IMO)

Ok, your choice with your family.

Dr. Jones - are you seeing "like-minded" people moving to your area? Just wondering if you are in fact a lone man in your neck of the woods or if there are many others who went with your same or similar motivations?

[JohnnyL]

Great thread! I've lived in Utah before (Provo, WVC), and am thinking of going back, but to somewhere different, like warmer down south. I guess it's not as warm as I thought it was during winter...

[BroJones]

Spring City, UT - last November elected Jack Monnette ("Awakening to our awful situation" and "Lights, Out" books) as mayor! He now has a community-wide preparedness committee including Jim Phillips who lives in town - sessions open to the public...

Say it again... Community-wide preparedness.
And lots of like-minded folks...

(PS - yes, I would recommend Spring City over Albany, Missouri, another nice little rural community...)

[investigator]

Joel recommends Sanpete county. I have his book.

[BroJones]

I think Joel is right; Spring City is in Sanpete County, UT.