Utah is truly an outdoor lover's dream. With natural wonders – including five national parks – and small towns with outdoor activities galore, Utah offers ample opportunities to reconnect with nature. To help you decide where to go for your next getaway, U.S. News took into account factors like attractions, value and accessibility to determine the best places to visit in Utah.
Bryce National Park
Located in southwestern Utah, Bryce Canyon National Park occupies an otherworldly landscape composed of a dozen amphitheaters, or horseshoe-shaped canyons, on an eroded escarpment of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The whimsical formations of limestone rock, created by erosion and rain, are entrancing to visitors who love to explore the slot canyons, windows, fins and, most notably, the tall, skinny spires called hoodoos. In fact, Bryce Canyon National Park boasts more hoodoos than any other place in the world. With elevations reaching 9,115 feet, Bryce offers about 150 miles of visibility on a clear day. Plus, since it's exposed to very little light pollution, the park offers optimal conditions for stargazing. In fact, in 2019 the International Dark-Sky Association designated Bryce Canyon an International Dark Sky Park.
Arches National Park
Traveling to Arches National Park is like visiting another planet, one with thousands of natural sandstone arches, red rocks and landforms in amazing configurations, and light that seems to change every moment. The way the shadows play across the arches makes the park especially intriguing for photographers, who are drawn to capturing its enchanting vistas at dawn and dusk in particular. But Arches National Park is not just a shutterbug's paradise.
Sitting 5 miles northwest of Moab, Utah, the park boasts 26 miles of scenic road and hikes for every level of fitness. Hikers can choose from a wide variety of trails, from short 20-minute walks to Balanced Rock and the Double Arch, to more remote and challenging treks through the Fiery Furnace and up to Delicate Arch. When you need to come back down to Earth, simply look up: the Colorado Plateau is home to some of the darkest skies in the contiguous United States, yielding impressive views of the Milky Way.
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These Utah Cities Have The Most Affordable Living In The Country
What’s the most affordable place to live and work in the U.S. today?
With record inflation raising the cost of everything for many folks, some may be looking for a change in pace. Perhaps moving to a city where living costs are more manageable could be the right move for you and your family.
A new study by GoodHire analyzed data from 155 U.S. cities to find those with the most opportunity and affordability for residents.
“Across the country we dealt with continued restraints and restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, threats to an already shaky labor market, spiking housing costs, and record inflation that saw prices
The study considered seven key factors for cities with a laborforce totaling over 150,000:
Wage Growth (20% weight)
Unemployment Rate (10% weight)
Job Growth (20% weight)
Percentage of Jobs Open (10% weight)
Renter Affordability (15% weight)
Homeowner Affordability (15% weight)
Real Per Capita Personal Income (10% weight)
After weighing all of the data involving these key factors, experts have narrowed down the cities where opportunity and affordability are most accessible.
Despite the real estate market experiencing an unprecedented boom, three Utah cities are still presenting residents with both job opportunities with relatively manageable living costs.
The top 10 most affordable U.S. cities to live and work in 2022 are:
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Reno, Nevada
Provo, Utah
Madison, Wisconsin
Huntsville, Alabama
Charleston, South Carolina
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Ogden, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Spartanburg, South Carolina
The top 10 least affordable U.S. cities to live and work in 2022 are:
Los Angeles, California
Hartford, Connecticut
Corpus Christ, Texas
Bakersfield, California
Shreveport, Louisiana
Modesto, California
El Paso, Texas
New York, New York
Rockford, Illinois
McAllen, Texas
To calculate the best job markets in the country, experts factored in the number of job opportunities, earning potential, and housing affordability.
U.S. cities with the best job markets in 2022:
Reno, Nevada
Spartanburg, South Carolina
Savannah, Georgia
Provo, Utah
Boise, Idaho
Naples, Florida
Ogden, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Phoenix, Arizona
Palm Bay, Florida
To check out the full list of the most affordable cities to live and work in throughout the nation, click here.
Linda Secrist & Associates is the top selling team in luxury homes in the SLC Market. They have received countless awards over the past 20 years, including “Sales Team of The Year” for over 10 years including 2019! Linda Secrist is #54 in the top 100 Agents in the World in luxury residential real estate. If you’re searching for homes in Sandy, Salt Lake, Cottonwood Heights, Millcreek, Draper, South Jordan, Bountiful, Centerville, Farmington or anywhere in northern Utah, Linda Secrist & Associates are the real estate agents to call. If you’re buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to text or call us at 801-455-9999!
ST. GEORGE, Utah — St. George and the rest of Washington County have once again ranked as the fastest-growing metro area in America, according to a new report from the U.S. Census.
The new report showed the local population growing by nearly 10,000 new residents between July 1 of 2020 and July of 2021, a 5.1% increase, the Spectrum newspaper reported. The metro area — a statistical area that includes all of Washington County — grew to 191,226 residents, according to the report. If that number is correct, then the region would have grown by more than 30% in the past decade.
Two Other Utah Cities Make Top 10
Two other Utah cities made the list of top-10 fastest-growing metro areas, with the Provo-Orem area ranked eighth at 3.3% and the Logan area ranked 10th at 2.9%.
The mayor of St. George, Michele Randall, said the results of the latest population reports aren’t surprising. She credited the area’s reputation for quality-of-life amenities, although she acknowledged this type of growth does present challenges.
“St. George is a beautiful city with equally amazing people,” Randall told The Spectrum. “We are feeling the growing pains as a city and must do our best to manage growth so it doesn’t affect the quality of life we have all come to love.”
These growing pains include making sure there are enough infrastructure projects added to the area as the population continues to swell and resources are properly allocated, says Randall. “Keeping up with infrastructure, making sure we have the water to meet our needs. Having enough staff to maintain our quality of life, especially keeping up with our public safety personnel,” she said.
Iron County
In neighboring Iron County, the population also swelled at a rapid rate, around 4.7%, from July 2020 to July 2021. The county added just under 3,000 people during this time to bring its population to 60,519 residents.
These Census numbers are similar to population measures produced by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah in December 2021. Its report also measured the growth of the area from July 2020 to July 2021 but came to slightly different numbers.
The Gardner Institute reported Washington County added 7,000 new residents in this timeframe and grew by 4% while Iron County added 3,500 residents and grew by 6.2%.
Despite the slight differences in these numbers, it would be hard to argue that southwestern Utah isn’t one of the fastest-growing regions in the country, at least by percentage. The decennial census showed the area was the third fastest-growing in the nation between 2010 and 2020 with a 30.5% growth rate. The metro area has also earned the designation of the fastest growing in multiple years, most recently from 2016 to 2017, when the area grew by 4%.
Utah has grown as well, but a slower rate than its southwestern corner. This last year, the state added just under 56,300 residents and grew at a 1.7% rate to make its population around 3,338,000 residents.
Only two of Utah’s 29 counties lost some population, but not by much. Both were in the southeastern part of the state, with Grand County losing 18 residents and Carbon County losing 93.
Growth in U.S.
While Utah is growing more rapidly than most places, the upward trend was seen in most of the U.S. Of America’s 2,297 counties, 58% had their populations grow while 41.8% of counties had their populations shrink. The rest showed no measurable change in their populations. The press release sent out by the Census Bureau indicated these population increases were focused around small and medium-sized counties and there was a “shift” away from larger counties.
Counties That Lost Population
The top 10 counties that lost the most population were concentrated in California, New York, Illinois and Florida. Los Angeles County lost the most residents — around 185,000 — and New York County had the greatest percentage loss of residents with a negative 6.9% rate.
States with Largest Growth Rates
The states that had the largest growth rates were Utah, Texas, California, Arizona and Florida. The county that added the most residents was Maricopa County in Arizona — which contains the state’s biggest city, Phoenix — adding around 58,000 residents. Utah County came in at the 10th spot on the list by adding just under 22,000 residents to bring its population to around 685,000 people.
Written By Sean Hemmersmeier The Spectrum
Published April 2, 2022 -
— This article was distributed through The Associated Press.
Linda Secrist & Associates is the top selling team in luxury homes in the SLC Market. They have received countless awards over the past 20 years, including “Sales Team of The Year” for over 10 years including 2019! Linda Secrist is #54 in the top 100 Agents in the World in luxury residential real estate. If you’re searching for homes in Sandy, Salt Lake, Cottonwood Heights, Millcreek, Draper, South Jordan, Bountiful, Centerville, Farmington or anywhere in northern Utah, Linda Secrist & Associates are the real estate agents to call. If you’re buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to text or call us at 801-455-9999!
