Walking around Salt Lake City, Utah

I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, from New York City, when I was thirty years old. I was all in – or so I thought – on moving there long-term. But four months after “moving there,” I left abruptly and moved back to New York City.

At the time, I had lived in New York City for about eight years since college, and while I liked living in the city, I always had this idea that I should try living in some sort of other small American city. I seemed to share this sentiment with a few friends. In my twenties, I heard from a handful of people about their desires to move somewhere else – that the hustle and bustle of New York City was wearing them down. Some moved, many didn’t. Now I’m 35, and I don’t really hear about people wanting to leave NYC. Maybe it’s the arc of a New Yorker – in your twenties, you consider leaving, in your thirties, you’re fine staying put.

Though my Salt Lake City experiment was brief, I made decent strides there – I made friends, rented an amazing apartment, and had a decent job – before leaving quickly and abruptly. I think I made the decision to go back because of my real estate career.

Now, five years later, things are very good in NYC. It was the right decision to come back.

Two weekends ago, my girlfriend, Elizabeth, and I traveled to Utah for a wedding, and it gave me an opportunity to reflect on my brief residence there and also get a little closure on moving to a non-NYC destination.

The main realization I had – which I knew already, but it was further confirmed – was that there are pros and cons in any place you choose to live.  

For example, in New York City, we have unlimited entertainment. A whole theater district, tons of different movie theaters. The ability to walk anywhere and not rely on a car is definitely a big plus. For me, living here also allows me the opportunity to be close to family and old friends. On the other hand, we pay a super high cost of living.

Elizabeth I think was skeptical about why I chose to try to live in Salt Lake City – she had never spent much time in the “mountain West”. But I think I was able to show her some cool things about the area during our trip.

First of all, my old neighborhood in SLC (it’s called Trolley Square) is in an area of downtown which is actually pretty walkable. I used to walk to Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and a Wall-Mart esque place called Smith’s – they were all within one block of my building.  I was also close to a nice park called Liberty Park (okay, it wasn’t as nice as Central Park).

My apartment was amazing. I was paying about $1300 to live in a large one bedroom corner apartment on the top floor of a new elevator building. The apartment had high ceilings, dishwasher, washer / dryer in-unit, central air (not split units), a marble kitchen island, a private balcony (facing the mountains), and an amazing mountain view – the mountains would glow at sunset. The view was the best part of the apartment.

I was also a five minute drive to an amazing set of hiking trails – they were so close that going there could be a nice post-work or even during-work thing to do on a break.

One thing that I didn’t consider when moving there is how far you are from other cities when you leave  the SLC metro area. From New York City you can take trips easily to many places  – Vermont, Connecticut, Boston, Philly (I mean, I guess this is where I travel to the most).  In Salt Lake City, you can travel to a few places outside of the metro area, but the nearest major city (like Boise, Idaho, which is a cool place) – is a five hour drive.

Then again, while you may not be within close proximity to other cities, there are tradeoffs – great scenery when you leave the city, lower cost of living in general, very easy access to nature – and it’s just a quieter place.

Why do people consider moving? Is it work-related? Friend-related? Because people want a new adventure?

Anyway, this recent trip to Utah allowed me some closure to fully realize that nowhere is perfect – my current life in New York City is great.