The Real Cost Of Living In Utah: Housing Expenses And Rents Prices Above Average

For those who grew up here or have decided to move to Utah, there are a ton of benefits but as with all things, there are downsides too.  

Utah ranked #11 in the U.S. News & World’s 2023-2024 Best Places to Live report. While the beehive state did not make the top 10, there are some good reasons why. First, the housing/rent costs are insane. Living on your own is difficult and with inflation adding to costs, it's pretty much not feasible.  

To compare, the site showed the national average of housing cost in 2022 compared to Utah. The numbers are bad. The national average housing cost is $383,883 while living in Salt Lake, UT comes to $571,980. 

The average rent cost is $1,201 while the average annual salary is $54,322 in Utah. 

I'm not sure which well off single millennial can afford this, but good for them. Suddenly living in your mom’s basement doesn’t sound too bad.  

On the plus side, Utah was below national average for commute times by a whole four minutes. It takes about 22.8 minutes to get to work, which is four minutes more to pay off that astronomical mortgage payment.  

Simply put, living on your own whether renting or buying is extremely hard here. In fact, having two jobs in the state is not only common, but is at a stable percentage, the Utah Department of Workforce Services said. The industries who have the most employees with second jobs probably won’t come as a surprise. 

• Health Care 
• Educational Services 
• Leisure and Hospitality 
• Retail Trade 
• Public Administration 

It's disappointing that our education and health care industries need to find more money elsewhere.  

So, anyway, Utah DID make the list of best places to live but it comes with a bid downside; the most unreasonable cost of renting or paying for a house.