Salt Lake City declared 3rd Best Performing City.
What mother wouldn’t be swelled with pride when her child is written up as one of the best performers of 2009? Tears of joy well within you as look down on your little creation and realize you have had a hand in greatness. Thus it is when the Milken Institute ,in its annual report “Best Performing Cities of 2009” declared that Salt Lake City, Ut…our very own metropolis, was the 3rd Best Performing City of 2009.
Who is Milken Institute you ask? They are actually a pretty highly respected independent Think Tank located in California whose mission is” to improve the lives and economic conditions of diverse populations in the United States…”. So, some pretty important people think Salt Lake is a great place to live.
Some of the reasons cited by the report include (and I quote):
“Salt Lake also had vulnerability associated with its status as a regional financial center stemming from the financial crisis. Fortunately, the region had a low exposure to subprime mortgages and less speculative activity in its housing sector.
The good news is that existing home sales have recovered and are running substantially ahead of the levels recorded a year ago.
Even new residential construction is seeing positive signs, with new permits from January through July
rising 39 percent from the same period in 2008.”
Translation- we did not suffer as badly as the rest of the country in terms of falling housing values and foreclosure. We also seem to be on the way to recovery more quickly than the rest of the country.
Another reason according to the report:
“Salt Lake City has a young and highly educated workforce, low business costs, a favorable overall business climate, and a growing tech sector—all factors that should leave the area well-positioned for growth during the recovery.”
Translation: well this speaks for itself. We have great people here in Utah!
And finally, I just couldn’t help this:
The recent loosening of liquor laws may even provide a boost to tourism over the next few years.
Translation: Getting a drink is kind of important to some people and conventions look at this. I’m just the messenger folks don’t inundate me with emails on the evils of drink.
So, all in all, Salt Lake City is a good place to live, not only because of what the folks at Milken say, but because we have some pretty great contrasting landscape here, boundless recreational opportunities ( I’m a water skier myself, Steve golfs, we Used to snow ski and no we don’t hike but know people who do), wonderfully diverse cultural arts, and Forbes just named Salt Lake City as the easiest commute, ( yes, another award) so you can live and play in Salt Lake easily, and relatively inexpensively. Housing prices are back to 2006 levels, so now is a great time to plant your roots, buy a home, and help us grow. Join us here! Til later, ciao.