Earlier quoted context omitted.
Utah has a pretty solid economy, and lots of outdoors enthuiasts love it. I don't know much about Provo, but the drawback to me about Utah is that you have to live in a state that is strongly controlled by the LDS, which is great if you are a mainstream Mormon. Not so much if you aren't. My good friend recently left the Salt Lake City area after several years. When his neighbors found out he wasn't Mormon (LDS to be…
I'm not LDS, and generally dislike religion, but I wonder how bad an LDS-controlled area really would be. I assume it means good disaster/etc. preparation, a relatively strong social safety net for participants (and thus less abject poverty, random crazy people, etc.) The non-LDS or ex-LDS people I know who live in Utah (from Defcon or whatever) seem pretty cohesive as well. Maybe because it's a smaller tech scene th…
It's got some outright bad stuff, some good, and some that's just oddly different.
For example, alcohol sales in Utah are extremely restricted because of an LDS prohibition on alcohol consumption [0].
Many Utah communities recently passed "free speech zone" ordinances, which seemed only to be enforced against people who were critical of the LDS church. Some friends of mine joined with the ACLU to get at least one of the ordinances repealed [1].
The social safety nets in Utah are strong, but in some circumstances there's also a lot of religious pressure tied to them. In other circumstances they're really great.
Being a stay-at-home dad in a heavily LDS community is a strange experience. It's a society that expects men to work and women to take care of children; I got a lot of funny looks when I'd go places with my son.
Many companies in Utah hire both LDS and non-LDS employees. I've heard quite a few people describe significant workplace tension. Others had no problems at all.
Net result: it's a really mixed bag.
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_of_Wisdom#Prohibitions
[1] http://www.aclu.org/free-speech/brigham-city-free-speech-zon...