Ogden might be Okay if you are young and strong
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3/12/2017
Ogden is here because the Railroad came through in the late 1800's. Utah was populated by Mormon polygamists that were searching for a place that NOBODY ELSE wanted. They found all those things in Ogden. The terrain is good if you are an avid skier. It's not as good as say Aspen or Mammoth, but it's also much cheaper.
The high mountain geography is too blame. The sun burn factor is very high and the air is some of the driest in the nation. Most people here have perpetual Dry Eye, bleeding nose and hacking cough. We have some of the worst ozone pollution in the USA and the "allergy problem" symptoms that go with it.
Utah has some of the highest taxes in the USA for income and sales tax on food. There is a very regressive flat-rate 5% income tax with NO breaks for social security income. The state median age is very young and that means an influx of lots of children in schools that need to be built. The rather young adult population does not have the median income needed to support their own. The retirees have all left for other states so there is not much available for the Republican government to tax. It's a perpetual legislative problem of robbing Peter to pay Paul.
There are four seasons, but due to the high altitude they are rather extreme. Ogden will hit 97F~100F degrees every day from June 1st through August. In winter, the temperature will be 20F~29F as the HIGH for most of December through February. On the good side, there are NO hurricanes and very few tornadoes. But we do get 80 MPH wind storms and fire smoke from California will fill the valley for most of the summer.
Outdoor life of hiking, hunting and fishing is not as good as say Arizona, Tennessee, Texas or Wyoming and one must stay in the mountain areas in the eastern side of the state or their highly touted national parks. Enormous chunks of the western desert were used for a bombing test range during the war years and it's full of unexploded ordinance. Except for the part used by the Army to test nerve gas or nuclear radiation.
Utah is unique among states that in the northern half, there is no drainage to the oceans. Whatever we get or make stays right here in the Great Salt Lake. It's not an attraction, it's a mineral deposit mine.
Yes, Ogden is a great place to live if you don't mind having an aging industrial super-park for a city center. I have lived in northern and southern CA, Atlanta GA, Phoenix AZ, Charlotte NC and Star Valley Wyoming. I spent considerable amounts of time in San Antonio TX, eastern Tennessee and Florida pan handle. in my opinion Ogden is the worst place I have ever been. I started out in Ogden (age 8) because my father could find work here and he and mother "fit the faith." I'm here now for mom's health. Then I will leave never to return.
Dale | Camarillo, CA