Great place with both pluses and minuses
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5/20/2021
I will put my 2 cents in on Draper, and do my best to be unbiased. I have lived in Draper for 10 years, and within a couple miles of Draper for the 12 years previous. Like everywhere else, there are some great things, and some less desirable.
The people in Draper are super nice which is fantastic, but most prefer to keep it at superficial level, so if you are looking for meaningful connections with others, not impossible, but not so easy either. Lots of "keeping up with the Jonses" and one upsmanship in the community, if that's your thing, you fit right in, if its not your thing and you can ignore it, you will fit in also. A large percentage of the population is LDS, so that might be off putting to some, but they don't bite I promise. I am LDS, but am probably closer to my neighbors who are not than the ones who are. Most residents take the BYU/Utah rivalry way to seriously, and need to figure out how to not be so angry about it. Both sides think the other team has worse fans.
Racially Draper is predominately caucasion, but its slowly...very slowly . . getting more diverse.
Politically, its pretty "red" for the most part. The LDS community maintains a strong influence on city and state government. Individuals involved in real estate hold most all positions in govt, some real head scratcher deals here and there than you know someone made off well ($$$). City Govt is on what I would call its adolescent stage, wants to run with the big dogs but not mature enough yet. Compared to other parts of the country, very well run, but compared to neighboring Sandy it lags a bit.
The weather is amazing in the fall and both days of spring. Winters can be long and drawn out. Summers are great in the evening, but can get rather warm during the day. Neither the summer nor the winter are terribly bad, but the bandwidth between the extreme temps is rather large. January/February seems unbearably cold (single digits), and August feels unbearably hot (low 100's).
Lots of high density housing going in near by, and things are getting more and more crowded. Housing prices are rapidly going up and traffic is getting really bad.
Along with the traffic and growth the air quality has declined. In the winter we get inversions, and the air is just nasty with reduced visibility. Many summer days will also have a lot of particulate matter in the air with similar issues to what I mentioned in the winter. Draper also has a sand pit at the point of the mountain nearby which seams to have a free pass with regards environmental. Family members have developed asthma, and while I cant necessarily pin it on all the above, there seem to be a lot of people in the area who have encountered similar when coming here. Air quality might be my biggest complaint as you probably can see.
On the upside, really nice, safe, and well kept neighborhoods. Some areas have variety in home styles, most are cookie cutter Ivory Homes developments. Lots of trails and parks throughout the community, mountains close by. Fairly easy access to freeways. Right in between SLC and Provo so lots of access to a wide variety of experiences.
Last but not least, whether its Draper or any other city in the world. . if you come . .dont try and change it to what you think it should be (looking at you Californians), just accept what it is and you and your neighbors will be a lot happier.
Bo | Draper, UT