My daughter is interviewing for a job in SLC. She's a Midwestern girl and wants to know if the atmosphere would be good for a young person that enjoys going out ie microbreweries, restaurants, mountain biking etc?

Social drinking is mostly underground here still in Utah, SLC is a lot better than the other counties for that, but she'll probably find it very lacking.  We have weird regulations and laws surrounding drinking. Upside, you can carry a gun in a bar.  We do have a couple decent breweries though, Squatters and Wasatch and Epic to name a few.  Restaurants are lacking imo but there are some reasonably good local eats as well.

On the upside, if she likes mountain biking, she'll probably think she's died and gone to heaven. All the ski resorts open the slopes up during the off season for mountain biking. She would have hundreds of runs available within an hour of driving. Utah's real redeeming quality is the sheer amount of outdoorsy stuff to do.

In my observations, Utah is a state of extremes. Because of the predominant religion (Salt Lake County is still at 50% Mormon/LDS) there is a counter-culture of contrarianism.   People who drink often drink A LOT, in my experience.

That's been my experience, too.

To answer OP's questions...

Downtown area, lots more restaurants, pubs, breweries, etc..  In the suburbs, much less.  TONS of mountain biking around, since the city kind of runs into the mountains.  Trails everywhere in the canyons along the East sides, a cycle park at the south end with dirt jumping, flow trails, etc..  Access to ride-in or lift-served XC and downhill riding at the ski resorts in the valley, and more in Park City, and on a longer trip, access to Moab.  Regular organized MTB races (XC and downhill), cyclocross races, etc..  Show her this, see if she gets excited.

I haven't lived permanently in UT for over 15 years. I still think about moving back, though. I am surprised each time I visit how congested the Wasatch Front (Ogden, Salt Lake, Provo metro area) has become. It seems the area is still growing / expanding like crazy, but they have some pretty big geographic boundaries (mountains, big lake). If your daughter is coming from the Detroit area, it won't be a big deal. But compared to most anywhere in MI, the traffic sucks.

She would probably enjoy living in either downtown Salt Lake City or Park City, but not in other areas.  In SLC tell her to check out the Avenues, Sugarhouse, Liberty Park, and the 9th & 9th areas.  If she likes going out to restaurants, breweries, etc, those are probably the areas she would want to live in just having moved here.  Mountain biking is easily accessible from anywhere in the Salt Lake area.

Thanks for the info thus far guys. It's helpful. She has another interview. We're hoping for the best.

What's the line of work that she's in?




She'd probably enjoy downtown, Sugarhouse, the area around the U of U, and Park City. These are also the more politically liberal parts of Salt Lake, depending on how much that may bother her.

Can't say much about the microbreweries. I'm Mormon, but I do go eat at Squatters downtown from time to time and quite enjoy it.




 



Oh, and there's a great bar and grill near the Triple A Baseball field, off 13th south. It's called Lucky 13's, and it serves an awesome burger. Highly recommended. Again, can't comment on the drinks.



 


PS. Park City to visit, not to live in. It's WAAAY too expensive.


 

She's a graduate engineer. She's fairly conservative but has an open mind. She wants to be around an area with younger professionals ( and outdoor activities )

I've been gone for 10 years, but agree 100% with the bolded text.  The Salt Lake valley was pretty nice when it only had 400-500k people in it.

Hard to believe, eh?  Time just flies when you get old like us.  

There is a train-rail line available, but, it closes before the bars close just to make sure the drunkies have to take a cab or FORCE THEM TO DRIVE....

The bars are fun, not too expensive (like LA, DC, NY, Boston, etc).  I like WHISKEY STREET, BAR X, THE GREEN PIG, KEYS ON MAIN, LUMPYS, GRACIE's and POPLAR STREET PUB - there are several good places to go and have a few drinks and enjoy social activities or strike up conversations.

There is alot to see & do in Utah.   Its getting better & better all the time.

Thanks for the info guys. I will pass it on.

I work for a company that moves it's people around a lot. My office of 40 or so people is comprised mostly of non-Mormon out of state transplants. Most of them had some trepidation about coming here but in thd end say they love being here. You really can't beat the outdoor lifestyle, bars and micro-brews are getting better all the time, and all have felt welcome living here. She'll like it here.