safe for a single gal to walk around the capitol area in the evenings? And no, I'm not a single gal.

My daughter will be in Salt Lake for business in the near future and wanted to know if it was safe to walk around the capitol and temple area in the evenings to do some sightseeing when she has some breaks in her business.

Thanks,

Ehhhhhh....

Around the temple you ALWAYS have lots of people who are watching out for others, up near the capitol, probably ok, but still...

Downtown SLC has it's share of crazies, homeless, criminals, etc.

If she sticks to City Creek, Temple Square and the Capitol, she'll likely be ok.

Don't go west down towards Rio Grande or Pioneer park. Around Temple Square and City Creek will be fine. I've been around the Capitol at night, but was carrying.

Like others said, just tell her to stay away from Rio Grande and Pioneer Park where the homeless shelters are.  So stay away from 300 West and 300 South and the area immediately to the south and west.  The Capitol, City Creek, Temple Square, and most of the rest of downtown is fine.

SLC is one of the safest cities I've visited but there are some parts (mentioned above) with a lot of crazy homeless. Areas you mentioned should be fine.

I go jogging some nights. I do it at like 2:30 AM because I'm fat and when I take my shirt off, I don't have to worry about blinding anyone because hardly anyone is out during that time; although sometimes I feel like the drug dealers are laughing at me, so I always put my shirt back on when running by the heroin dealers.

South of the Gateway mall there's a ton of homeless people along with TONS and TONS of drug dealers/users. It probably wasn't the best idea to build a mall directly next door to a homeless shelter. Pioneer park is about 100 yards away from the mall and is where the homeless hang out during the day time. Anything immediately West of the mall is going to be homelessness, drug dealers, and prostitutes. In the winter, the homeless will travel East to the Library to stay warm during the day, but they rarely travel East in warmer months. All the night clubs are located deep within this shit; so if your daughter is a club goer, she might end up in this area. That small quarter to half square mile area is probably the ugliest part in the entire state. My typical jogging route takes me right through the shit and despite the run down appearance and all the bad elements around, I would still say it's a lot safer than other parts of the country. I never carry when going through that part of town, never had a problem with anyone there, and never seen anyone engaged in any trouble they weren't directly responsible for. My wife is 5'4 and 105 pounds; she frequently walks through the shit area to catch the train and she's never had an issue with anyone except for one lady who tried to steal her laptop on the train. She has a conceal permit, but never carries because she's a Federal employee and firearms aren't allowed in her building.

Outside of that little tiny area, the rest of the city is really safe and shouldn't be a problem for anyone, male or female, regardless of age. Downtown is pretty busy from 6AM until 8PM, but then as if someone were flipping a light switch, the entire population of the downtown area seemingly disappears with the exception of the shit area near the homeless shelter which always seems to have the same 400 people slumming around.



I've drawn you a map of the shit area in case you were wondering, it's outlined in red. Don't worry about the other colors on this map, I drew this up for someone else.

Hey, Thanks for all the replies. I'll send her the map and I appreciate this. She generally has her head on a swivel, so I'll just tell her not to deviate from her original plan of temple and capitol.

I lived just off MLK BLVD in North Chicago before I moved to SL,UT. I am not small nor female, but I still get a kick out of what folks in Utah feel is "the bad area". That map pretty well sums it up, but its still not that bad. Dont lose sleep pops

This is a very fair statement. What we've described are the bad parts of Salt Lake, as compared to the rest of Utah. But Utah doesn't have anything close to the "bad" areas in St. Louis, Chicago, KC, Detroit, etc.

 

So true.  I've lived near bad parts of Phoenix and San Diego and the so-called 'bad' areas of SLC are nothing in comparison.  Personally I wouldn't be worried walking around in the middle of the night in any area of SLC, even if I wasn't carrying.  But I'm also not a small female :)

LOL, no, I won't be losing any sleep. My daughters are both adults and have taken care of themselves well so far.

Yes. Our slumy crime filled areas are what other states would call nice suburbs.

Well oldest daughter is back from her conference and said she had a great time. Also said she got plenty of practice ignoring all the panhandlers you guys have down there.....

After the conference was over she said they took them to some snow resort - Snowbirds? or something like that. And on a tram ride with some beautiful scenery. Hidden Peak? Anyway, she had a great time down there.

Yep, moved from NY and lived in NYC most of my life.  When I first relocated for work, I lived around the capital building before the rest of the family moved out.  I had my 90 lb pup with me and we used to walk all over the place downtown after work.  No issues, just be street smart.  People used to steer clear of him, but all he wanted to do was walk off the stored energy and play.  The homeless or mentally ill won't bother you like they do in Chicago, NY, LA, SF, etc.



 

Excellent news.  Glad she enjoyed herself.



 

I have only had two or three times where a pan handler got pretty aggressive, but the main areas are right in the map (nice btw).

I grew up here and I thought that area was pretty bad until spending some time in Vegas, and one time ending up in Compton California on a Friday night due to a wrong turn...

One that took the cake was in Puerto Rico; it was day time and we were walking from our hotel to the docks in order to board our ship, FIL decides we should shortcut through this neighborhood just a few blocks away from the tourist area... I have never been so scared in my entire life...

I love Utah!

This pretty much sums up this thread every time it comes up. People who have only experiencec the mean streets of Provo and Sandy will tell you of the horrors of downtown SLC and lead you to believe you'll be lucky to escape with your life. Those of who have spent time almost anywhere else just kind of shrug and say, "Don't be an idiot and you'll be fine."