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After years of  working on the wife to agree to move from Cali, the COVID vaccine for kids finally sealed the deal.  We are not doing that - period.  We’ll be out during winter  break to see the sights around SLC and get the lay of the land.  We are a conservative, gun owning, Jewish family with two elementary school age kids ( so school quality counts). Wife is a MD, so money is not a major limitation.  A place where we could have small livestock ( goat, chickens - that type of thing ) would be a plus but not required.

What’s a good place for us? I initially had my sight set on Provo, but after some reading it seems like almost everybody there socializes around LDS activities, so it’d be hard to make new friends.

Where ever you go in Utah, if there is a high-LDS/Mormon concentration, you will have a certain minority who will not let their kids socialize outside of church members (in my experience, that is a very small, and very psycho contingent. You're better off.) There will be a small contingent of those who will socialize because they are hell-bent on converting your family. There will be a contingent of those who simply don't socialize at all. There will be another who are genuinely decent people who will be happy to have you over for food, have your kids play with theirs, etc. (This is most)

On the flip side, you have the ex-mormons who will do nothing but tell you how bad LDS people are, and a larger group of ex/former/inactives who simply don't go to church.

There's also of course the everyone else who has nothing to do with Mormons. This group is biggest in the Salt Lake Valley.

I honestly think you're shooting yourself in the foot by making decisions based on church membership percentages. Provo sucks, but it's not due to a high LDS concentration. It's a private university town. BLECH!

Where ever you end up, you ought to do what everyone else should do the world over if they want to socialize - (with one extra step if you're in Utah). Go meet your neighbors. Show them you're decent people like them, you're not cooking meth, etc... invite them over for food, as if they had just moved in.

For the Utah-specific angle, be sure to let anyone know who starts down the conversion road - Thanks but no thanks. If they are GOOD people (regardless of religious affiliation), they won't push anything you've politely declined. Contrary to most of the nay-sayers, the overwhelming majority of LDS people aren't going to cut you off because you're not a member. They believe the church is a good thing, and want to offer it up to others.

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We moved here from GA about four years ago.  We are not LDS and live in a neighborhood where Mormons are predominate.  I can tell you with certainty, we do NOT feel like we are being shunned in any way.  We enjoy our neighbors and are friends with several Mormon families.  I would not move to Utah and expect them conform to your lifestyle and beliefs.  Do not move to Utah and vote the way the masses in California vote.  You will find plenty of good people here.  The move was great for me and my family.  I think that there is much to love about this state if you value freedom and liberty.  We live up in Box Elder county.  I am glad that one of the Utah hometown forum members suggested that we look north for a house.

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Look at Vernal, everything you want and nothing you don’t.