The 10 Worst Places to Live in UTAH for 2024

A couple of know-it-alls at RoadSnacks.net (highly recommend) put together a list of the worst places to live in Utah in 2024.

Now, my metric for this would be: does it have a Krispy Kreme, do you have to scrape off your windshield in the morning, and how many raised trucks that take up two parking spots at Smith's.

But the good folks at Road Snacks do it a little differently.

Here's their methodology for determining worst places: (full article)

"To figure out the worst places to live in Utah, we used Saturday Night Science to identify what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things.

We don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that people like the following things:

Good education
Lots of jobs
Low crime
Low poverty
Nice homes
High incomes
High population density (Lots of things to do)
Short work commutes
Health insurance

Ok, so they averaged out the scores and the cities had to have over 5,000 people to be ranked.

Here's the list of the worst places to live in Utah in 2024:

10. Midvale

I haven't spent a lot of time in Midvale. They have very talented tattoo artists and I think a pretty good donut place.

Here's what they say about Midvale:

A suburb of Salt Lake City, Midvale stands just 15 minutes from the center of the state’s biggest metropolitan area. This gives the local economy a major boost. The median income hovers at $70,742 and the unemployment rate comes in at 3.0%.

This financial good fortune comes with a downside, though. The cost of living makes it difficult for many of the town’s 35,609 residents. Services, groceries, and healthcare are all more expensive than the national average. At the same time, locals struggle to afford housing, thanks to Midvale’s $470,067 median home value.

9. West Jordan

WJ has a median income of $99,002. Seems like a ton.

West Jordan looks like a Zumba paradise. A bunch of healthy people. Maybe it's ranked as top 10 worst because of the cost of living? The average home price is $525,000. But isn't that everywhere?

8. Santa Clara

Is this a joke. Santa Clara is one of the most idyllic places to live in Utah. How on earth...maybe because there's not a ton of jobs in Santa Clara? That's the only thing I can think of.

Plus they have petroglyphs!

7. Riverdale

What the hell is Riverdale?

Oh, it's where the Hill Aerospace museum is.

6. Hurricane

This is offensive. I guess just because the median income is low? Hurricane is one of the boom places in Southern Utah. Everybody is gonna want to be in Hurricane.

5. Taylorsville

4. Ogden

3. Roosevelt

Only 7,000 people. Low crime but high unemployment. Per the article:

"Currently, Roosevelt faces an unemployment rate of 6.8%, though those oil jobs help to support a median income of $66,552. Crime runs about 40% above the national average." (link)

2. Tooele

Why because nobody can pronounce it?

No the reasoning is because of the commute apparently

1. South Salt Lake

"Welcome to the 2nd most dangerous city in Utah. Is that surprising?

There were two murders here in 2024, and when you’re in SSL, you have a 1 in 100 chance of being raped, attacked or murdered yourself every year. Plus, you have a 1 in 13.6 chance of being robbed here as well.

Not only is there a lot of crime here, the residents here earn just about the lowest salaries in Utah, bringing in $57,125 a year combined. Education and home values are also far below the state average."

What do you think of the list?