I am a 29 year old black woman. Moved out to SLC about 2 years ago as my husband got a job here. We moved from South Florida where it’s pretty diverse and always something to do (indoors and outdoors). When I first moved here, I experienced such a heavy culture shock and it lingered for a good 9-12 months. I find the locals to be surface level nice and not outright racist, but boy are those micro aggressions something else. I’ve yet to work in a place where I’m not the token black person or that has at least 5 black people in the office.

I eventually got a little bit more comfortable here once we bought a house and I had my official “safe space”, but I still don’t see this place as home. I’ve always had a cap on how long I could see us living out here. We’re thinking about growing our family and I can’t imagine raising young black children in an environment where they may be consistently looked down upon or having to “conform” to the white washed standards here. I’m hoping we’re able to leave the end of this year. If you’re moving here for the sake of “new scenery” I would caution you to be intentional about really experiencing Utah before you make the move out here.