According to the Journal, Salt Lake is the hottest job market in the country. This will bring in loads of gentiles, and alter the religious and political demographics even more. Some excerpts:

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As the pandemic raged through the U.S. in 2020, no metropolitan area in the country expanded the size of its labor force more on a percentage basis than Utah’s capital. It also had the lowest average unemployment rate and the highest share of people working or looking for jobs. These signs of strength helped it rank first among 53 large metro areas... after ranking No. 4 in 2019.

Other cities that emerged as beacons to job seekers and businesses during the pandemic were, like Salt Lake City, located far from the coasts. Hubs... such as Austin, Denver, Indianapolis and Kansas City minimized employment losses...Workers gravitated to these places due to the job opportunities, lower costs and a quieter lifestyle that appealed to some migrants from bigger population centers who were now allowed to work remotely...

The losers were tourist hot spots such as Las Vegas or densely-populated cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago that lost workers as the coronavirus spread. Even once-hot tech hubs of San Francisco, Raleigh, N.C., and Boston suffered declines. Some of these laggards were more aggressive with their business lockdowns, allowing rival metros with fewer restrictions and lower costs to capitalize on the chaos.

Salt Lake City rose to the top thanks to fewer business shutdowns, more moderate health consequences from Covid-19 and a young and well-educated population that supported a tech sector that was already on fire before the pandemic began. Research from the University of Utah found that the state’s tech industry’s job growth averaged 3.6% a year between 2007 and 2017, more than double the national pace during the same period.

The region spanning the neighboring cities of Provo and Salt Lake City had so much momentum over the last decade that it acquired the nickname “Silicon Slopes.” Provo’s labor market ranked No. 17 last year among 328 smaller metro areas with fewer than 1 million residents, according to the Journal’s analysis. Another area north of Salt Lake City, Ogden, was No. 1 among the smaller metros...

The Salt Lake area has a healthy mix of growing startups and well-established companies, plus a strong local university network that serves as a pipeline for younger talent.

***
The article profiled a few individual career migrants and local companies, and went on to discuss similar situations with Indianapolis, Orlando, Austin, Denver, and a few others.

I think I provided about 1/3 of the copy on SLC, and much less of the entire item, which is behind a paywall. Anyway, here's the URL:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/where-can-you-find-a-new-job-try-these-u-s-cities-11617960612?mod=searchresults_pos2&page=1

I'm not planning on migrating, though. I'll split my time between my Boston manse* and quiet country estate** in central New England.

*"triple-decker," or "a Dorchester"
**dilapidated [emphasis on "dated"] blueberry farm

I get the feeling on the ground in SLC that the job market is very good. It however is not that cheap of a place to live any more. Compared to San Jose or SF it is cheap, but housing has been going up at a ridiculous rate. Tons of construction, but no inventory of houses for sale right now.

True, but that's not unique to Utah. The entire country is one big seller's market on steroids with almost nothing for sale.

kinda like when BY realized the railway was coming to Utah;

If he thought about it (?), he knew that it would bring no-Mos to Utah.

Of course then (3/1869) he was so much in charge then he prolly didn't think of it as a significant threat.

Back when I considered going to BYU (glad I didn't in retrospect) there was an adage that asked the question: How do you make a million dollars in Provo? The answer of course, is to work a million hours. Hopefully, these jobs that will be moving to Utah will be well-paying, professional jobs.

But one thing that often happens is that as an economy takes off economically, speculation quickly drives the real-estate values up so high that there are statistically not enough jobs in the local economy that are capable of supporting the existing mortgages in the same area. This is what has happened in some of these areas where people are moving from, to take these new jobs in these cities where the jobs are moving to. It's kind of sad because Salt Lake City used to be (and maybe still is right now) one of those cities where anyone who is willing to work, can afford to live in. By the time the growth is finished, in many cases if you don't already own your home you will need a high-paid executive job or a wealthy family if you want to live there in anything more than a studio apartment. That's what has happened in many of the larger cities such as Seattle, San Francisco, and New York.

The pandemic has resulted in an enormous rise in remote work, so for an increasing number of jobs, the location of where you live in relation to the location of your job is increasingly irrelevant. How this plays out on a permanent basis remains to be seen.

I live in northern California and am personally aware of two instances of two TBM families who have moved to Utah during the pandemic, but with no change of employment. They saw remote work as their opportunity to move back to Zion, only coming back to the office on an occasional basis, and they are assuming things will stay that way permanently.

I was in SLC last week. Housing values are out of control and demand far outstrips supply. I heard of one case where a person was outbid on 17 different homes before having a bid accepted, Home builders are building on a take it or leave it basis and not allowing buyers to have any say in colors or other decisions. Dramatically rising prices on building materials is another issue affecting house prices. The Boise area is going through similar issues. I realize that Zillow estimates are not always accurate but I received one on my house yesterday that is more than 12% higher than the one they sent 10 days ago.

Not a week has passed in the last several months without my getting a spam text, email, or postal letter offering "immediate cash" for my Boston 3-family ("triple decker," google it).

And yes, lumber and building supplies are sky high. Happily, I can dismantle and re-mill some farm wood for what I need, and postpone other things until after when this real-estate bubble pops.

I was shocked the last time I was in Utah-two years ago. There is no longer any open space between Utah Valley and SLC area. I drove past Thanksgiving Point twice before I saw it-dwarfed by all the high-tech business buildings around it. It’s a completely different place than when I left in 2004. My good friend has worked for a tech company in South Valley for years. He said it’s becoming a MUCH nicer place to live and work with so many more non-mormons moving in and more formerly active mormons becoming disaffected. But as much as I enjoyed driving through the canyons, I still got really creepy vibes in the stores, especially in Utah Valley. I do love Moab, though.

the growth in little Hyrum, Utah. Nobody wanted to live here when we moved here. Homes were cheaper and we ended up here because the house we bought was the nicest one we had looked at. I still love this house. I've been here 34+ years.

It has become insane around here. They are building big condos and apartment buildings in fields that are next to homes that have corrals and horses, etc. People thought they built in the country and now they have apartments going up. Some really fancy condos a block away from where I'm living along the main drag coming into town between the Baptist church and some storage places and behind them, the big road construction company. I'd like to see what views they have considering that construction company that has been here forever.

Where I used to walk the dogs through fields just a few years ago is all condos, townhouses, and new homes. They have a dog park and I've talked to people moving in from places like CA, Washington, and Park City of all places. Hyrum??? What??? I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't talked to some of them. One couple has to go to church in Avon (a few little communities away as they don't have enough room in stake centers in Hyrum right now).

My boyfriend is probably going to be selling his house in River Heights in the next 6 months. His house has more than doubled in price since he bought it about 7 or 8 years ago. He has a great lot that has views of all the mountains.

that he is retiring and going to be living part of the time in Canada where his daughter lives, part of the time in Denver where his son lives, and part of the time with me, but I'll also be traveling to where he is at during the time he is there. I did that back when he lived in Denver and I loved being able to go stay somewhere else for a month or two.

That sounds like a nice rotation between locations.

And someone has to work for all the supplement, essential oil and financial scam companies.

Look at North Dakota.
A lot of job openings in most every field. Oil production and Agriculture related are the two biggest with support fields big.
Housing and living prices reasonable.
If you don't do winter, you don't do North Dakota.

Hunting and fishing is excellent. No smog and air pollution problems. Most National Wildlife refuges in the USA.

Good schools funded well.

Not a high percentage of Mormons in the State.