Utah’s ascent as a tech hub may have been ignited in 1976, when a Brigham Young University student and professor partnered on software that became a global phenomenon: WordPerfect.
But few predicted that the state’s capital, Salt Lake City, would emerge as an innovation powerhouse nearly a half-century later, attracting investment, companies and talent from larger cities with deeper roots in tech.
Today, Salt Lake City’s success in cultivating tech has helped foster the country’s hottest job market, according to The Wall Street Journal. “Workers flocked to these areas for their plentiful job opportunities, wage growth, affordability and recreational offerings,” the Journal reported in April.
“Tech here is thriving, and it’s also diverse,” said Tom Stockham, CEO of online sales-training company 3point5 and a tech veteran. “Successive waves of companies are spawning next-generation businesses. There’s real excitement and growth.”
A decade ago, a pair of Salt Lake City tech CEOs branded the region “Silicon Slopes,” and the moniker stuck. Salt Lake City’s innovation industries now include life sciences, AI and data analytics. Utah has been an enthusiastic partner. In April, Gov. Spencer J. Cox launched the Startup State Initiative, which simplifies rules and eases access to capital for entrepreneurs; in May, the governor also cut the state’s income tax rate from 4.65% to 4.55%.
Around the same time, Salt Lake City’s Department of Economic Development named Utah scientist Atim A. Enyenihi as technology and innovation strategic adviser, a new position.
“Our strategic location, and lower costs of doing business, has long attracted companies to move here or establish a second location,” Enyenihi said. “We call ourselves ‘The Crossroads of the West.’”
The trend mushroomed during the pandemic, Enyenihi said, when remote work freed tech employees to choose home bases. Many chose Salt Lake City.
“During Covid, we were one of the few cities with strong growth in commercial office leasing,” she said. “People discovered that we have a young, highly educated workforce, and a real city with a small-town feel. Quality of life is high, with access to the outdoors, great food, culture and art. Many who came here ended up staying here.”
According to a 2023 report by real estate firm CBRE, Salt Lake City boasts a tech workforce of more than 59,600 people; nearly 70% of all venture capital funding in the Salt Lake City market goes toward tech, which totals nearly $130 million, the report said. Salt Lake City’s 22.9% growth in tech jobs in 2021 and 2022 exceeded the U.S. high-tech job growth, CBRE reported.
Notable names in the city’s tech scene include Overstock.com, management-software maker Instructure, data analytics firm Domo, and AI companies Mystic Media, Jellyfish Technologies and Senarios. Corporations like Adobe and eBay also have expanding footprints in and around the city.
Neighborhoods to Watch
Proximity to an office does not rank high as a factor for home buyers who work in tech. Instead, decisions are driven by “the recreation we have here, being close to the airport, living not too far from downtown, and having access to a community,” he said.
Tech buyers have favored neighborhoods including affluent, residential East Bench, near the base of the Wasatch mountain range; downtown-adjacent Sugar House, with its 1950s and ’60s bungalows and tree-lined streets; Holladay, 10 miles southeast of downtown, for “larger lots, more privacy and an estate feel”; and Cottonwood Heights, about 15 miles south of downtown, for proximity to skiing and 1970s-contemporary housing stock.
A luxury home in Sugar House or Cottonwood Heights will start at $1.5 million–$2 million, Kirkham said; in Holladay, high-end homes are priced at $2 million–$2.5 million and up.
“It’s hard to say if it’s just tech buyers, but we saw a 40% increase in prices from 2019–22, and it’s just stayed there,” he said. “And because tech buyers don’t care about commutes, they’re open to much larger search areas than traditional buyers, who are very specific about where they want to live.”
The priciest listing currently on the market in Holladay, one of the most desirable enclaves in the metro area, is a nine-bedroom mountain-contemporary mansion asking nearly $7.5 million. It’s on the market with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Utah Properties. But homes there have sold for as much as $15 million or more.
A “huge surge” of remote workers arrived during the pandemic, “tried us out, and decided to stay,” said Molly Jones, an agent with the Agency in Salt Lake City. “They’re finding Utah prices on California wages.” Tech buyers have sought homes at the southern tip of Salt Lake Valley, the 500-square-mile region that includes the capital. “Newcomers are not averse to 20- or 30-minute commutes, so we’re seeing growth all around the periphery,” she said.
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Draper, 20 miles south of downtown, “is growing a ton, and it’s mostly people from other places,” Jones said. “It’s walking distance from the Wasatch front, and five minutes from the freeway.” Sandy, between downtown and Draper, “is still relatively affordable, with beautiful homes costing about 30%-40% less than Holladay,” she said. Newcomers have eyed Pepperwood, a gated community in Sandy, “for high-end new homes, or older houses they’re gutting.”
Luxury homes in Salt Lake City start “around $1.5 million–$2 million, and $2 million–$4 million is the sweet spot and where there’s the most growth,” Jones said. “It’s a lot of people who bought for under a million six or seven years ago, and maybe had a tech company go public, are also becoming move-up buyers.” Luxury homes in Holladay now average $6 million, she said, and “maybe $3 million” in Sandy.
Senior tech executives have also powered property markets in smaller cities that dot mountainous regions outside the city, according to Paul Benson of Engel & Völkers Gestalt Group. “Senior people in tech want outdoor living close to ski resorts but not too far from the airport,” he said. “The real beneficiaries have been [ski resorts] Park City, the Heber Valley and Sundance,” all outside Salt Lake City. “Some C-level executives will even buy a second or third home in these areas after buying a condo or house in Salt Lake City proper.”
Sales of new-construction homes are “up 110% since 2018,” Benson said. Even Provo, near Brigham Young University, which never saw much of a change over the years, [resales have] jumped 65% since 2018. And towns like Sandy have seen a 52% appreciation.”
Outlook
The outlook for Salt Lake City’s property market reflects the ebullience around tech in Utah. The state ranked No. 1 in projected growth in tech employment in a 2023 report from the Illinois-based Computing Technology Industry Association. And a 2024 study from the University of Maryland found that Salt Lake City is outpacing other cities with AI-related job postings, indicating furious growth in that sector.
“The momentum will continue,” Benson said. “A well-run state like Utah with low taxes, a true outdoor lifestyle and easy access to an airport will keep growing for at least a decade.” Meanwhile, Salt Lake City’s selection as host for the 2034 Olympic Winter Games will help “sustain the city’s growth pattern,” he said.
Salt Lake City “used to be a junior city to Denver. We’re not anymore,” said Jones of the Agency. “Tech and logistics, our two biggest industries, are not going anywhere. And the Olympics are going to be huge. Clients with second homes want to buy another. It will put a lot of pressure on the market. Clients with money are coming here for investment, not necessarily for a primary residence.”
Stockham, the tech CEO, predicted more senior leaders will discover the city in the meantime. “When I got here in 2001, there wasn’t enough mass to attract the C-suite of thriving companies. Now, I can tell people I’m recruiting that you have instant access to the outdoors; there’s a real airport with a nonstop flight to Paris; you can fly to the Bay Area for a meeting, then come back to your own bed,” he said. “In Denver, you’re two hours from the mountains. In Salt Lake City, you live on the mountain.”