Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

🇺🇸 Salt Lake City is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah, as well as the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. The city is the core of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the Salt Lake City–Ogden–Provo Combined Statistical Area, a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along a 120-mile segment of the Wasatch Front.

Salt Lake City was founded in 1847 by early pioneer settlers, led by Brigham Young, who were seeking to escape persecution they had experienced while living farther east. The Mormon pioneers, as they would come to be known, entered a semi-arid valley and immediately began planning and building an extensive irrigation network which could feed the population and foster future growth. Salt Lake City's street grid system is based on a standard compass grid plan, with the south-east corner of Temple Square (the area containing the Salt Lake Temple in downtown Salt Lake City) serving as the origin of the Salt Lake meridian. Owing to its proximity to the Great Salt Lake, the city was originally named Great Salt Lake City. In 1868, the word "Great" was dropped from the city's name.

Immigration of international members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, mining booms, and the construction of the first transcontinental railroad initially brought economic growth, and the city was nicknamed "The Crossroads of the West". It was traversed by the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, in 1913. Two major cross-country freeways, I-15 and I-80, now intersect in the city. The city also has a belt route, I-215.

Salt Lake City has developed a strong tourist industry based primarily on skiing and outdoor recreation. It hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. It is known for its politically liberal and diverse culture, which stands at contrast with the rest of the state's conservative leanings. It is home to a significant LGBT community and hosts the annual Utah Pride Festival. It is the industrial banking centre of the United States. Salt Lake City and the surrounding area are also the location of several institutions of higher education including the state's flagship research school, the University of Utah.

Economy Historically known as the "Crossroads of the West" for its railroads, when nearby steel, mining and railroad operations provided a strong source of income with Silver King Coalition Mines, Geneva Steel, Bingham Canyon Mine, and oil refineries, Salt Lake City's modern economy is service-oriented. Today the city's major sectors are government, trade, transportation, utilities, and professional and business services. The daytime population of Salt Lake City proper swells to over 315,000 people, not including tourists or students.

Local, state, and federal governments have a large presence in the city, and trade, transportation, and utilities provide significant employment, with the major employer being the Delta hub at Salt Lake City International Airport. Equally significant are the professional and business services, while health services and health educational services are significant areas of employment, including the largest health care provider in the Intermountain West, Intermountain Healthcare. Other major employers include the University of Utah, Sinclair Oil Corporation, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Besides its central offices, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owns and operates a for-profit division, Deseret Management Corporation and its subsidiaries, which are headquartered in the city.

Salt Lake City is home to two Fortune 1000 companies, Zions Bancorporation and Questar Corporation. Other notable firms headquartered in the city include AlphaGraphics, Alsco, Sinclair Oil Corporation, Smith's Food and Drug (owned by national grocer Kroger), MonaVie, Myriad Genetics, Creminelli Fine Meats and Vehix.com. Notable firms based in nearby cities within the metropolitan area include Arctic Circle Restaurants, FranklinCovey, and Overstock.com. Metropolitan Salt Lake was also once the headquarters of American Stores, the Skaggs Companies, and ZCMI, one of the first department stores; it is now owned by Macy's, Inc. Former ZCMI stores now operate under the Macy's label. High-tech firms with a large presence in the suburbs include Adobe, ColcaSac, eBay, Unisys, Siebel, Micron, L-3 Communications, Telarus, and 3M. Goldman Sachs has its second-largest presence in Salt Lake City.

Other economic activities include tourism, conventions, and major suburban call centers. Tourism has increased since the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, and many hotels and restaurants were built for the events. The convention industry has expanded since construction of the Salt Palace convention centre in the late 1990s, which hosts trade shows and conventions, including the Novell BrainShare conference.

Law and government The Salt Lake City and County Building has been the seat of city government since 1894. It also served as Utah's first statehouse from 1896 until the current Utah State Capitol was dedicated on October 9, 1916.

Since 1979, Salt Lake City has had a non-partisan mayor-council form of government. The mayor and the seven councillors are elected to staggered four-year terms. Council seats are defined by geographic population boundaries. Each councilor represents approximately 26,000 citizens. Officials are not subject to term limits.

Many municipal elections throughout Utah are non-partisan, with each able to opt for ranked choice voting. Members of the city council also serve as the governing board of the city's Redevelopment Agency.

Elections are held in odd-numbered years. Candidates take office in January of the following year.

The separation of church and state was the most heated topic in the days of the Liberal Party and People's Party of Utah, when many candidates were also would-be LDS Church bishops. This tension is still reflected today with the Bridging the Religious Divide campaign. This campaign was initiated when some city residents complained the Utah political establishment was unfair in its dealings with non-LDS residents by giving the LDS Church preferential treatment, while LDS residents perceived a growing anti-Mormon bias in city politics.

The city's political demographics are considerably more liberal than the rest of Utah. While Utah as a whole is a strongly conservative and Republican state, Salt Lake City is considered a Democratic bastion. Since 1976, all of the city's mayors have been Democrats.

The city is home to several non-governmental think-tanks and advocacy groups such as the conservative Sutherland Institute, the progressive Alliance for a Better Utah, the gay-rights group Equality Utah, and the quality-growth advocates Envision Utah. Salt Lake hosted many foreign dignitaries during the 2002 Winter Olympics, and in 2006 the president of Mexico began his U.S. tour in the city and Israel's ambassador to the United States opened a cultural center. President George W. Bush visited in 2005 and again in 2006 for national veterans' conventions; both visits were protested by then-Mayor Rocky Anderson. Other political leaders such as Howard Dean and Harry Reid gave speeches in the city in 2005.

In July 2013, a new Public Safety Building housing police, fire, and emergency dispatch employees opened. It was billed as the largest net zero energy building in the nation at opening, and is expected to be certified LEED Platinum.

The Salt Lake City Fire Department operates out of 14 fire stations.

Education In 1847, LDS pioneer Jane Dillworth held the first classes in her tent for the children of the first LDS families. In the last part of the 19th century, there was a lot of controversy over how children in the area should be educated. LDS and non-LDS members could not agree on the level of religious influence in schools. Today, many LDS youths in grades 9 through 12 attend some form of religious instruction in addition to the public-school sessions, referred to as seminary. Students are released from public schools at various times of the day to attend seminary. LDS seminaries are often on church-owned property adjacent to the public school and within walking distance.

Due to high birth rates and large classrooms, Utah spends less per student than any other state, yet also spends more per capita (of total state population) than any state with the exception of Alaska. Money is always a challenge, and many businesses donate to support schools. Several districts have set up foundations to raise money. Recently, money was approved for the reconstruction of more than half of the elementary schools and one of the middle schools in the Salt Lake City School District, which serves most of the area within the city limits. There are twenty-three K-6 elementary schools, five 7–8 middle schools, three 9–12 high schools (Highland, East, and West, with the former South High being converted to the South City campus of the Salt Lake Community College), and an alternative high school (Horizonte) within the school district. In addition, Highland has recently been selected as the site for the charter school Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts (SPA). Many Catholic schools are in the city, including Judge Memorial Catholic High School. Rowland Hall-St. Mark's School, established in 1867 by Episcopal Bishop Daniel Tuttle, is the area's premier independent school.

The Salt Lake City Public Library system consists of the main library downtown, and five branches in various neighborhoods. The main library, designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie, opened in 2003. In 2006, the Salt Lake City Public Library was named "Library of the Year" by the American Library Association.

Postsecondary educational options in Salt Lake City include the University of Utah, Westminster College, Salt Lake Community College, Eagle Gate College, Violin Making School of America (now named Peter Prier & Sons Violins), and Ensign College (formally LDS Business College). Utah State University, Neumont College of Computer Science and Brigham Young University also operate education centres in the city. There are also many trade and technical schools such as Healing Mountain Massage School and the Utah College of Massage Therapy. The University of Utah is noted for its research and medical programs. It was one of the original four universities to be connected to ARPANET, the predecessor to the Internet, in 1969, and was the site of the first artificial heart transplant in 1982. Located in Salt Lake City, the Institute of Human Anatomy is a privately owned human cadaver lab.

Museums and the arts Salt Lake City is home to several museums. Near Temple Square is the Church History Museum. Operated by the LDS Church, the museum contains collections of artifacts, documents, art, photographs, tools, clothing and furniture from the history of the LDS Church, which spans nearly two centuries. West of Temple Square, at The Gateway, is the Clark Planetarium, which houses an IMAX theater, and Discovery Gateway, a children's museum. The University of Utah campus is home to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts as well as the Natural History Museum of Utah. Other museums in the area include the Utah State Historical Society, Daughters of Utah Pioneers' Pioneer Memorial Museum, Fort Douglas Military Museum, the Social Hall Heritage Museum, and The Leonardo, an art, science and technology museum housed in the city's previous library building.

Salt Lake City is home to several classic movie theaters including the Tower Theatre and the Broadway Theater, both of which host the Salt Lake Film Society members and shows. The Utah Film Center hosts free film screenings, many with post film Q and A's with filmmakers or subject experts every Tuesday night at the Salt Lake Public Library and monthly at the Rose Wagner Theater.

On December 5, 2007, the Salt Lake Chamber and Downtown Alliance announced a two-block section of downtown south of the planned City Creek Center is planned to become a new arts hub. This will include renovations to two theaters in the area and a new theater with a seating capacity of 2,400 and increased space for galleries and artists. The opening of the new facilities was anticipated to coincide with the opening of the City Creek Center in 2011, but they have yet to be completed. The $81.5 million theater site was announced, and attempts to secure funding began. The theater plans have come under criticism, however, especially from nearby smaller theaters which host Off-Broadway tours and claim such a theater cannot be supported and will hurt their business.

Performing arts Salt Lake City provides venues for both professional and amateur theatre. The city attracts traveling Broadway and Off-Broadway performances in the historic Capitol Theatre. Local professional acting companies include the Pioneer Theatre Company, Salt Lake Acting Company, and Plan-B Theatre Company, which is the only theatre company in Utah fully devoted to developing new plays by Utah playwrights.

Salt Lake City is home to The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, founded in 1847 as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The choir's weekly program, called Music and the Spoken Word, is the world's longest-running continuous network broadcast. Salt Lake City is the home to the Utah Symphony Orchestra, which was founded in 1940 and grew to become a major US orchestra during the tenure of its former music director, Maurice Abravanel, who led the orchestra from 1947 through 1979. Its music director is Thierry Fischer. The orchestra's original home was the Salt Lake Tabernacle, but since 1979 has performed at Abravanel Hall in the western downtown area. In 2002, Utah Symphony merged with Utah Opera, which was founded in 1978 by Glade Peterson and under its Artistic Director Christopher McBeth annually presents four opera productions in the Capitol Theatre. Salt Lake City area is home to the renowned children's choir from The Madeleine Choir School, and the Salt Lake Children's Choir (established in 1979).

The University of Utah features two dance departments, the Ballet Department and the Department of Modern Dance. Professional dance companies in Salt Lake City include Ballet West, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company (which celebrated its 45th anniversary season in 2008/2009) and Repertory Dance Theatre. The Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center is host to both RWDC and RDT.

Culture: Music The city has an eclectic music scene that includes hip hop, blues, rock and roll, rockabilly, punk, deathcore, horrorcore and indie groups. Popular groups or persons who started in the Wasatch Front area, or were raised in and influenced by it, include Iceburn, Eagle Twin, the Almost, the Brobecks, Meg and Dia, Royal Bliss, Shedaisy, the Summer Obsession, Theater of Ice, the Used and Chelsea Grin. Salt Lake has an underground metal scene with bands such as Gaza and Bird Eater. During the summer, Salt Lake City hosts the Twilight Concert series, a low-cost summer concert series. The series has been a part of the Salt Lake City music scene since the late 1980s. In 2010, crowds peaked at 40,000 attendees in downtown's Pioneer Park.

Festivals Salt Lake City has a thriving festival culture. Various festivals happen throughout the year, celebrating the diversity of the valley's communities. From culture, food, religion and spirituality, to dance, music, spoken word, and film, almost any type of festival can be found. Many of the festivals have been ongoing for decades.

The Utah Pride Festival is an annual LGBTQ festival, held in June. Started in 1983, it has grown to a three-day festival with attendance exceeding 50,000. It is sponsored by the Utah Pride Center. The Utah Pride Festival is Salt Lake City's second largest festival, after Days of '47, and is one of the nation's largest Pride festivals. The festival includes hundreds of vendors, food, music stars, a 5k run, a dyke and trans march, and an interfaith service by the Utah Pride Interfaith Coalition.

The Utah Arts Festival has been held annually since 1977 with an average attendance of 80,000. About 130 booths are available for visual artists, and five performance venues for musicians.

The Dark Arts Festival is an annual 3-day festival dedicated to the goth and industrial subcultures. The festival started in 1993, and is hosted at the local goth club Area 51. The festival contracts bands to play during the event. 2015's lineup included Tragic Black, The Gothsicles, Adrian H & the Wounds, and Hocico.

The Utah Arts Alliance hosts an annual Urban Arts Festival, usually drawing over 20,000, and featuring artists displaying and selling paintings, sculpture, photography, and jewelry. Live music is provided, mixing rock, hip hop, R&B, funk, and jazz, and workshops for interests such as skateboarding and gardening take place. The festival also hosts the Voice of the City film festival which allows local filmmakers to show their version of Salt Lake.

The Jewish Arts Festival, hosted by the IJ and Jeanné Wagner JCC of Salt Lake City, showcases Jewish culture through workshops, theater, food, film, art, and contemporary music from the local and global Jewish communities.

The Sugar House neighborhood holds an annual arts festival on July 4, with local artists, performances, music, food, and vendors. The festival coincides with the fireworks show at Sugar House Park in the evening.

Salt Lake City also hosts portions of the Sundance Film Festival. The festival, which is held each year, brings many cultural icons, movie stars, celebrities, and thousands of film buffs to see the largest independent film festival in the United States. The headquarters of the event is in nearby Park City. There are several other annual festivals, including FilmQuest, Salty Horror Con & Film, Damn These Heels, and the Voice of the city. FilmQuest began in 2014 and features selected genres such as fantasy and science fiction. Salty Horror, which began in 2010, is a competition-based horror film festival. The Utah Film Center presents two annual film festivals Damn These Heels, which began in 1994 focuses on independent, documentary, and foreign feature-length films surrounding LGBTQ issues, ideas, and art. The second festival of the Utah Film centre is the Tumbleweeds film festival for kids. This festival began in 2010, allows families to experience international films and media workshops. Tumbleweeds works to increasing kids awareness of different cultures, encourages independent voices, nurtures media making skills and strengthens critical review. Voice of the City film festival is part of the Urban Arts Festival and allows local filmmakers to show their version of Salt Lake.

The 2015 Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival was the first performance festival in Salt Lake City. The 4-day festival included various performances involving music, dance, theatre, spoken word, circus arts, magic, and puppetry.

The Living Traditions Festival is a 3-day multicultural arts festival hosted by the Salt Lake City Arts Council, started in 1985. The festival celebrates traditional dance, music, crafts and food from the various contemporary ethnic communities of Salt Lake City.

Earth Jam is an annual festival celebrated in Salt Lake's Liberty Park to celebrate Earth Day through music. The free festival focuses on music, and hosts speakers, vendors, food, performing art, a Goddess pageant, and children's garden.

The Live Green SLC! Festival aims to showcase sustainable products, ideas, and solutions from renewable technologies for the everyday household. The festival promotes education, sustainability, and accessibility to green and organic products and services.

Craft Lake City DIY (Do-It-Yourself) festival is an artisan festival that promotes the use of science and technology to help local artists produce their crafts such as silk screens, jewelry, and other mediums. The festival promotes education through workshops, galleries, and demonstrations which includes various vendors and food.

The 9th and 9th Street Festival is an annual neighborhood festival celebration of art, music, and crafts, held at 900 East/900 South Streets.

The Catholic Nuns of Carmelite Monastery hold an annual fair each autumn in Holladay, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The festival includes music, food, a live auction, Golf for the Nuns tournament, a prize giveaway, and a 5k Run for the Nuns road race.

The Sri Sri Ganesh Hindu Temple of Utah, in Salt Lake City, has an annual Ganesh Festival called Ganesh Chathurthi. The 10-day festival is devoted to rites of worship of the Hindu God Ganesh. In 2014 the festival was hosted at the Krishna Temple of Salt Lake since the Ganesh temple's exterior was under construction, which made the inner temple inaccessible.

India Fest is hosted by the Krishna Temples of Salt Lake City and Spanish Fork, Utah. The festival includes food, dances, drama and a pageant of the Ramayana. Since 2011 the Krishna Temple of Salt Lake City has held an annual Festival of Colors, similar to the famous festival at the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork.

The Great Salt Lake City Yoga Festival was in its fifth year (as of 2015). 2015 saw the first Downtown Yoga festival in Salt Lake City. Both festivals are intended to inspire yogis in the community by teaching about yoga, healthy living, raw food, and traditional yoga music.

The local Pagan community has celebrated an annual Salt Lake City Pagan Pride Day since 2001. The festival features rituals, workshops, dancers, bards, vendors, and requires only a can of food donation for admission.

Members of the steampunk subculture have an annual two-day festival, Steamfest. It hosts vendors, panels, and cosplayers dressed in the fashion of various punk cultures, mostly around steam, deco, and diesel punk.

Rose Park hosts an annual spring festival, to display the community's diversity. It includes dancers, music, a 5k run, silent auction and food.

The Greek Festival, held at the downtown Greek Orthodox Church cathedral during the weekend after Labor Day, celebrates Utah's Greek heritage. The 3-day event includes Greek music, dance groups, cathedral tours, booths and a large buffet. Attendance ranges from 35,000 to 50,000. It celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2015.

Two Italian-themed annual fests are held in Salt Lake City. The Italian cultural street festival Ferragosto (in August) celebrates Italian food and culture from Italian communities in Salt Lake City. Festa Italian is a 2-day festival in September that highlights regions of Italy with music, food, and entertainment. The proceeds go to local charities.

Other cultural festivals in Salt Lake City include the Peruvian Festival, the Utah Brazilian Festival, the Polynesian Cultural Festival, the Nihon Matsuri Japanese Festival, and the Buddhist Obon Japanese Festival.

Conventions Salt Lake City is host to a number of conventions that come to the Crossroads of the West. With several large venues, including the Salt Palace and Delta Center in downtown, Salt Lake is capable of accommodating conventions upwards of 100,000 people.

Salt Lake Comic Con, which started in 2013, had over 100,000 attendance within its first few years. Because of this, Salt Lake Comic Con started having a second event, FanX (Fan Experience) to give those who were not able to come to the fall Comic Con, a spring-time opportunity. The convention broke inaugural records in 2013, hosting the largest crowd of any inaugural comic convention. The second event, FanX of 2014, and the fall event of 2014 both broke attendance records for the event, surpassing 120,000 people. The convention was sued by San Diego Comic-Con, but won the right to use the trademark of comic con in its name. In 2014, Stan Lee called the Salt Lake Comic Con "the greatest comic con in the world". On September 25, 2015, the Con broke the world record for the most costumed comic book cosplay characters in one location. At 1784 people, this beat the previous record.

Crystal Mountain Pony Con, an annual My Little Pony convention, features cosplayers, vendors, and panels. 2015 saw more than 800 bronies in attendance.

Salt Lake hosts an annual International Tattoo Convention in the spring, featuring mostly nationally and internationally noted tattoo artists.

Fantasy Con hosted its first convention, the first of its kind, in Salt Lake City in 2014. After a successful run, the convention reorganized to better serve the needs of the fantasy community. Intended to be annual, it did not host one for 2015, and further plans have not been announced.

Salt Lake City saw its first Gaming Convention in 2015. It included contests, cosplay, panels, and focused on console, computer, card, and tabletop gaming.

Events Although the LDS church holds a large influence, the city is culturally and religiously diverse and the site of many cultural activities.

A major state holiday is Pioneer Day, July 24, the anniversary of the Mormon pioneers' entry into the Salt Lake Valley. It is celebrated with a week's worth of activities, including a children parade, a horse parade, the featured Days of '47 Parade (one of the nation's largest parades), a rodeo, and a fireworks show at Liberty Park. Fireworks can be legally sold and set off around July 24.

First Night on New Year's Eve, a celebration emphasizing family-friendly entertainment and activities held at Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah, culminates with a fireworks display at midnight.

Beginning in 2004, Salt Lake City has been the host of the international Salt Lake City Marathon. In 2006, Real Madrid and many of the nation's best cyclists had engagements.

Salt Lake City has begun to host its own events in the last few years, most notably the Friday Night Flicks, free movies in the city's parks, and the Mayor's health and fitness awareness program, Salt Lake City Gets Fit. Salt Lake City also hosts recurring food-truck gatherings organized by the Food Truck League, including regular lunchtime events at the downtown Gallivan Center.

Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. At that time, Salt Lake City was the most populated area to hold a Winter Olympic Games. The event put Salt Lake City in the international spotlight and is regarded by many as one of the most successful Winter Olympics ever. Salt Lake City will host the Olympics for the second time in 2034.

In February 2002, Torino, Italy was granted an Olympic Sister City relationship with Salt Lake City, which became a Friendship City relationship in October 2003. On January 13, 2007, an agreement was signed, where Salt Lake City and Torino officially became Olympic Sister Cities.

On the third Friday of every month, the Salt Lake Gallery Stroll presents a free evening of visual art; many galleries and other art-related businesses stay open late, allowing enthusiasts to tour various exhibits after hours. Sidewalk artists, street performers and musicians also sometimes participate in these monthly events.

Media Salt Lake City has many diverse media outlets. Most of the major television and radio stations are based in or near the city. The Salt Lake City metropolitan area is ranked as the 28th largest radio and 33rd largest television market in the United States.

Print media include two major daily newspapers, The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News (previously the Deseret Morning News). Other more specialized publications include Now Salt Lake, Salt Lake City Weekly (a weekly independent publication), Nuestro Mundo of the Spanish-speaking community, QSaltLake and The Pillar for the LGBT community. Other Spanish-language newspapers include El Estandar, Amigo Hispano (online only), and El Observador de Utah, which offers free residential delivery. There are a number of local magazines, such as Wasatch Journal (a quarterly magazine covering Utah's arts, culture, and outdoors), Utah Homes & Garden, Salt Lake Magazine (a bimonthly lifestyle magazine), CATALYST Magazine (a monthly environmental, health, arts and politics magazine), SLUG Magazine, an alternative underground music magazine. Utah Stories is a magazine that covers local issues, primarily focused on the Salt Lake Valley.

KTVX 4 signed on the air as Utah's first television station in 1947 under the experimental callsign W6SIX, becoming the Mountain Time Zone's oldest and third-oldest west of the Mississippi. It is Salt Lake City's ABC affiliate. KSL-TV 5, the local NBC affiliate, has downtown studios at "Broadcast House" in the Triad Center office complex. KSL is operated by Bonneville International, a company owned by the Deseret Management Corporation, both of which are for-profit subsidiaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). KUTV 2 is Salt Lake City's CBS affiliate. KSTU 13 is the area's Fox affiliate, owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. KUCW 30 is Salt Lake City's CW outlet owned and operated by Nexstar Media Group, and is part of a duopoly with KTVX. KJZZ-TV 14 is an independent station owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and is part of a triopoly with KUTV and St. George-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KMYU 12.

Because television and radio stations serve a larger area (usually the entire state of Utah, as well as parts of western Wyoming, southern Idaho, parts of Montana, and eastern Nevada), ratings returns tend to be higher than those in similar-sized cities. Some Salt Lake radio stations are carried on broadcast translator networks throughout the state.

Salt Lake City has become a case of market saturation on the FM dial; one cannot go through more than about two frequencies on an FM radio tuner before encountering another broadcasting station. Several companies, most notably Millcreek Broadcasting and Simmons Media, have constructed broadcast towers on Humpy Peak in the Uinta Mountains to the east. These towers allow frequencies allocated to nearby mountain communities to be boosted by smaller, low-powered FM transmitters along the Wasatch Front.

Tourist Industry As the headquarters of the LDS Church, the city has many LDS-related sites open to visitors. The most popular is Temple Square, which includes the Salt Lake Temple (not open to the general public) and visitor centres open to the public. Temple Square includes the historic Salt Lake Tabernacle, home of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, now called The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. The LDS Conference Center is north of Temple Square. The Family History Library, the world's largest genealogical library, is west of Temple Square. It is run by the LDS Church and is open to the public. The Eagle Gate Monument is east of Temple Square.

In 2004, the Salt Lake City main library received an Institute Honor Award for Architecture by the American Institute of Architects and features a distinctive architectural style. The building's roof serves as a viewpoint for the Salt Lake Valley. The Utah State Capitol Building offers marble floors and a dome similar to the building that houses the US Congress. Other notable historical buildings include the Thomas Kearns Mansion (now the Governor's Mansion), City and County Building (built 1894), the Kearns Building on Main Street, St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral (built 1874), and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Madeleine (built 1909).

The Olympic Cauldron Park at Rice-Eccles Stadium features the Olympic Cauldron from the games, a visitor centre, and the Hoberman Arch. The Olympic Legacy Plaza, at The Gateway, features a dancing fountain set to music and the names of 30,000 Olympic volunteers carved in stone. The Utah Olympic Park, near Park City, features the Olympic ski jumps, as well as bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton runs. Today, the Olympic Park is used for year-round training and competitions. Visitors can watch the various events and even ride a bobsled. The Utah Olympic Oval, in nearby Kearns, was home to the speed skating events and is now open to the public. Other popular Olympic venues include Soldier Hollow, the site of cross-country skiing events, south-east of Salt Lake near Heber City.

Trolley Square is an indoor and outdoor mall with independent art boutiques, restaurants, and national retailers. The buildings housing the shops are renovated trolley barns with cobblestone streets. The Gateway, an outdoor shopping mall, has many national restaurants, clothing retailers, a movie theater, the Clark Planetarium, the Discovery Gateway, a music venue called The Depot, and the Olympic Legacy Plaza.

On October 3, 2006, the LDS Church, which owned the ZCMI Center Mall and Crossroads Plaza Mall, both on Main Street, announced plans to demolish the malls, a skyscraper, and several other buildings to make way for the $1.5 billion City Creek Center redevelopment. It combined new office and residential buildings (one of which is the city's third-tallest building) around an outdoor shopping centre featuring a stream, fountain, and other outdoor amenities; it opened on March 22, 2012. Sugar House is a neighborhood with a small town main street shopping area and numerous old parks, which is served by the S Line (formerly known as Sugar House Streetcar).

Other attractions near Salt Lake City include Hogle Zoo, Timpanogos Cave National Monument, Golden Spike National Historic Site (where the world's first transcontinental railroad was joined), Lagoon Amusement Park, the Great Salt Lake, the Bonneville Salt Flats, Gardner Historic Village, one of the nation's largest dinosaur museums at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, the sculpture Out of the Blue, commonly referred to as "The Whale" by locals, and the world's largest human-made excavation at Bingham Canyon Mine.

Sports and recreation Winter sports, such as skiing and snowboarding, are popular activities in the Wasatch Mountains east of Salt Lake City. Eight ski resorts lie within 50 miles (80 km) of the city. Alta, Brighton, Solitude, and Snowbird all lie directly to the south-east in the Wasatch Mountains, while nearby Park City contains three more resorts. The popularity of the ski resorts has increased by a third since the 2002 Winter Olympics. Summer activities such as hiking, camping, rock climbing, mountain biking, and other related outdoor activities are popular in the mountains. The many small reservoirs and rivers in the Wasatch Mountains are popular for boating, fishing, and other water-related activities.

Salt Lake City has hosted two of the most important and most watched games in basketball. The 1979 NCAA Division I Basketball Championship Game took place at the Special Events Center on the campus of the University of Utah, where Magic Johnson met Larry Bird for the first time in their legendary rivalry. Johnson's Michigan State team defeated Bird's previously unbeaten Indiana State team in the most watched college basketball game in history. Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals took place at the Delta Center, where Michael Jordan played his final game as a member of the Chicago Bulls. Jordan's Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz to win their sixth championship in the most watched game in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Professional sports Salt Lake City is home to the Utah Jazz of the NBA, who moved from New Orleans in 1979 and play their home games in the Delta Center (formerly known as EnergySolutions Arena and later as Vivint Arena). Until the establishment of the Utah Mammoth in 2024, the Jazz were the only team of the four top-level professional sports leagues in the state. The franchise has enjoyed steady success, at one point making the playoffs in 22 out of 25 seasons, led by Hall of Fame duo Karl Malone and John Stockton. The duo won two Western Conference championships together, but the franchise has yet to win an NBA championship. Salt Lake City was home to a professional basketball team, the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association (ABA), between 1970 and 1975. They won one championship in the city (in 1971) and enjoyed some of the strongest support of any ABA team, but they folded just months before the ABA–NBA merger, thus preventing them from being absorbed by the NBA. Their success may have had a hand in the decision by the struggling Jazz to relocate to Salt Lake City in 1979. Salt Lake City was home to an original Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team, the Utah Starzz, in 1997. The team relocated and became the San Antonio Silver Stars.

Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer was founded in 2004, initially playing at Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah before the soccer-specific America First Field (formerly Rio Tinto Stadium) was completed in 2008 in neighboring Sandy. The team won their first MLS championship by defeating the Los Angeles Galaxy at the 2009 MLS Cup. RSL advanced to the finals of the CONCACAF Champions League in 2011 but lost 3–2 on aggregate, and also advanced to the 2013 MLS Cup Final. In 2019, the club expanded to include the Utah Royals FC, a professional women's team in the National Women's Soccer League, though the club ceased operations in December 2020, transferring its player-related assets to the Kansas City Current and later restarted operations in 2023. The city has also played host to several international soccer games.

Beginning in the 2024–25 season, the Utah Mammoth began playing in the National Hockey League's (NHL) Central Division. Their home arena is the Delta Center, alongside the Jazz. The franchise is owned by the Smith Entertainment Group, and was founded with all the transferred assets of the now-inactive Arizona Coyotes.

Utah Warriors is a professional Major League Rugby team that launched its first season in 2018, with Zions Bank Stadium as its home venue.

Arena football expanded into the city in 2006 with the Utah Blaze of the Arena Football League. They recorded the highest average attendance in the league in their first season. After the original AFL folded in 2009, the future of the Blaze was unclear. However, a new league branded as the Arena Football League began play in 2010. The Blaze franchise was restored and is playing in the new league. The Salt Lake Stallions of the AAF were also based in the city and played most of one season in 2019 before ceasing operations.

There are also two minor league teams in the city. The Pacific Coast League's Salt Lake Bees, the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels, play at Smith's Ballpark and were established in 1994 as the Buzz. Their name was changed to the Stingers in 2002, and then to the Bees, a historical Salt Lake City baseball team name, in 2006. The Utah Grizzlies ice hockey team of the ECHL were established in 2005, replacing the previous Grizzlies team that existed from when they relocated from Denver in 1995 to 2005 in the International Hockey League (IHL), and later, the American Hockey League (AHL). They play at the Maverik Center in neighboring West Valley City.

Transport: Road Salt Lake City lies at the convergence of two cross-country freeways; I-15 running north–south, and I-80, which connects downtown with Salt Lake City International Airport to the west and exits to the east through Parley's Canyon. I-215 forms a 270-degree loop around the city. SR-201 extends to the western Salt Lake City suburbs. The Legacy Parkway (SR-67), a controversial and oft-delayed freeway, opened September 2008, heading north from I-215 into Davis County along the east shore of the Great Salt Lake. Travel to and from Davis County is complicated by geography as roads have to squeeze through the narrow opening between the Great Salt Lake to the west and the Wasatch Mountains to the east. Only four roads run between the two counties to carry the load of rush hour traffic from Davis County.

Salt Lake City's surface street system is laid out on a simple grid pattern. Road names are numbered with a north, south, east, or west designation, with the grid originating at the south-east corner of Temple Square downtown. One of the visions of Brigham Young and the early settlers was to create wide, spacious streets, which characterizes downtown. The grid pattern remains fairly intact in the city, except on the East Bench, where geography makes it impossible. The entire Salt Lake Valley is laid out on the same numbered grid system, although it becomes increasingly irregular further into the suburbs. Many streets carry both a name and a grid coordinate. Usually both can be used as an address. US-89 enters the city from the north-west, becomes 900 West Street through the northern part of the city, and then exits Salt Lake City as State Street (100 East).

Transport: Public Salt Lake City's mass transit service is operated by the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) and includes a bus system, light rail, and a commuter rail line. Intercity services are provided by Amtrak and various intercity bus lines. These services are all interconnected at the Salt Lake City Intermodal Hub (Salt Lake Central Station), west of the city center.

Transit bus service UTA's bus system extends throughout the Wasatch Front from Brigham City in the north to Santaquin in the south and as far west as Grantsville, as well as east to Park City. UTA also operates routes to the ski resorts in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, as well as Sundance in Provo Canyon, during the ski season (typically November to April). Approximately 60,000 people ride the bus daily, although ridership has reportedly declined since TRAX was constructed.

Light rail The 44.8-mile (72.1 km) light rail system, called TRAX, has three lines. • The Blue Line, which opened in 1999 and was expanded in 2008, travels from the Salt Lake City Intermodal Hub (Salt Lake Central Station), south to Draper. • The Red Line, which originally opened in 2001 and was expanded in 2011, runs from the University of Utah, south-west through Salt Lake to Daybreak in South Jordan. • The Green Line, opened in 2011 and runs from the Salt Lake City International Airport to West Valley City (via Downtown Salt Lake City), with the extension to the airport having opened in April 2013.

The system has 50 stations, 23 of which are within the city limits. Daily ridership averaged 60,600 as of the fourth quarter of 2012, making TRAX the ninth most-ridden light rail system in the country.

Commuter rail The commuter rail system, FrontRunner, opened April 26, 2008, extends from the Intermodal Hub north through Davis County to Pleasant View on the northern border of Weber County. Daily ridership on the line averages 7,800, as of the fourth quarter of 2012. An expansion called "FrontRunner South", which extended FrontRunner to Provo in central Utah County, was completed in December 2012 as part of UTA's FrontLines 2015 project. These extensions were made possible by a sales tax hike for road improvements, light rail, and commuter rail approved by voters on November 7, 2006. In addition, a $500 million letter of intent was signed by the Federal Transit Administration for all four of the planned TRAX extensions in addition to the FrontRunner extension to Provo. In March 2018, UTA announced FrontRunner would no longer run from Ogden to Pleasant View beginning in mid-August.

Intercity bus and rail services Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Salt Lake City operating its California Zephyr daily between Chicago and Emeryville, California. Greyhound Lines serves Salt Lake City as well. Their nine daily buses provide service to Denver, Reno, Las Vegas, and Portland, Oregon. Both of these stations are at the Salt Lake City Intermodal Hub.

Air transportation Salt Lake City International Airport is 4 miles (6.4 km) west of downtown, and falls entirely within the boundary of Salt Lake City. Delta Air Lines operates a hub at the airport, serving over 100 non-stop destinations in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, as well as Paris, London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt. SkyWest Airlines operates its largest hub at the airport as Delta Connection, and serves 243 cities as Delta Connection and United Express. The airport is served by four UTA bus routes, and a UTA-operated light rail line (TRAX) opened services on April 14, 2013. A total of 22,029,488 passengers flew through Salt Lake City International Airport in 2007, representing a 2.19% increase over 2006. The airport ranks as the 21st busiest airport in the United States in total passengers, is consistently rated first in the country in on-time arrivals and departures, and has the second-lowest number of cancellations. The airport is undergoing a $3.6 billion rebuild that is expected to be completed in 2026, resulting in a complete reworking of the terminals and parking areas.

There are two general aviation airports nearby, although they lie outside Salt Lake City: • South Valley Regional Airport in West Jordan • Skypark Airport in Woods Cross.

Salt Lake City owns and operates the international airport, as well as the South Valley Regional Airport and the Tooele Valley Airport through its department of airports.

Transport: Cycling Salt Lake City is considered a bicycle-friendly city. In 2010, Salt Lake City was designated as a Silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists, placing the city in the top 18 bicycling cities in the U.S. with a population of at least 100,000. Many streets in the city have bike lanes, and the city has since published a bicycle map. However, off-road biking in the valley has suffered significantly as access to trails and paths has declined with the increase of housing developments and land privatization. In 2012, the Salt Lake Transportation Division launched BikeSLC.com, which consolidates the city's information about bicycle routes, bicycle safety, and promotions. The website includes a form for business owners to request bicycle parking racks to be installed on public property free of charge close to their businesses, a service that has a months-long waiting list.

Salt Lake City was the first US city to use the "Green Shared Lane", or "super sharrow", a 4-foot (1.2 m) wide green band down the middle of a travel lane where adding a dedicated bike lane is unfeasible. Other cities such as Long Beach, Oakland, and Edina, Minnesota have introduced similar designs. These four cities are participating in a study by the Federal Highway Administration to measure the effect of the design on automobile speed and passing distance when overtaking bicycles, crashes between automobiles and bicycles, and whether it encourages more bicycle ridership, along with other metrics.

On September 25, 2010, UTA in partnership with Salt Lake City, the Utah Department of Transportation, the Wasatch Front Regional Council, and the Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Committee, opened a Bicycle Transit Center (BTC) at the Intermodal Hub. The BTC is anticipated to serve multi-modal commuters from TRAX and FrontRunner, as well as providing a secure bicycle parking space for bicycle tourists who want to tour the city on foot or transit.

In April 2013, Salt Lake City launched a bike share program known as GREENbike. The program allows users to pay $5 per day to access bicycles, with the option of purchasing a weekly or annual pass. The program launched with ten stations in the downtown core. By October 2014, the number of stations had expanded to 20. In addition to the bike-sharing program, eighty businesses in the city participate in the Bicycle Benefits program, which provides discounts to customers who arrive by bicycle. The city is also home to the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective.

As a result of this increasing support, Salt Lake City's on-road bikeway network has grown to encompass 200 lane miles. In July 2014, the city began construction of a protected bicycle lane on a 1.35 miles (2.17 km) segment of 300 South between 300 West and 600 East. The project received significant opposition from business owners and residents along the route because of concerns about the 30% reduction in car parking spaces and disruptions resulting from construction. The construction proceeded in stages, with the last stage completed in October 2014. The performance of the protected bicycle lane (specifically, its role in encouraging more bicycle ridership) will influence future plans for making the city more bicycle-friendly.

One example of the city's cycling and walking routes is the loop around City Creek Canyon on Bonneville Boulevard. The city has designated the road as one lane only (one-way) for motor vehicles, turning the other lane over to two-way cyclists and pedestrians. From the last Monday in May to the last weekend in September, City Creek Canyon Road itself is closed to motor vehicles on odd-numbered days, while bicycles are prohibited on even-numbered days and holidays. Bicycles are allowed every day for the rest of the year.

Water Salt Lake City derives most of its water from local Wasatch Mountain snowpack, the rest coming from groundwater. The primary water provider is the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities, which was established in 1876, making it the oldest retail water provider in the West.

Energy The primary electricity provider in Salt Lake City, and Utah as a whole, is Rocky Mountain Power. Natural gas is provided by Dominion Energy.