Utah is known for its top-rated ski slopes, mountain resorts, and vast natural landscape that lends itself to a slew of outdoor activities.
Park City in particular, located east of Salt Lake City, especially optimizes the exhilarating outdoors, housing three of the best ski resorts in the world as well as Utah Olympic Park. However, skiing doesn’t fully encapsulate the essence of Park City. The terrain also allows for mountain biking, horseback riding, golfing, and paddle boarding, just to name a few.
Park City also specializes in luxury resort living, which blends sumptuous indoor facilities with the expansive outdoors. Promontory Club, a private residential community that is the epitome of luxury living, spans over 6,400 acres and offers a myriad of indoor and outdoor amenities. Chris Messick, the director of real estate sales at Promontory Club, describes it as a four-season private club, with relatively less humid summers and lighter winters.
“As people started spending more time here in the summer, people figured out Park City has more of a four-season feeling than some of the other spots. Summer is as important to us as winter,” Messick explained.
Messick credits Promontory’s appeal to its diverse selection of amenities, all of which occupy 190,000 square feet. Among them are a world-class equestrian center, a clubhouse and spa, multiple golf courses, a beach club, an Outfitter’s Cabin, from which members can embark on a number of outdoor adventures, and over 30 miles of trails.
According to Kerry Oman, associate broker at Summit Sotheby’s International Realty, this lifestyle along with the ongoing pandemic has yielded a booming real estate market in Park City.
“Because of COVID-19, we’ve seen an increase in out-of-state buyers coming and spending longer periods of time or even relocating to Park City. The last 12 months in Park City has been phenomenal with unprecedented growth. The demand has
been extremely high and properties sell really fast,” Oman said.
Along with Promontory Club, Oman speaks highly of Glenwild Country Club, which is rated the No. 1 golf course in Utah, and Deer Valley Resort, one of the world’s best with breathtaking mountain views. The opulence of these resorts are juxtaposed with Park City’s small-town charm. Visitors can venture to Main Street for quality shopping, fine dining, and historic attractions. Both Messick and Oman reiterate that Park City surprises people with its beautiful summers and the accessibility of outdoor activities during the season, making it an ideal, year-round retreat.
Photos courtesy of Promontory Club.
This story originally appeared in Unique Homes Fall ’21 issue. Click here to see the digital version.
State capitals are oftentimes thriving cities with a lot of economic and cultural value. In fact, they can be some of the best places to live in America. But not all state capitals are created equal. WalletHub has put together a list of 2018’s Best State Capitals to live in. And though 17 of them are the largest cities in their states, the biggest population doesn’t always represent the best quality of life.
In order to determine which state capitals make the best homes, WalletHub compared all 50 across 51 key indicators of affordability, economic strength, quality of education and health, and overall living standards. Our data set ranges from cost of living to K–12 school-system quality to number of attractions.
Best State Capitals to Live In
- Austin, TX
- Madison, WI
- Boise, ID
- Lincoln, NE
- Bismarck, ND
- Raleigh, NC
- Denver, CO
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Juneau, AK
- Concord, NH
- Columbus, OH
- Helena, MT
- Olympia, WA
- Oklahoma City, OK
- St. Paul, MN
- Cheyenne, WY
- Montpelier, VT
- Pierre, SD
- Des Moines, IA
- Phoenix, AZ
Pictured above: Columbus, OH waterfront; Oklahoma City, OK
Out of these places:
- Juneau, Alaska, has the highest median household income (adjusted for cost of living), $67,310, which is 2.6 times higher than in Hartford, Connecticut, the city with the lowest at $26,264.
- Bismarck, North Dakota, has the lowest unemployment rate, 1.7 percent, which is 4.6 times lower than in Hartford, Connecticut, the city with the highest at 7.8 percent.
- Providence, Rhode Island, has the lowest share of state-, local- and federal-government employees, 8.4 percent, which is 4.6 times lower than in Juneau, Alaska, the city with the highest at 38.4 percent.
- Madison, Wisconsin has the highest share of adults 25 years and older with at least a bachelor’s degree, 56.3 percent, which is 4.7 times higher than in Trenton, New Jersey, the city with the lowest at 11.9 percent.
For the full story, and the entire list of best small cities, visit WalletHub.com.
Phoneix, AZ
Denver, CO