Salt Lake City

For thousands of years the Salt Lake Valley was the home of Shoshone, Ute, Paiute and Goshute peoples, and at the time of settlement it lay within Northwestern Shoshone territory. In July 1847 Latter-day Saint pioneers led by Brigham Young, escaping persecution further east, entered the semi-arid valley and immediately began digging the irrigation network that let the city grow. When measles devastated the Shoshone that year, Shoshone people taught the settlers to dig sego lily bulbs for food. Great Salt Lake City, as it was first called, was laid out on a wide compass grid measured from Temple Square, and dropped "Great" from its name in 1868.

The completion of the transcontinental railway at Promontory Summit in 1869, a branch line to the city in 1870, and mining booms in the surrounding mountains brought immigrants who were not Latter-day Saints, including Greek, Japanese and Chinese communities. Conflict with the federal government over polygamy led to the imprisonment of many church leaders in the 1880s, until the church's Manifesto of 1890 began its abandonment of plural marriage; Utah became a state in 1896, and the temple, begun in 1853, was dedicated in 1893.

In the 20th century the city became a regional centre of rail, mining and government. Downtown stagnated in the age of suburban sprawl, then revived after TRAX light rail opened in the late 1990s, the 2002 Winter Olympics put the city in the international spotlight, and the City Creek Center opened downtown. In 2024 the International Olympic Committee chose Salt Lake City to host the Winter Games again in 2034.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shapes the city's rhythm and skyline: its headquarters, Temple Square, the Conference Center and the world's largest genealogical library stand together downtown. The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, founded in 1847 just after the pioneers arrived, has broadcast its weekly programme Music & the Spoken Word every week since 1929, and Pioneer Day on 24 July, with the Days of '47 parade and rodeo, is the city's biggest celebration.

Yet Salt Lake City is less uniform than its reputation. Its Catholic, Episcopal and Greek Orthodox cathedrals date from the city's mining-boom diversity, about a fifth of residents are Hispanic, the valley has a large Pacific Islander population, mainly Samoan and Tongan, and the city has a significant LGBT community whose Utah Pride Festival in June is one of the largest in the country. Arts festivals, the free Gallery Stroll on the third Friday of each month, and the Greek Festival each September fill the calendar.

Sport is followed closely. The Utah Jazz have played here since moving from New Orleans in 1979, and the Utah Mammoth brought the NHL to the Delta Center in 2024. The rivalry between the University of Utah and Brigham Young University divides families. Winter belongs to the canyons, where skiers drive up before work, and the city's identity as an outdoor capital has grown with each Olympic bid.

About 200,000 people lived in the city at the 2020 census, in a metropolitan area of an estimated 1.3 million; the urban corridor of the Wasatch Front from Ogden to Provo holds about 2.8 million. The metro area is projected to keep growing quickly, and new apartment towers are rising downtown and in Sugar House.

The economy has moved from railways, steel and mining to government, trade, professional services and health care, with Intermountain Healthcare the largest health provider in the region and the University of Utah a major employer; technology firms have a large presence in the suburbs. The church is also a major employer.

The city is divided east and west. The eastern neighbourhoods — The Avenues, Federal Heights, Yalecrest, 9th and 9th and Sugar House — are more affluent and closer to the university and the foothills, while Rose Park, Glendale and Poplar Grove on the west side are more working-class and diverse. Daily life is car-centred but transit is improving, and residents head for the canyons in every season. The big local worries are winter air pollution, when inversions trap smog in the valley, the shrinking Great Salt Lake, housing costs and the risk of a major earthquake on the faults beneath downtown.

Salt Lake City is not famous for its cooking, but it has one invention every visitor meets: fry sauce, a pink mix of ketchup and mayonnaise served by Don Carlos Edwards at the first Arctic Circle restaurant in Salt Lake City in 1950 and still offered by the chain. Burger places, drive-throughs and family restaurants are common.

The most interesting eating follows immigration. The west side has Mexican and other Latin American restaurants, bakeries and grocers, and one long-popular Mexican restaurant on North Temple draws queues; and the Greek Festival each September is a reminder of the Greek community that came for the mines and railways. Italian communities hold festivals of food and culture in August and September.

Downtown filled with new breweries and restaurants in the 2010s, and food trucks gather at the Gallivan Center for lunch. From June to October the farmers' market in Pioneer Park sells produce from the valley's farms. Drinking follows Utah's strict laws: stronger beer, wine and spirits come from state-run liquor stores, restaurants serve alcohol only with food, and many locals do not drink alcohol at all.