The First Question

The first question I am asked when I tell people our plans to move to Utah is "Why"?  My knee jerk reaction is "Why not?"  However ...

In 2003, I was laid off from my job in the tech industry and a year later, still unemployed.  I was at the bottom of the career ladder and Skip had opportunities to move up his career ladder.  We decided to be open to relocation.  We moved 6 times in 6 years due to promotions.  My husband, Skip, has been laid off with 30 days notice. He worked for a major transportation company for more than 10 years.  This is not an uncommon situation in the current U.S. economy.  We have seen too many people who are unemployed, living in a terrible job market.  Their economic future is pretty grim.  We decided we would not be those people. 

So, where to go?  My hubby and I are geeks so we came up with a weighted scoring model to determine the optimal place to seek our fortunes. Our categories were unemployment rates (current and historical), 2nd Amendment protections, politics, cost of living (current and historical), climate and types of industry (tech and transportation).  After a few weeks of research, we determined that the Salt Lake City, Utah area was the place.