The 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Utah For 2022

The 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Utah For 2022

When it comes to getting a good deal, there’s nowhere better in Utah than Hyrum. With a median home price of $221,900 and a median income of $66,902, Hyrum has the 11th best home price to income ratio in the state. On top of that, Hyrum residents pay the ninth smallest proportion of their income on rent statewide. In other words, it doesn’t really matter if you’re buying or renting in Hyrum; the city’s affordability stands out. And if you’re looking for cheap things to do in Hyrum, definitely hit up Hyrum Lake State Park for a picnic or some top-notch fishing.

Hyrum is located 45 minutes north of Ogden.

If you’re looking to move to the Ogden area on a budget, look no further than Washington Terrace, the second most affordable place to call home in Utah.

The overall cost of living in Washington Terrace is 12% lower than the statewide average, but housing costs are even cheaper than that. Washington Terrace has the 11th least expensive homes in the state, with a median price of $216,700.

With a high median household income of $65,204, everything is just that much more affordable here. If you want to test the waters in Washington Terrace, the median price of rent is $863.

Being so close to Ogden means you have all the big-city amenities without the cost. Some nearby things are even free, like hiking up the Waterfall Canyon Trail, which ends with spectacular views of the valley and a 200-foot waterfall.

Brigham City is a city in Box Elder County, Utah, United States. The population was 17,899 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Box Elder County. It lies on the western slope of the Wellsville Mountains, a branch of the Wasatch Range at the western terminus of Box Elder Canyon. Brigham City saw most of its growth during the 1950s and 1960s, but has seen a struggling economy and stagnating growth since then. It is near the headquarters of ATK Thiokol, the company that created the solid rocket boosters for the Space Shuttle.

A suburb of Ogden, Sunset ranks as the fourth cheapest place to live in Utah for 2022. Renting in Sunset will cost you about $962/month, nearly half the average rent in Utah. But that’s not what lands Sunset so high up on this list. At $181,800, Sunset has the fourth cheapest homes for sale in the state. And, even more importantly, residents of Sunset pay the smallest percentage of their income on their mortgage, so there’s plenty of money leftover for weekend trips to Ogden.

Coming in as Utah’s fifth least expensive place is Smithfield, a city of 11,670 situated just north of Logan. What’s great about Smithfield is that its median household income of $73,788 is on level with the rest of the state, but housing costs a lot less.

Plus, there’s plenty for a nature-lover to do for free or cheap, like taking a scenic drive through Logan Canyon Drive or getting even closer to nature on the Wind Cave hike. That’s just the start of all the great outdoor recreation activities available in the Smithfield area.

Unemployment in Smithfield is 3.22%, and both income and property values have gone up by over 5% in the last year, indicating a positive outlook for the future. Homes in Smithfield sell for a median price of $250,300, and rent is 10% cheaper than the statewide average.

A high quality of life with a low cost of living: that’s what you get in Smithfield.

Tremonton is a city in Box Elder County, Utah, United States. The population was 7,647 at the 2010 census.

Roosevelt ranks as the seventh cheapest place to live in Utah thanks to its combination of low home prices and high wages. A home in Roosevelt will set you back about $57,659, which, on a median income of $57,659, is no sweat. Roosevelt’s major industries are oil and agriculture, so if you have experience in either field, you should have an easy time finding a job here. And when summer rolls around, don’t miss the annual Uintah Basin in Celebration, a week-long festival complete with concerts and parades.

Vernal, the county seat and largest city in Uintah County is in northeastern Utah, United States, about 175 miles east of Salt Lake City and 20 miles west of the Colorado border. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 9,089. The population has since grown to 10,844 as of the 2014 population estimate.

Located 50 miles north of Salt Lake City off of Route 15 in northern Utah is Perry – the #9 most affordable place to live in Utah for 2022. The city has many affordable things to do including four parks and hiking trails that lead up into Cache National Forest. Not to mention the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

When it comes to cost of living, it’s hard to beat Perry. The overall cost of living is lower than the state average and housing prices are about as low as you’ll find in Utah. Perry has the 35th cheapest homes and 15th cheapest rent anywhere in utah. The median home price in Perry is $286,500, while you can find a place to rent for just $864.

North Ogden is a suburban city of 19,930 with a winning combination of a rock-solid economy and affordable living. The unemployment rate in North Ogden is a crazy low 2.9%, and the median household income of $87,755 is well over the statewide average.

So when we say that the cost of living in North Ogden is on par with the rest of the state and country, take that with a grain of salt. With higher incomes, the same cost of living is much cheaper, after all.

Additionally, North Ogden’s crime rate is about half the national average, so you won’t be sacrificing security for affordability here.

North Ogden also offers easy access to awesome stuff like the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park, and there’s always something to do with all the seasonal events.

Cheapest Places To Live In Utah FAQs

What county in Utah has the lowest cost of living?

The county in Utah with the lowest cost of living is Piute County. The average living wage in Piute County is $74,325 according to MIT data. Piute County has the lowest cost of living because it has relatively less expensive childcare and housing costs compared to Utah as a whole. Childcare costs $9,149 a year in Piute County for two children compared to the Utah average of $14,686. Housing costs, defined as a blend of the average rent and average mortgage payment, are $8,808 per year in Piute County compared to $12,484 on average in Utah.

What is the cost of living in Utah?

The cost of living in Utah is 5.5% lower than the US average. According to MIT, the required living wage for a family of four with two working parents in Utah is $84,823 vs the national average for a family of four with two working parents of $89,744. The median income of a Utah household is $74,197.

What is the cheapest housing market in Utah?

The cheapest housing market in Utah is Price. The average home value in Price is $144,300, the lowest in the state. The average home value in Utah is $305,400, almost 2.1 times higher than Price.

Methodology: How We Determined The Most Affordable Places To Live In The Beehive State For 2022

The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford if you can live comes down to:

1. How much do money do I make?
2. How much do I have spend to live there?

You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.

For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing it’s actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.

With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2016-2020 around incomes and costs. They are:

• Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
• Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
• Median Home Price

We added simply median home price because high home prices generally correlate with higher expenses for all costs related to homes (heating, electricity, etc).

You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in Utah to figure out which is the least expensive.

What you are left with is a “Cost of Living Index” by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.

So we used that cost of living index in order to rank all of the 88 places in Utah that have more than 5,000 people.

The place with the lowest cost of living in Utah according to the data is Hyrum. You can download the data here.