Salt Lake City’s neighborhoods conjure up too many stereotypes to count. You’ve got hipster areas, preppy places, neighborhoods where college kids thrive, and of course, ghettos.
It seems as if there’s a neighborhood for everyone in Salt Lake City.
And while the city consistently ranks as one of the best places to live in Utah thanks in part to tons of entertainment and jobs, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine in Salt Lake City. Some neighborhoods aren’t as safe as others.
So the question arises, which Salt Lake City neighborhoods are the most dangerous and which are the safest?
Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which Salt Lake City hoods need a little tender loving care. We examined 18 of Salt Lake City’s neighborhoods to find out the most dangerous places to live.
$47,916 median income
$64,686 median income
$57,690 median income
$45,552 median income
$47,052 median income
$49,139 median income
$52,200 median income
$67,497 median income
$64,235 median income
$49,929 median income
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Utah’s statewide median.
Utah statewide median: $537,810
Utah statewide median: $95,166
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the most dangerous Salt Lake City neighborhoods in 2026
To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what places have the least amount of those things. We plugged the following criteria into Saturday Night Science to get the worst neighborhoods in Salt Lake City:
- High crime (Estimated)
- High unemployment (Less jobs)
- Low median income (Less pay)
- Low population density (No things to do)
- Low home values (No one’s willing to pay to live here)
Then, we ranked each neighborhood in Salt Lake City, Utah for each of these criteria from worst to best.
Next, we averaged the individual rankings for each criterion into a “Worst Score.”
The neighborhood with the lowest “Worst Score” ranks as the most dangerous neighborhood of Salt Lake City.
The article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. We updated this article for 2026. Skip to the end to see the list of all 18 neighborhoods ranked from worst to best.
The full plate
Most dangerous neighborhoods to live in Salt Lake City for 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by neighborhood name.
| Rank | Neighborhood | Population | Home Value | Median Income |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Poplar Grove | 15,850 | $192,100 | $47,916 |
| 2 | Westpointe | 7,257 | $244,880 | $64,686 |
| 3 | Glendale | 14,606 | $204,700 | $57,690 |
| 3 | People’s Freeway | 6,142 | $265,500 | $45,552 |
| 5 | Fairpark | 6,714 | $211,633 | $47,052 |
| 6 | Central City-Liberty Welss | 3,074 | $228,383 | $49,139 |
| 6 | Downtown | 4,193 | $295,629 | $52,200 |
| 8 | Rose Park | 11,433 | $226,575 | $67,497 |
| 9 | Capitol Hill | 9,006 | $388,027 | $64,235 |
| 10 | Central City | 10,642 | $357,675 | $49,929 |
| 11 | Liberty Wells | 8,450 | $279,200 | $56,526 |
| 12 | Sugar House | 33,395 | $387,543 | $88,859 |
| 13 | East Central | 22,855 | $395,884 | $58,891 |
| 13 | Greater Avenues | 17,539 | $442,454 | $100,032 |
| 15 | East Bench | 10,048 | $629,733 | $113,577 |
| 16 | Bonneville Hills | 4,371 | $463,550 | $88,811 |
| 17 | Yalecrest | 4,225 | $694,033 | $127,629 |
| 18 | Wasatch Hollow | 3,455 | $544,067 | $125,469 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. All 18 Salt Lake City neighborhoods.
Summary
Summary: The worst neighborhoods around Salt Lake City
Well, there you have it — the worst of the neighborhoods in Salt Lake City with Poplar Grove landing at the bottom of the pack.
The worst neighborhoods in Salt Lake City are Poplar Grove, Westpointe, Glendale, People’s Freeway, Fairpark, Central City-Liberty Welss, Downtown, Rose Park, Capitol Hill, and Central City.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Salt Lake City aren’t all bad. Wasatch Hollow takes the cake as the best place to live in Salt Lake City.
We ranked the neighborhoods from worst to best in the chart below. Not sold on Utah? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Worst Neighborhoods In Salt Lake City FAQs
What is the most dangerous neighborhood in Salt Lake City?
Poplar Grove ranks as the worst neighborhood in Salt Lake City for 2026, according to Saturday Night Science. Westpointe and Glendale are next on the list.
What are the worst neighborhoods in Salt Lake City?
The worst-ranked neighborhoods in Salt Lake City are Poplar Grove, Westpointe, Glendale, People’s Freeway, Fairpark, Central City-Liberty Welss, Downtown, Rose Park, Capitol Hill, and Central City. We scored all 18 neighborhoods in the city.
Why does Poplar Grove rank as the worst?
Poplar Grove posts the roughest combined numbers in Salt Lake City: a median household income of $47,916 and a median home value of $192,100, with crime, unemployment, and density folded into the score.
Are these neighborhoods dangerous everywhere?
No. The scores are neighborhood-wide averages, and conditions change block by block and hour by hour. Plenty of people live in these neighborhoods without incident; the numbers just say the odds run tougher.
How do you rank the worst neighborhoods?
Each neighborhood is scored on crime, unemployment, income, density, and home values, using Census tract and FBI data. The worst combined score tops the list.
