Ian Hughes and Jai-Yu Fu relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah from Santa Rosa, California in July 2020. Courtesy of Jai Yu Fu
- Ian Hughes and Jai-Yu Fu relocated to Utah from California in 2020 in search of new experiences and affordable prices.
- They settled in Salt Lake City for Hughes’ job and have since started their own business.
- The city isn’t as affordable as they thought, and the couple are moving back to California next month.
This essay is based on a conversation with married couple Ian Hughes, 32, and Jai-yu Fu, 30, about their experience moving from Santa Rosa, California to Salt Lake City, Utah in July 2020. The couple is preparing planning to return to the west coast next month. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
Jan: I was born and raised in California and we met at design school in San Francisco over 10 years ago. We just had our six year wedding anniversary.
Jai Yu: I was born and raised in Taipei City, Taiwan. I pretty much lived half my life in Taiwan and then here in the States. So, I have this kind of expat narrative.
Before moving to Utah, we lived in Santa Rosa, California. The rent at that time —
Jan: It was $2,300 plus utilities.
My background is in the outdoor industry; Jai-Yu’s background is in architectural design. When I was just out of school, there were a lot more outdoor businesses in the Bay Area, but they all started leaving to go to Denver or Salt Lake City. There’s more of an outdoor vibe there, I think. So I knew this was going on and expected to want to leave to stay with that crowd.
Jai Yu: We were just at the point in our lives where we didn’t want to be tied down anymore.
Jan: We were also willing to try something new.
I received an offer in March or April 2020 with this job in Salt Lake City. We loved it.
Jai Yu: At the same time, we had this dream that we really wanted to start our own company.
We thought: Can we chase this dream? Making this dream come true requires our own investments. We had to spend our own money to start our own company.
Jan: One of the reasons I wanted to work with this startup is because I thought I could learn a lot and later apply it to our own business.
We also knew that living in Salt Lake City was a little cheaper, so we were pretty excited to be able to save a little more.
Jai Yu: Well, that’s what we thought.
One of the reasons we left Santa Rosa was that we felt Salt Lake City should be more affordable.
But because there’s so much internal migration, it’s definitely affecting Salt Lake City’s density and real estate prices. For the last three years we’ve been here, the prices we’re seeing are relatively similar to Santa Rosa.
Hughes and Fu said they will miss Utah’s majestic mountains and the hiking opportunities offered in the state when they return to California. Courtesy of Jai Yu Fu
The couple made the move in July 2020 — in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic
Jan: It was definitely a strange time to move.
Jai Yu: I didn’t really like it because when we arrived it was a ghost town. COVID was still going on and we weren’t able to explore as much as we wanted or meet people. There wasn’t much social life. We basically just worked the whole time.
Jan: Most of the people we met have left our jobs here. And for the most part everyone was very nice and friendly. We’re not great at making friends outside of work, but whenever we’ve dealt with strangers, everyone’s usually been pretty nice and respectful.
I think people here definitely assume that because we’re from California, we’re automatically wealthier.
But we rented all the time. When we got here we lived in a small one room. Then for the last two years we have been in a larger room, a one plus bedroom.
Both cost around $1,600. It was a bit cheaper I think.
Jai Yu: Not all options in Salt Lake City are cheaper, it’s just that they have a wider range of rental prices compared to the Bay Area.
It depends where you want to live. The neighborhood we live in is less dense simply because that’s where we found the cheapest apartment. The neighborhood we probably wanted to live in was closer to downtown and close to the walkable neighborhoods, rather than the more suburban area we’re currently in.
I personally prefer a walkable, urban neighborhood precisely because I grew up in Taipei City, which has a population of 2.6 million. And Salt Lake City is 200,000.
One of the first impressions I had was that the shops are very spread out here. If I want to visit a boutique, I have to drive 20 minutes and then flit through different parts of the city.
But what I really like about Salt Lake City is that there are fewer cars on the streets and fewer angry, crazy drivers than the Bay Area. Although I have to drive 20 minutes to go to the Chinatown store because I need my Asian groceries.
Jan: There’s definitely diversity, but it’s more diluted or limited to downtown Salt Lake City, I’d say.
Jai Yu: I rarely see people walking around other than Caucasians. I’m frustrated just because less variety means there’s less variety in restaurant and food choices.
Dining out is pretty much the same as it was when we lived in Santa Rosa. You can go out and easily spend $60 for a meal. So we try to cook from home.
Hughes and Fu quit their jobs last year to focus full-time on starting their own company, Parapack, which makes lightweight outdoor headwear. Courtesy of Jai Yu Fu
The couple quit their jobs last summer to focus full-time on starting their own business
Jai Yu: We didn’t want to stay in Salt Lake City. It was temporary.
Jan: We wanted to gain some of the industry experience and then find a way to apply it to the business we wanted to start.
Jai Yu: Last year we started thinking about moving. So we took a turn and quit our jobs. We started working full time on Parapack.
Jan: We are currently making lightweight headgear. We basically have one product out, but we have others planned.
We definitely learned a lot and we wanted to address that at the beginning.
We had to come here to be able to afford to start our own business. I don’t think we would have made it this far in California that quickly.
Jai Yu: It was a great opportunity to push ourselves out of our familiar bubble. Just coming here was a good lesson, just chasing our dream and looking at our surroundings from a different perspective.
We will be returning to Pacifica, California in about a month.
Jan: In the end we got in touch with the family and we will rent a temporary apartment for in-laws from them.
Jai Yu: They’re giving us a very good deal, and we’ll probably both get part-time jobs. The combination of these will help us make it – retire and have a life and achieve that dream of starting our own business.
Jan: We look forward to returning and being closer to family. We will definitely miss the hiking and outdoor activities that you can do so easily here.
Jai Yu: One of the coolest things about Salt Lake City is the majestic Wasatch Mountain Range. It just leaves you speechless. That’s something San Francisco can’t beat.
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