Salt Lake City-Murray → Midland
Relocation analysis based on 7 federal data sources
Should you move?
Moving from Salt Lake City-Murray to Midland is favorable: BEA regional price parity goes from 100.9 to 91.9 (US = 100), and HUD 2-bedroom rent falls by $554/mo.
- -$2,750
- BLS median salary lower in Midland
- 229 to 431
- violent crimes per 100K (FBI UCR, state-level)
- 21.4:1 to 17.5:1
- NCES student-teacher ratio
- $4,384
- DOL infant care lower / yr in Midland
BEA Regional Price Parity, HUD Fair Market Rent, BLS OEWS, FBI UCR, NCES, and DOL. The table below lets you override the composite with your own priorities.
Pros of Moving
- + 9% lower cost of living
- + $554/mo cheaper rent (2BR)
- + Better student-teacher ratios
- + More affordable childcare
Cons of Moving
- - $3K lower median salary
- - Higher violent crime rate
Purchasing power opens up: BEA RPP falls from 100.9 to 91.9, so each dollar covers more in Midland (ratio 0.91). HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent drops $554/mo ($6,648/yr) from $1,747 in Salt Lake City-Murray to $1,193 in Midland.
Midland leads on 5 of 7 federal dimensions, a destination-heavy ledger. Midland sits #122 of 387 metros on PlainRelocate livability (top third of the corpus). Salt Lake City-Murray is #342/387 on the same ranking. Composite verdict: Favorable. Override it with the dimension table below.
BLS OEWS median salary moves $2,750 lower ($70,035 → $67,285). Labor-market size: 790,120 tracked jobs at origin vs 29,130 at destination.
State retirement friendliness is near-even: Utah 53 (D, #40/51) vs Michigan 49 (F, #42/51). Full state tax and healthcare sub-scores sit in the retirement desk below.
State retirement friendliness
Primary-state scores from PlainRelocate's retirement registry (tax + healthcare + climate composite). Metro pairs use each metro's primary state abbreviation.
- Income tax
- 70
- Property tax
- 83
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 0
- Income tax
- 72
- Property tax
- 59
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 16
Full retirement ranking · Source composite documented on methodology (Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides + federal healthcare/climate inputs).
Salary Adjustment Calculator
Enter your current salary in Salt Lake City-Murray to see what you'd need to earn in Midland to maintain the same purchasing power.
Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS OES, FBI UCR, NCES, DOL, EPA; retirement desk: Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides June 2026