About Salt Lake City ( latitude: 22.5833300, longitude: 88.4166700 )
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake, or SLC is the capital and the most populous city in the state of Utah. With an estimated population of 191,180 in 2013, the city lies in the core of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,140,483 as of the 2013 estimate. Salt Lake City is further situated in a larger urban area known as the Salt Lake City-Provo-Ogden, UT Combined Statistical Area. This region is a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along an approximate 120-mile segment of the Wasatch Front, comprising a total population of 2,389,225 as of 2013. It is one of only two major urban areas in the Great Basin (the other being Reno, Nevada), and the largest in the Intermountain West. In 2014, CNN deemed Salt Lake City to be the least stressed-out city in the United States, citing the low cost of living and abundance of jobs.
The city was founded in 1847 by Brigham Young, Isaac Morley, George Washington Bradley and several other Mormon followers, who extensively irrigated and cultivated the arid valley. Due to its proximity to the Great Salt Lake, the city was originally named "Great Salt Lake City"—the word "great" was dropped from the official name in 1868 by the 17th Utah Territorial Legislature. Although Salt Lake City is still home to the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), less than half the population of Salt Lake City proper are members of the LDS Church today.
Immigration of international LDS members, mining booms, and the construction of the first transcontinental railroad initially brought economic growth, and the city was nicknamed the Crossroads of the West. It was traversed by the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, in 1913, and presently two major cross-country freeways, I-15 and I-80, intersect in the city. Salt Lake City has since developed a strong outdoor recreation tourist industry based primarily on skiing, and hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. It is the industrial banking center of the United States.
