Moving to Erda, Utah

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, NOAA, USGS, and the Utah State Tax Commission. Prices move, so ask me for current numbers.

Erda is a young city of about 4,050 people, by the 2025 Census estimate. It covers about 40 square miles of the Tooele Valley, about 12 miles from west to east, on both sides of SR-36. The city office sits at about 4,330 feet. The Oquirrh Mountains rise on the east side and split Tooele Valley from the Salt Lake Valley. The Stansbury Mountains stand far to the west. The Great Salt Lake is to the north.

Most of the ground is farm fields, open acreage and big lots. Tooele is about 13 minutes south, and Stansbury Park is about 10 minutes north. Downtown Salt Lake City is about 35 minutes east. Settlers arrived in 1851, and for decades the area was called Batesville. Bates Canyon Road and Droubay Road are still among its main roads.

The city itself is brand new. Voters chose cityhood on November 3, 2020, by 1,005 votes to 943, which is 51.6 percent yes. The same ballot picked a five-member council with no mayor. Erda became a city on January 3, 2022. Before that, the Census counted it as an unincorporated place. That older count covered a smaller area than today's city line, so use the 2025 estimate, not the 3,673 figure from 2020.

Getting started was not smooth. The new council sent its map to the county surveyor in December 2021, and he turned it down. On December 30, a judge ordered the county to approve it. In 2024, the Utah Supreme Court ended a later lawsuit from landowners and left the city standing.

Erda does not run every service itself. Fire service comes from the North Tooele Fire District, and the Tooele County Sheriff handles police. The city's first General Plan, from 2022, opens with a resident quote. It says they like Erda the way it is, but some growth is needed to pay the bills. The plan also lists too few east-west roads and few shops or jobs in town as concerns.

For a buyer, here is what the record shows. Big-lot zoning covers most of the city. A few newer communities along SR-36 allow small lots under older agreements made before cityhood. Most homes use a private well, which is the first thing to check. The neighborhoods topic and the new construction topic cover the areas, and the home checks topic covers the water.

Sources: the Census, the Tooele County 2020 election results, the Salt Lake Tribune report of January 4, 2022, the Utah Supreme Court ruling of June 13, 2024, the Erda 2022 General Plan, the city website, and USGS.

Want the street level story? Erda on The Local has three guides to the town. My relocating to Utah guide covers the wider move.

Erda has four seasons. Summers are hot and dry. Winters are cold, with real snow. Spring is cool and changeable, and fall is clear and mild.

No weather station sits in Erda. The closest one with official normals is Grantsville 2W, about 8 miles west on the same flat valley ground. It is about 220 feet higher than the city office and is still reporting. The numbers below come from that station. Treat them as a close guide, not a reading from your own yard.

Month by month

These are the normal highs and lows for each month. Winter nights here run colder than Lake Point's, because cold air drains onto the low ground. A normal January low is about 19°F.

• JanuaryHigh 37°F, low 19°F
• FebruaryHigh 43°F, low 23°F
• MarchHigh 53°F, low 30°F
• AprilHigh 61°F, low 36°F
• MayHigh 71°F, low 45°F
• JuneHigh 82°F, low 54°F
• JulyHigh 92°F, low 64°F
• AugustHigh 90°F, low 62°F
• SeptemberHigh 79°F, low 50°F
• OctoberHigh 64°F, low 38°F
• NovemberHigh 49°F, low 28°F
• DecemberHigh 38°F, low 20°F

Source: NOAA climate normals, 1991 to 2020, Grantsville 2W station (USC00423348), about 8 miles west of Erda.

Frost and the growing season

The last spring freeze usually comes about May 2. The first fall freeze usually comes about October 14. That leaves about 164 frost-free days, far fewer than Lake Point's 213. A night at 28°F or colder usually ends around April 17 and starts again around October 25. The USDA plant zone for this area is about 7a. The flat low ground can run a little colder than the station.

About 142 nights a year drop to freezing or lower. A night at 0°F or lower is rare, at about 1.5 nights a year. About 24 days a year never get above freezing.

A normal year brings about 11.6 inches of rain and melted snow. April and May are the wettest months, at about 1.5 inches each. July is among the driest, at about 0.7 inches.

Source: NOAA climate normals, 1991 to 2020, Grantsville 2W station, and the USDA plant hardiness zone map.

Snow and summer heat have their own topics below. The snow topic and the summer topic have the numbers. The wind and dust come after them.

Grantsville 2W, the nearest station, gets about 33 inches of snow in a normal year. That is less than Salt Lake City and far less than Tooele's station, which sits about 600 feet higher on the hillside to the south. NOAA marks the annual snow figure as provisional, because it rests on only 23 years of records.

December is the snowiest month, with about 7.9 inches. February brings about 7.5 and January about 7.2. Winter, from December through February, adds up to about 22.6 inches. Spring adds about 5.4 inches, and fall about 5.1. April still averages 1.9 inches. No snow falls from May through September.

Homes on the east side, up toward the Oquirrh foothills, likely get more snow than the flat ground. For a home on the hillside, ask the owner about plowing, the driveway and the drive out in winter.

For the bigger picture on snow and water in Utah, read my guide on Utah water and snowpack.

Summers are hot and dry. A normal July afternoon reaches about 92°F at the Grantsville station. That is about 2 degrees cooler than Salt Lake City. The nights cool off well, with a normal July low near 64°F, colder than the lake shore.

Hot days are common. A normal year has about 58 days at 90°F or hotter, and about 53 of them fall from June through August. About 5 days a year reach 100°F. July is also one of the driest months, with about 0.7 inches of rain.

The wind and the air have their own topics. The wind topic and the air quality topic cover them.

Erda is breezy. The Tooele Valley airport sits inside the city, about 0.9 miles north of the city office. Its wind averages about 8.3 miles an hour over the year. The number comes from about 24,900 hourly readings between October 2023 and September 2026.

Summer is the windiest season at 9.6 miles an hour, and spring is close at 9.3. Winter is the calmest at 6.4. August is the windiest month at 9.8, and January is the calmest at 5.3. Only about 8 or 9 hours in 100 have wind under 1 mile an hour.

Strong gusts are not common. Gusts of 30 miles an hour or more show up in about 4 hours out of every 100 in spring.

The wind runs up and down Tooele Valley. It blows from the south about 32 hours in every 100 that have wind. North comes next at about 14, and south-southwest at about 11. Wind can also lift dust off dry ground. The air quality topic covers that.

An inversion is when cold air gets trapped in a valley under a lid of warmer air. Pollution builds up in the trapped air, and the valley turns hazy. A storm usually clears it out. Tooele Valley shares the Wasatch Front pattern of winter inversions.

Dust is the other concern in the north end of the valley. In years when the Great Salt Lake runs low, the dry lake bed to the north can lift dust in strong wind. A house hunt on a calm day will not show it. The records give no count of dust days for Erda, so ask the owner and the neighbors how it sits where you would live.

The EPA lists part of Tooele County in two areas. One is the Northern Wasatch Front 8-hour ozone area, which it classes as Serious. The other was the Salt Lake City fine particle (PM2.5) area. The EPA moved that one to maintenance status on December 19, 2025. The EPA list does not say which part of the county sits inside each area.

Here is what I would do. Check the air on the state's air quality site the way you check the weather. If air matters to you, visit on a still winter morning and on a windy spring day before you buy. The first 90 days topic covers the car rules.

Sources: the EPA Green Book county list for Utah, EPA nonattainment areas.

Housing is the biggest cost in Erda, and the glance box at the top of this page shows the Census typical home value. That number is what owners say their homes are worth, averaged over five years. It is not a sale price. Few homes sell in a year here, and many are custom, so one sale can swing an average a lot. Price a home against recent sales of similar homes nearby, not against one town number.

Do not price a home from a ZIP code figure either. The ZIP code, 84074, is shared with Tooele, Stansbury Park and Lake Point, so a quick online search measures a bigger area, mostly Tooele City.

Your tax bill has several layers. It covers the county, the school district, the city and a few special districts. The taxes topic lists each one. Sales tax is 6.90% in most of the city.

Then there is the cost that listing sites never show, which is water. Most homes here run on a private well and a septic tank. A well, a septic system and the water right behind them are things you buy, fix and test. They are not a monthly bill. So the water setup is part of the price of a home, and the housing market topic explains it.

Nothing is for sale inside Erda's city limits, apart from snacks at the drive-in on show nights. The shopping topic lists the nearest stores.

Next to Stansbury Park or Tooele, you give up the stores and the public water system of a bigger town. In return you get more room, bigger lots and a quieter setting. The room comes with water homework. Ask me for a side by side of the places you are weighing, and I will run the numbers with you.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS 2020 to 2024); Utah State Tax Commission; Utah Division of Water Resources culinary service areas map.

For general information only. This is not tax or financial advice. Tax rates and home prices change. Consult a qualified professional for guidance specific to your situation.

Three taxes matter most when you move here: sales tax, state income tax and property tax. Here is each one in plain terms, with the rates in effect in October 2026.

The primary home exemption

Utah gives a tax break to the home you live in. A primary home is taxed on 55% of its market value, up to one acre of land. Second homes and nightly rentals do not qualify, so they are taxed on the full value. Most Erda lots are an acre or more, so ask the county assessor how land past the first acre is taxed.

The Tooele County Assessor's office is at 47 South Main Street in Tooele. You can call it at 435-843-3103. From January 1, 2027, Utah law requires an application when a home changes owners. Ask the assessor how and when to apply.

Your tax bill has several parts

An Erda bill adds the rates of several groups. They are Tooele County, the Tooele County School District, the city, the North Tooele Fire District and a mosquito district. The school district takes much the largest share. The city's own levy is small.

A few areas add more lines. A home by Stansbury Park can carry the Stansbury Park Improvement District, and Oquirrh Point has its own improvement district. Some newer subdivisions sit in a public infrastructure district, which adds a tax line every year. Ask for the tax notice on the exact home. The 0.67% figure is a county average, so treat it as an estimate.

Car fees

Utah charges a fee when you register a car, and it depends on the car's age. In 2026 it runs from $150 for the newest models down to $10 for cars from 2014 or older. The first 90 days topic has the registration steps.

Sources: Utah State Tax Commission (sales tax rates, October 1, 2026; 2025 property tax report and approved rates; Tooele County tax areas); Utah Code 59-2-103.5; S.B. 60 (2026); Utah DMV uniform fees, 2026. Questions about your own bill go to the Tooele County Assessor.

For general information only. This is not tax or financial advice. Tax rates and home prices change. Consult a qualified professional for guidance specific to your situation.

The glance box at the top of this page shows the Census typical home value. Erda is a small market on big lots. The homes are mostly houses on an acre or more, with horse and farm property mixed in. Few sell at a time, so I do not publish a monthly market report for the city. Recent sales of similar homes tell you far more than any town number. Ask me for current numbers.

Almost every home here is owner-occupied. The Census counts 1,021 of 1,070 lived-in homes as owner-occupied, about 95%. About 93% are single-family houses on their own lot. The median home was built in 1997, and about 280 homes were built in the 2010s. These are Census estimates for 2020 to 2024, and they carry a wide margin.

Lot size is the other big fact. County records show a middle lot of about 1.28 acres, and about 88% of lots run an acre or more. Smaller lots exist too. The city's zoning map covers three kinds of land.

About one third is farm zone, with a 20-acre minimum. Another third is mostly foothill and mountain land, with a 40-acre minimum. The homes sit mostly in rural residential zones, with one-acre and five-acre minimums. These cover about a quarter of the city.

Some smaller lots exist because of older agreements. Two projects off SR-36 were approved before cityhood and allow much smaller lots, and the new construction topic tells that story. The big-lot zoning covers most of the city. These agreements cover their own areas.

The city wrote its own land use code and zoning map in 2022, based on the county's. That map decides what can be built on a parcel. Check the zone on any lot before you plan around it.

Water comes first

This is not a city-tap town. About 4 in 5 homes sit outside any mapped water system, so most run on private wells. A few small water companies and districts serve parts of the city, and the utilities topic lists them.

Water rights are the deeper issue. A water right is a legal claim to use a set amount of water. Tooele Valley has been closed to new water rights since 1996. Only small amounts of shallow water, within 10 feet of the surface, are excepted. So a new well needs an existing right that someone buys and moves. A well can run fine for years and still fall short on paper, and a parcel can sell without the right a buyer thought came with it. The state also limits moving a right east in the valley.

On any purchase, get three answers in writing. What serves the home today, a well or a water company? Does the water right come with the sale, and is it enough? And is the home on septic or sewer? Here, water belongs in the title check and the contract.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS 2020 to 2024, estimates with a wide margin); Tooele County parcel records and zoning layer; Erda Land Use Code, 2022; Utah Division of Water Rights, Tooele Valley policy; Utah Division of Water Resources. Ask a title company or the Division of Water Rights about any specific water right.

Erda is a wide city, about 12 miles from west to east, and it has no old downtown grid. SR-36 crosses the middle, and the land spreads out from there in farm fields, acreage plats and a few new projects. The easiest way to read it is by area, from the middle outward. Zones and plat names come from the county's zoning and subdivision maps.

• The centerSR-36 and Erda WayWhere SR-36 meets Erda WayShops can be built along the highway here, and the Erda Drive-In and Excelsior Academy, a K-8 charter school, sit on this stretch. A small water company, Erda Acres Water Company, serves a patch of homes nearby. Two larger projects are planned just south of Erda Way, Copper Cove west of the highway and Echo east of it.
• NorthwestThe airport sideAround the city office and Tooele Valley AirportThe city office sits on West Erda Way, and the airport is about a mile north. West of the airport is a large planned-community zone the county rezoned from farm use in 2020. Golden Gardens, a 1976 planned development, is on West Erda Way.
• West fieldsErda Way toward GrantsvilleWest of the city officeThis side holds one-acre and five-acre plats, such as Spiral Springs, Paint Horse Ranch, Field of Dreams, Silver Spurs, Valley Meadows Estates and Gundersen Acres, plus farm ground. Most homes here use private wells. Schools on this side go to Grantsville, and the schools topic has the details.
• East sideDroubay Road and Bates Canyon RoadEast of SR-36, toward the Oquirrh MountainsPlats here include Arrowhead Estates, Pheasant Glen, Alpine Ranch, Dream Hill Estates, Majestic View and Sunset Acres. Most are one-acre lots, with some five-acre ones. Farther east the ground climbs into foothill and public land, near the Oquirrh fault zone.
• North edgeToward Stansbury ParkAlong SR-138 and the Midvalley HighwayBusiness and warehouse zoning covers a large piece of land here, and a gravel pit sits nearby. Stansbury Junior High is on Bates Canyon Road. Stansbury Park's homes are just north of the line. About 100 homes at the north edge use the Stansbury Park Improvement District for water and sewer.
• South edgeToward TooeleSouth of the city office, near SR-36Brookfield Estates and the D R Davis planned development sit near SR-36. Tooele Army Depot North starts about 1.5 miles south of the city line. Tooele is about 13 minutes from the city office, and a few minutes less from the SR-36 side.

The details that decide value are not on a listing: the water source, the well's right, the septic record, the zone and the lot size. Tell me what you are after, and I will pull the full story on a property before you drive out.

Sources: Tooele County zoning and subdivision maps (2025 and 2026); Erda General Plan, 2022; Utah Division of Water Resources culinary service areas map; OpenStreetMap.

New homes in Erda fall into three kinds. The biggest is Echo, a planned community east of SR-36 at about 3600 North, filed with the city as Oquirrh Point. It plans 1,260 lots on 325 acres. Cole West Land Company closed on the land in October 2025, and the plan said first homes would start in 2026.

Echo's first phase is more than 800 homes, in a plat the city has amended. The lots run from about 2,040 square feet up to 14,400. That is far smaller than the acre lots of most of Erda. The project was approved under an agreement made in November 2021, before cityhood. David Weekley Homes lists an Echo Prairie Collection on its website as coming soon. Ask your agent what is open today, because plans and inventory change.

The second is Copper Cove, on the west side of SR-36 from about 3600 North to Erda Way. Its first phase is 45 lots of 5,800 to 10,000 square feet. It was on the planning commission's agendas in spring 2026. The plat names the Erda Acres Water Company for water and the Stansbury Park Improvement District for sewer.

The third kind is small acreage plats, such as Valley Meadows Estates, Majestic View and Sunset Acres. These are mostly lots for custom building. For a custom build on an acre, the first questions are the well and the septic tank.

Homes in Oquirrh Point get district water and sewer, and they pay a district tax line. Ask for the tax notice on any home in a public infrastructure district.

What a new lot needs

A new well needs a permit from the Tooele County Health Department before anyone drills. It also needs a water right, and no new rights are available. A new septic system needs a soil percolation test, which checks how fast the ground drains, and a design from a certified septic designer. The city's building permits run through an engineering firm in Tooele. Ask the city office how to start.

Buying new works differently from buying resale. Builders often cover the buyer agent fee, and your agent puts that in writing before you sign. The buying new construction guide walks through the contract, the inspections and the timeline.

The build checklist

1. Water. Where will the drinking water come from, and does a water right or a company share come with the lot?
2. Septic or sewer. Does a district serve the lot, or does it need a septic permit from the county health department?
3. Zone and lot size. Check the zone on the city map and the smallest lot it allows.
4. Approvals. Ask the city and the county what is approved for the project today.
5. The ground. Lots on the east side may need a fault check first.

Sources: KSL and Utah Business (October 2025); Erda Planning Commission staff reports, February and May 2026; David Weekley Homes; Tooele County Health Department; Utah Division of Water Rights.

A few checks matter more in Erda than in most towns. Water comes first, and the housing market topic covers the water source and the water right. The rest are about the well test, the septic tank, the ground and the lot. Utah law does not require agents to check or disclose geologic hazards, and home insurance usually leaves out losses from them. So the checks are yours to ask for, and I can point you to each one.

The well test

Lenders often require a well at an existing home to be sampled for drinking water standards. The lab work takes at least 36 hours, so book it early. The state sets a 100-foot protection radius around a well, so no septic tank, barn or corral belongs inside it. Ask the seller for the water right number, and look it up on the Utah Division of Water Rights site.

Septic and sewer

Most Erda homes are on septic. Sewer exists only where a district runs it, near Stansbury Park and in Oquirrh Point. Ask which a home uses. The Tooele County Health Department may have a record of where the septic tank sits. The county's re-certification asks for proof the tank was pumped within the last 5 years, so ask the county whether a sale needs it.

Flood maps

Most of Erda is in FEMA Zone D. That means the flood risk is undetermined. The area was never studied, and the maps date from 2009. Erda is not on FEMA's list of participating communities, because it became a city after the maps. Ask an insurance agent what flood cover is offered for the address.

Faults and ground

The Oquirrh fault zone runs inside the east side of the city, along the foothills. A small part of the east side sits in a state study zone for fault breaks. Check the Utah Geological Survey hazard map before you build there. The state has no hazard mapping for other risks here. A blank map does not mean there is no risk.

Radon, wind and neighbors

Radon is a gas that seeps up from the ground. In ZIP code 84074, 35.9% of 1,399 short-term tests were at or above 4 pCi/L. That is the Utah state record through 2019. Test every home you buy. The wind and dust are in the wind topic.

Look at what sits around the lot. The airport is on the northwest side, and the city's plan hopes for more small-plane flying there. Business and gravel-pit zones are on the north side, and farm operations are all around. Check the zone around any parcel.

The depot to the south

Tooele Army Depot North has been a Superfund site, a federal cleanup site, since 1990. Its fence starts about 1.5 miles south of the city line. If you rely on a well near the south edge, ask about well testing.

Sources: Tooele County Health Department; Utah Division of Water Rights; FEMA flood maps; Utah Geological Survey; USGS fault database; EPA; Utah DEQ radon results (2019); Erda General Plan, 2022.

Buyers do better when they sort out the financing before the search, because much of what sells here is not a typical subdivision home. Acreage on a private well and septic, a horse or farm parcel, or a lot for a custom build each has its own loan rules. Lenders look harder at the property and the appraisal when a home has private water and outbuildings. An appraisal is the lender's check on what a home is worth.

The best first step is to get pre-approved. That means a lender checks your finances and tells you how much you can borrow. It shows you what you can spend, and it makes your offer stronger. With few homes for sale at a time, being ready the day the right one appears matters.

Conventional, FHA, VA and USDA loans are all options to ask about. USDA has a map of eligible rural areas. On that map, all of Erda sits outside the ineligible area, so USDA rural loans are open to buyers who qualify. Check any address on the map, because income limits and property rules decide the rest. The loan guides on this site explain each loan type in plain English.

If I am your lender, I can tell you early if a home could be hard to get a loan on. In Erda, a partner agent I trust does the work on the ground.

How my dual role works. I am licensed in both real estate and lending. On any one purchase I take one role. Every role is disclosed, and you are always free to choose your own agent and your own lender. The full explanation is on How I Work. This section is general information, not financial, legal, or tax advice.

Erda is a place to live, not a place to work. The city's own plan lists the lack of a job center and shops as a worry. So most workers drive to a job somewhere in Tooele County or in the Salt Lake Valley. The traffic topic has the drive times.

The Census counted 2,066 workers in Erda for 2020 to 2024. About 1,370 of them work inside Tooele County. About 678, roughly 1 in 3, work in another Utah county. The Census table does not name it, but Salt Lake County is the one next door. These counts come from a small sample, so the margins are wide.

Tooele County had 20,571 jobs covered by unemployment insurance in March 2026. The average weekly pay was $1,018. The Utah average was $1,415, and Salt Lake County's was $1,666.

Work in and near Erda

Inside the city, the land set aside for business is along SR-36 and in a large manufacturing and distribution zone on the north edge. The city plan says it wants more shops and jobs over time. Today there is no business district. The list below names employers in or near Erda. It is not a ranking, because the state posts its largest employers only on a dashboard that cannot be read as text.

U.S. Magnesium was long an employer on the lake's west side. News reports say magnesium output stopped after an equipment failure in late 2021. Lithium work was suspended in late 2024, and the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 10, 2025. The Rowley plant may not reopen.

Sources: the Census ACS (2020 to 2024), BLS county employment and wages for the first quarter of 2026, the Erda General Plan (2022), and news reports on U.S. Magnesium. Drive times are from the city office.

Erda has no hospital or clinic of its own. The nearest care is in Tooele and Stansbury Park. The large Salt Lake hospitals are a little over 40 minutes east.

MountainWest Medical Center is the valley's hospital, at 2055 North Main Street in Tooele. It is about 11 minutes from the city office, or about 5 from the SR-36 side. It has an emergency room that is open all day and night, and it is part of University of Utah Health. The state lists it as a Level IV trauma center. Trauma levels run from I, the most complete, to V.

For a doctor visit, the University of Utah Health Stansbury Health Center is at 220 Millpond Road in Stansbury Park. It has family medicine, pediatrics, specialists, a pharmacy and a lab. Urgent care is open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. It is closed Sunday. The phone is 435-843-3000. Intermountain also runs a walk-in clinic at 777 North Main Street in Tooele, at 435-228-1200.

On military orders? My military PCS guide covers VA loans and timing the move.

Sources: the hospital and clinic websites, the Utah Bureau of Emergency Medical Services trauma list (May 2025), and map drive estimates from the city office.

Erda is in the Tooele County School District. No district elementary school sits inside the city. Two schools do: Stansbury Junior High and Excelsior Academy. Most Erda homes are zoned to schools in Tooele, and the west side is zoned to schools in Grantsville.

On the district's 2025 to 2026 boundary map, east and central Erda, about 2 in 3 homes, goes to Copper Canyon Elementary, Clarke N. Johnsen Junior High and Deseret Peak High in Tooele. West Erda, about 3 in 10 homes, goes to Twenty Wells Elementary, Grantsville Junior High and Grantsville High. A strip by Stansbury Park, about 1 in 20 homes, goes to Rose Springs Elementary, Stansbury Junior High and Stansbury High.

So Stansbury Junior High sits in Erda, at 140 East Bates Canyon Road, but it serves only that north strip. It opened for the 2025 to 2026 year. Excelsior Academy is a K-8 charter school on Erda Way. A charter school is a public school that is run apart from the district. It has no attendance boundary, and families choose it.

The district had 15,737 students in the fall 2025 count. Elementary boundaries changed in 2024 and the secondary boundaries changed in 2025, so confirm the schools for any address you are serious about. The district office phone is 435-833-1900.

I do not rate schools, and I would be wary of anyone who says which one is best. Look at boundaries and programs yourself. The links below go to the district and to independent sites.

Counts come from the Utah State Board of Education (fall 2025). Boundaries are read from the district's map layers by Census block, so the shares are rough. Ratings come from independent third parties, not from me.

No college sits in Erda, but Tooele has two. USU Tooele is about 11 minutes from the city office. Utah State University runs a campus there. It lists more than 85 degree and certificate programs and more than 25 graduate programs, and the diploma is the same as on any other USU campus. The address is 1021 West Vine Street, and the phone is 435-797-8463.

Tooele Technical College is also in Tooele, at 88 South Tooele Boulevard. It offers hands-on certificate programs in trades and technical fields. The big campuses are in the Salt Lake Valley. Salt Lake Community College's Taylorsville Redwood campus is about 39 minutes from the city office, and the University of Utah is about 41.

Drive times are map estimates from the city office in normal weather.

Inside Erda, traffic is light. Three state routes cross it: SR-36 on the east side, SR-138 in the northwest, and SR-179, the Midvalley Highway, through the west side. Erda Way, about 6 miles long, runs across the city.

SR-36 is the valley's main road north and south. It takes you to Stansbury Park and Tooele, and north to I-80 at Lake Point. The city's plan calls for Droubay Road to be extended north from Tooele through Erda to take pressure off SR-36. Bates Canyon Road is planned to reach west to SR-138.

How people get to work

Of 2,066 workers in the 2020 to 2024 Census count, 1,310 drove alone and 362 carpooled. About 368, roughly 1 in 6, worked from home. No one recorded riding a bus. Of the 1,698 people who travel to a job, about 45 percent get there in under 20 minutes. About 44 percent travel 30 minutes or more, and about 1 in 13 travel 45 minutes or more. The most common trip is 30 to 34 minutes.

The Midvalley Highway

The Midvalley Highway opened in October 2021. It runs from I-80 to SR-138 and gives the west side of the valley a second way to the freeway. The extension south to SR-36 has a finished environmental study from February 2024. It has no money for building yet. Check the state project page before a move day.

Sources: the Census ACS (2020 to 2024), state road maps, the Erda General Plan (2022), and the Utah Department of Transportation Midvalley Highway page.

Not inside the city. No UTA bus stop sits within Erda's line, and no one in the Census count recorded riding a bus to work. The buses run from Stansbury Park and Tooele, and only on weekdays.

UTA's Route 451 Tooele Fast Bus has five trips toward Salt Lake in the early morning and five back in the evening. Route F453, the Tooele SLC Flex, runs about once an hour through the middle of the day. Both stop at the Benson Grist Mill park and ride in Stansbury Park, about 10 minutes from the city office. They also stop at the park and ride at SR-36 and 2400 North in Tooele. Neither runs on Saturday or Sunday. Check the current schedule, because times change.

UTA also runs a ride-on-request service in Tooele County, UTA On Demand. UTA's own list of places it serves names Erda. It ran weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. when last listed, so confirm the hours before you count on it. The phone is 435-843-4114.

Source: the UTA schedule feed valid August 16 to December 5, 2026, and UTA's On Demand pages. Routes change, so check before you rely on them.

Salt Lake City International is the airline airport for Erda. It is about 29 miles away, and the drive takes about 35 minutes from the city office. From the SR-36 side it is about 30.

Bolinder Field, the Tooele Valley Airport, is inside Erda, about 0.9 miles north of the city office. It is for private planes. It has one runway, no tower and no airline flights. The airport belongs to Salt Lake City's airport department. It has flight training and skydiving from March to November. The city plan says it wants more small-plane use of the field.

Drive times are map estimates from the city office in normal weather. Sources: the Erda General Plan (2022) and FAA-based airport data.

Erda is a wide city, about 12 miles from west to east, so one starting point misleads. The times below are from the city office, on the west side. The SR-36 side runs a few minutes quicker to Tooele and the freeway. Lake Point is about 14 minutes from the office, but about 8 from the SR-36 side.

Grantsville

~5 mi · ~9 min

Stansbury Park

~6 mi · ~10 min

Tooele

~8 mi · ~13 min

Lake Point

~9 mi · ~14 min

Salt Lake City

~33 mi · ~35 min

Lehi

~60 mi · ~1 hr

From the city office

• Erda Drive-In~7 min
• Stansbury Junior High~9 min
• Smith's Marketplace, Tooele~10 min
• MountainWest Medical Center~11 min
• Great Salt Lake State Park~23 min
• Deseret Peak trailhead~45 min

Here are more drives people ask about, from the city office.

These are map estimates from the city office in normal conditions, not official figures. Add time for snow, and check your own route.

Going somewhere else? Look up any Utah drive between 138 towns.

Erda is a young city, and most services come from districts, companies or Tooele County, not city hall. Water and sewer change from lot to lot. The table says who serves what.

The city office is at 2163 West Erda Way, next to the fire station. Office hours are not posted, so call first. Call 811 before you dig.

Start with Erda City and Tooele County to sort out which agency serves your lot.

Sources: Erda City, the Utah water service area maps, the Tooele County Health Department and Solid Waste pages, and the Tooele County interlocal agreement notice (June 2025). Check each office for current fees.

Internet in Erda is better than a rural city would suggest. The state broadband map shows fiber in the areas that hold about 3 in 4 Erda homes. Fiber is a glass cable that carries internet very fast. Cable is nearly absent, at about 2 percent.

Xfinity fiber is reported in areas holding about 77 percent of homes, and Beehive Broadband fiber in about 71 percent. Terabit Networks fiber is in about 5 percent. CenturyLink phone-line internet shows in about 75 percent. Fixed wireless from Beehive, Verizon, Rise, T-Mobile, Utah Broadband and 9Stone shows in places, and satellite shows everywhere reported.

The map shows what a company reports, not what a given house can order. A home on a large lot far from the road may be limited to phone-line internet, fixed wireless or satellite. Check the exact address before you count on it.

For cell service, check each carrier's own coverage map for the address you like. My rural internet guide explains the choices.

Source: the Utah Broadband Center provider layer, checked in October 2026, read at Census blocks and weighted by homes. No speeds or prices are listed on purpose.

Moving day is only the start. Here is the short list for your first 90 days in Erda. The county offices and the license office are in Tooele, about 13 minutes away.

1. Sort out the water firstFind out where the water comes from. For a well, get the water right and a recent water test. For a company or district, call it about the account. Get the septic records from Tooele County Environmental Health at 435-277-2440.
2. Turn on the utilitiesSet up Rocky Mountain Power, and Enbridge Gas if a main reaches the lot. Call Tooele County Solid Waste at 435-843-4783 for a trash can. Do this about a week before you move in.
3. Get your Utah driver licenseThe office is at 1929 North Aaron Drive, Suite G, in Tooele. It is open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 801-965-4437 for an appointment. Moving a license from another state takes a written test and maybe a driving test. The fee is $52, or $39 for ages 20 and under.
4. Register your carUtah gives you 60 days after you set up a permanent home. The motor vehicle office is on the second floor of the Tooele County Building, 47 South Main Street, 435-843-3190. It is open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with no title work after 4:30. A car titled in Utah for the first time needs a quick VIN check.
5. Skip the emissions testTooele County does not require one. Salt Lake County, next door, does.
6. Claim the primary home tax breakApply with the Tooele County Assessor, 47 South Main Street, 435-843-3103. The taxes topic has the full rule.
7. Register to voteRegister online at vote.utah.gov, or in person with ID. The Tooele County Clerk is in the same county building, 435-843-3140.
8. Sign up for schoolCheck the boundary map first, then call the district at 435-833-1900 or the school itself.

Rules and office hours change. Check each office before you go.

Nothing is for sale inside Erda's city limits, apart from snacks at the drive-in on show nights. There is no grocery store, no restaurant, no fuel station and no shop. The state's place maps and the city's own pages show nothing else. Shopping runs in two directions: north to Stansbury Park, and south to the north end of Tooele.

The nearest gas and quick stop is Holiday Oil, at 430 East Bates Canyon Road. It sits just outside the line, on the east side of SR-36. Smith's Marketplace opened in December 2025 at 2483 North Main Street in Tooele, about a third of a mile past Erda's south line. It is about 10 minutes from the city office. It has a pharmacy, a fuel center, a Starbucks and a sushi counter.

What Erda does not have

This is the honest list. Keep it in mind if you shop on a schedule.

The Stansbury Park times are to the town center, and the Tooele times are to the north end. From the SR-36 side, each is a few minutes closer.

See the restaurants topic for places to eat near Erda.

Store lists and hours change. These were checked against the state place maps, store pages and local news in October 2026.

Erda has no park or trail of its own, and the city runs none. The outdoors is on the edges of the valley. The Stansbury Mountains rise to the west, the Oquirrh Mountains to the east, and the Great Salt Lake lies to the north. Larger lots leave room to keep and ride horses.

From the city office

• Erda Drive-In~7 min
• Stansbury Junior High~9 min
• Smith's Marketplace, Tooele~10 min
• MountainWest Medical Center~11 min
• Great Salt Lake State Park~23 min
• Deseret Peak trailhead~45 min

The lake is a neighbor whose level moves. On October 4, 2026, it read 4,189.7 feet, and the state park listed the launch ramp as open but shallow. Check the park's conditions page before you tow a boat out.

Deseret Peak is a long day hike. The summit loop runs about eight miles round trip, with about 3,600 feet of climbing, so start early. Loop Campground opened for the 2026 season on May 8. Off-highway vehicle, or OHV, riding happens on the West Desert and the foothills. Confirm that a route is legal before you plan around it.

Sources: the Forest Service, Utah State Parks, the U.S. Geological Survey, Tooele City, and the Erda city site. Drive times are map estimates from the city office with no traffic.

No national park sits near Erda. The public land close by is a state park on the lake, a wilderness area in the national forest, and BLM land on the island. The nearest national park is Capitol Reef, about 254 miles away, or about 4 hours 15 minutes by the city finder's map estimate. Plan it as an overnight trip. The drive times tool measures any trip.

Antelope Island holds a public bison roundup each fall, usually in late October. The Bonneville Salt Flats are a long day trip west on I-80, about an hour and a half. Speed Week there usually runs from late July into early August.

Drive times are map estimates from the city office with no traffic; the Capitol Reef figure is the city finder's. Check each park's own site for hours, fees, and closures.

There is no ski area in Tooele County. Erda is about an hour to an hour and a quarter from the Cottonwood Canyon resorts and from Park City. Woodward Park City is the quickest, and Snowbird is about 1 hour 5 minutes.

Alta and Solitude are a little past Snowbird. Park City Mountain's Canyons Village base is about 1 hour 3 minutes, and Brighton about 1 hour 10. Ski season usually starts around December. Canyon roads slow down on storm days, so add time.

Drive times are map estimates from the city office with no traffic.

Erda has no golf course. The nearest is in Stansbury Park, about 12 minutes away, and two more are in Tooele. Grantsville has none.

Sources: the Stansbury Service Agency, Tooele City, and golf directories. Hours and rates change by season, so call a course before you go.

Erda has no restaurant. The drive-in's snack bar on show nights is the only food in town. Food is in two directions. Stansbury Park is about 10 minutes north, and the north end of Tooele is about 10 minutes south.

For the store runs, the groceries and shopping topic has the details. Most of the picks below are errands on the way home.

Six places people know

• BurgersA&W6777 Highway 36, Stansbury ParkBurgers and root beer floats, with a drive-through. It is open every day.
• SandwichesSubway576 Highway 138, Stansbury ParkThe sandwich shop on the north side, a few minutes from SR-36.
• Smoothies and wrapsTropical Smoothie Cafe2419 N Main, TooeleIn The Peak at Compass Point shops, open early in the morning.
• Grocery deliSmith's Marketplace2483 N Main, TooeleNot a restaurant, but it has a deli, a Starbucks and a sushi counter inside.
• 24 hour dinerDenny's925 N Main, TooeleOpen 24 hours a day.
• Casual sit-downChili's951 N Main, TooeleA chain restaurant at the Founders Pointe center on Tooele's north end.

These are well known and open in 2026. This is not a ranking, and no one paid to be listed. Hours change and small places come and go, so check before you drive.

More nearby

Sources: each chain's own store page, Soelberg's, Smith's, Stansbury Park, and Utah Business. Hours change, so check before you go.

Erda has one famous night out, a drive-in movie theater on SR-36. Skydive Utah jumps from the airfield on the north side. The rest is a short drive around the valley: a county fairgrounds, a racetrack, a pioneer mill, and a concert hall.

• Movie theaterThe Erda Drive-In4055 N SR-36, about 7 minutesIt showed its first films about 1950 as the Motor Vu, and a small tornado knocked the screen down in the early 1990s before it was rebuilt. It was sold in 2022 and renamed. It shows movies after dark, Thursday to Saturday, until about 11 p.m. The season is summer, usually starting in May. In 2026 it posted "closed for the season" about the end of August, so check its site.
• SkydivingSkydive Utah4647 N Airport Rd, about 10 minutesIt has run for over 40 years and jumps from Tooele Valley Airport, also called Bolinder Field. The airport sits inside Erda and belongs to Salt Lake City's airport department. The jump plane is a PAC 750XL, built for skydiving. It jumps from about March to November. On most summer Thursdays it opens late for sunset jumps. Tandem jumpers must be 18 or older with a photo ID. The phone is 435-833-9999.
• County fairgroundsThe Peak2930 W Highway 112, Grantsville, about 7 minutesTooele County's complex, long called the Deseret Peak Complex. It has a covered arena, motocross tracks, a BMX track, and ball fields. The Bit N' Spur Rodeo and Heritage Days are held here.
• RacetrackWest Desert motorsports campus512 Sheep Ln, Grantsville, about 11 minutesThe old Miller Motorsports Park. It reopened to the public on September 19, 2026, with karting and track days.
• County parkBenson Grist Mill325 Pole Canyon Rd, Stansbury Park, about 10 minutesBuilt in 1854 and run by Tooele County as a park. The grounds hold pioneer buildings, and the mill hosts a Saturday farmers market and seasonal events.
• Concert hallThe Great SaltairI-80 Exit 104, about 20 minutesTouring concerts and festivals in a hall on the lake shore. Acts change each season, so use its site.
• Night skyStansbury Park Observatory1 Country Club Dr, Stansbury ParkThe Salt Lake Astronomical Society holds public star parties, usually from spring into early fall.

The events topic has the dates for the mill and the fairgrounds. Salt Lake City is about 35 minutes east for bigger shows and games.

Sources: the Erda Drive-In, Skydive Utah, Tooele County Parks and Recreation, the Great Saltair, Utah Business, and the Utah state boundary map. Hours, prices, and seasons change, so check each place before you go.

Erda has no theater, gallery, or museum. The arts nearby are small and county sized. For a big stage, go east to Salt Lake City, about 35 minutes away.

• FairTooele Renaissance FaireBenson Grist MillRun by the Tooele County Arts Guild. In 2026 it ran September 18 and 19.
• MuseumTooele Valley Museum and Historical Park35 N Broadway, TooeleFree. It is usually open late May to late September, Wednesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• ConcertsThe Great SaltairI-80 Exit 104, about 20 minutesA concert hall on the lake shore. The entertainment topic has more.
• FilmThe Erda Drive-InSR-36, about 7 minutesA single screen. The entertainment topic has its nights and season.

Sources: Tooele County Parks and Recreation, Tooele City, and local news. Dates and hours change, so check before you go.

Erda has no festival of its own. The city runs no events, and its calendar was empty in October 2026. The weekends people plan around are in the towns next door, and they follow the usual calendar.

Tooele County Heritage Days is the county fair, held at The Peak in late July. Stansbury Days is held in mid August in Stansbury Park, with a parade, a cardboard boat race, and fireworks over the lake. Tooele holds a Fourth of July parade, concert, and fireworks.

• JanuarySki season is in full swing in the Cottonwood canyons and Park City, about an hour away.
• FebruaryThe Stansbury Park Golf Course usually opens.
• MarchSkydive Utah's jump season begins. Grantsville holds the Old Folks Sociable, a town tradition since 1884.
• AprilPublic star parties start at the Stansbury Park Observatory.
• MayThe Erda Drive-In usually opens. Loop Campground below Deseret Peak and the Tooele Valley Museum open for the season.
• JuneThe Benson Grist Mill farmers market starts on Saturdays.
• JulyTooele's Fourth of July, with a rodeo at The Peak. Pioneer Fun at the Mill, Heritage Days, and Speed Week at the Salt Flats.
• AugustHeritage Days wraps up with a demolition derby. Stansbury Days in mid month.
• SeptemberThe Renaissance Faire at the grist mill. The last star parties of the season.
• OctoberThe mill's Fall Festival and the last farmers market. The Antelope Island bison roundup is usually in late October.
• NovemberA Christmas lighting and live nativity at the grist mill. Skydiving winds down. Tooele's Santa parade is usually the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
• DecemberSki areas open. The Stansbury Park golf course usually stays open into December.

These are the usual months. Dates move each year, so check each event's own site before you plan a trip.

Erda sits in the northern part of Tooele Valley. Stansbury Park and Lake Point lie to the north, Tooele to the south, Grantsville to the west, and Salt Lake City to the east. These are the drives people make most.

Winter storms and rush hour can add time on I-80. The airports topic covers flights, and the traffic topic covers the commute.

Drive times are map estimates from the Erda city office with no traffic.