City Park City, Summit County
The whole picture
Park City, the honest version.
A town of roughly 8,400 residents at nearly 6,936 feet that carries the largest ski resort in the country, a silver-mining Main Street that survived by accident, and four hundred miles of trail. My own base is Southern Utah, so for the on-the-ground work here I connect buyers with a trusted Park City and Summit County partner agent and stay on the file for the homework and the financing side. This is the page I would hand a friend who asked what Park City is actually like.
By Scott Buehler, Moving Utah
Updated September 2026
The short answer
Park City is a former silver town at nearly 6,936 feet that turned into the biggest ski destination in the country, and it runs on two seasons rather than one. In winter it carries the largest ski resort in the United States by acreage plus a second, skis-only mountain that has just doubled in size, all a short drive from the Salt Lake City airport. In summer, which many residents quietly prefer, more than 400 miles of public trail open up and the Main Street calendar gets busier than it is in the snow. The catch that costs newcomers money is a line on the map: a lot of what everyone calls Park City sits in unincorporated Summit County rather than in the city, and that changes the tax bill. This hub is the map to ten deeper Park City pages, and it hands the practical side of a move to the city guide.
Start here
The largest resort in the country, and the one that bans snowboards.
Park City has two major ski resorts on opposite flanks of the same town, and they are not the same product. Park City Mountain covers roughly 7,300 acres, which makes it the largest ski resort in the United States by skiable acreage, a size it reached in 2015 when the old resort and the neighboring Canyons were linked by an interconnecting gondola. It runs under Vail Resorts, on the Epic Pass, and it takes both skiers and snowboarders.
Deer Valley, open since 1981, sits on the other side of town, skis only, and built its name on grooming and service rather than sheer size. It is also in the middle of the biggest change in its history. By the close of the 2026 season its East Village expansion on the Jordanelle side had roughly doubled the mountain, to more than 4,300 skiable acres, and it sits on the Ikon Pass under Alterra. Because the two mountains are on different national passes, the pass question here is a real decision rather than a formality.
The detail that sets this town apart from almost every other American ski town is the Town Lift, a chairlift that runs straight out of the middle of the historic commercial district. You can finish a run and walk to lunch on Main Street, and that single piece of infrastructure explains most of what Old Town costs.
Park City at a glance
~6,936 ft
town elevation, higher on the mountains
~8,400
residents, far more in season
400+ mi
of public non-motorized trail
~35 min
to Salt Lake City and the airport
The old town
A street that survived because nobody could afford to replace it.
Park City was founded on silver in 1869 and incorporated as a city in 1884, and by the 1890s it was running hard on mines like the Ontario and the Silver King. A fire in 1898 destroyed most of the commercial core, and the district that went up right afterward is what you walk today.
Then the silver gave out. The town emptied, and by the middle of the 20th century it was close to a ghost town, which is the least celebrated and most important part of the story. Nobody had the money to knock down a Victorian storefront and put up something modern, and by the time anyone did, the storefronts had become the point.
Today the street holds galleries, restaurants and bars, the Egyptian Theatre that opened on Christmas Day in 1926, and the Park City Museum in the old City Hall, where you can walk down into the territorial jail. One thing has changed for good: after more than four decades, the Sundance Film Festival held its final Park City edition in January 2026 and moved to Boulder, Colorado, from 2027. The town's own arts festival in August and the summer market weekends now carry more of Main Street's event weight.
Out the back
Four hundred miles of trail, for eight thousand residents.
Park City holds more than 400 miles of public non-motorized trail and was the first Gold-Level IMBA Ride Center in the world. For a town of about 8,400 people that is an absurd ratio, and it is the single best argument for living here rather than just visiting.
The spine is the Mid-Mountain Trail, an IMBA Epic that runs about 20 miles while holding close to 8,000 feet the whole way, and almost every other trail ties into it somewhere. Below it, Round Valley and the 28-mile Historic Union Pacific Rail Trail carry the easy end, and the Armstrong to Spiro loop is the ride locals name when a visitor asks for one.
All of it is free, and much of it is maintained by the Mountain Trails Foundation. The town treats this network as infrastructure rather than decoration, which is worth understanding before you buy here.
The quiet decider
Most of Park City is not in Park City.
This is the thing that quietly costs people money, so it goes here rather than in a footnote. A great deal of what everyone calls Park City is unincorporated Summit County, in the Snyderville Basin: Kimball Junction, Canyons Village, Jeremy Ranch, Pinebrook, Silver Springs, Summit Park and Promontory.
The consequences are concrete. The sales tax rate, the planning department, and which government licenses a nightly rental all change at that line, which matters a great deal if rental income is part of the plan. The first year guide walks through the actual rates and what they mean for a move.
Utah stacks a second variable on top. A qualifying primary residence gets a 45 percent residential exemption and is taxed on 55 percent of its value, while a second or vacation home is taxed on the full amount. With so many homes here held as second homes, two buyers paying the same price can face very different annual bills. Confirm the parcel and the certified rate with Summit County before you count on either number.
The year
Two big seasons, and two quiet ones.
Winter
Long and genuinely cold
January lows average around 11 degrees, and town snowfall is often reported near 120 inches or more, with much more on the mountains. Heating, snow removal and winter tires are recurring costs here, not afterthoughts.
Spring
Mud season, and it is real
Snow lingers up high long after town has dried out, the trails come up soft, and May goes quiet enough that some restaurants close for a stretch. Low ground clears first, usually by early June.
Summer
The half nobody photographs
July highs average around 81 degrees and the nights cool off hard. The trail network opens, both resorts run the lifts for bikes, and the Main Street calendar is busier than the winter one.
Fall
Brilliant and short
Aspen color runs across the Wasatch Back from late September into October, and Guardsman Pass is the classic drive while the seasonal road is open. The first snow can arrive while the leaves are still turning.
If you only get one
A day in Park City, done properly.
Start early at the Utah Olympic Park in Bear Hollow and watch athletes train on the ski jumps for nothing. From there you can buy onto the day pass, and if the Comet bobsled is running it reaches up to about 70 miles an hour with a professional pilot at the wheel. Either way you have seen the most unusual thing in the county before most people are awake.
Mid-morning, get on a trail. In summer that means Armstrong up and Spiro down if you have a bike and the lungs, or the McPolin Farm Trail around the white barn if you flew in from sea level yesterday. In winter it means whichever mountain matches how you slide, and if you can get on the Town Lift, do.
Afternoon on Main Street. An hour in the Park City Museum, down into the old territorial jail, and then the street itself at whatever pace the weather allows. Ride the free bus in and skip the one genuinely annoying part of this town.
Then, depending on the month, a show at the Egyptian Theatre, a long table down the middle of Main Street at the summer market, or an evening drive up over Guardsman Pass in the last week of September while the aspens are going.
The Park City companion
Ten pages, one town.
Every Park City page The Local has written, in one place. Pick whichever door fits the question you came in with.
Things to do
The top 12, ranked
ReadTwo mountains
Park City Mountain vs Deer Valley
ReadThe old town
Historic Main Street
ReadOn two wheels
The 8 best rides
ReadOn foot
The 8 best hikes, ranked
ReadThe other season
Summer, the quiet argument
ReadBear Hollow
The Utah Olympic Park
ReadCosts nothing
10 free things to do
ReadSilver first
From silver to skiing
ReadFor movers
Your first year in Park City
Read
Scott Buehler
Moving Utah About Scott
Quick answers
Park City, answered.
Skiing, first of all. Park City Mountain is the largest ski resort in the United States by skiable acreage at roughly 7,300 acres, and Deer Valley on the other side of town is one of a small number of American resorts that still allows skis only. Under that sits an 1880s silver-mining town with a preserved Main Street, plus an Olympic legacy from the 2002 Winter Games, which have been awarded to Utah again for 2034.
Yes, and many residents prefer it. July highs average around 81 degrees with cold nights at nearly 7,000 feet, more than 400 miles of public trail open up, both resorts run lift-served mountain biking from around mid-June, and the Main Street events calendar from June to September is busier than the winter one.
Town sits near 6,936 feet, and everything worth going up is higher. New arrivals feel it for a week or two in sleep, exercise and how alcohol lands, and the sun is stronger than it feels.
Yes, Park City Transit runs free across town and out to the resorts and trailheads. Given that parking is the largest friction here in every season, it is the most useful single fact for a first visit.
Its final Park City edition ran in January 2026, and the festival moved to Boulder, Colorado, from 2027. The town's August arts festival and the summer market weekends now carry more of Park City's event weight.
About 32 miles east of downtown Salt Lake City and roughly 36 miles from the airport, which is a drive of about 35 to 45 minutes via I-80 through Parley's Canyon in clear conditions. Winter storms and event weekends both lengthen it considerably, so build a cushion into anything time-sensitive.
No, and it catches people out. Kimball Junction, Canyons Village, Jeremy Ranch, Pinebrook and Promontory all sit in unincorporated Summit County rather than the City of Park City. Sales tax runs about 9.55 percent inside the city against about 9.05 percent in the unincorporated basin, planning authority differs, and nightly rentals are licensed by different governments.
It is one of Utah's most expensive markets, and the honest way to describe it is as a range by segment rather than a single number. Heber, Midway and Kamas sit 20 to 30 minutes out with more attainable housing.
Less than at any other time of year, which is the honest answer. May is quiet, some restaurants close for a stretch, the high trails are soft, and Round Valley and the Rail Trail are the reliable options.
Two mountains, one street, and a line on a map.
My base is Southern Utah, so on a Park City move I connect you with a partner agent I trust for the on-the-ground work in Summit County while I stay on the file for the homework and the financing side. You get a local who knows the Wasatch Back and a second set of eyes who answers to you.
Or call Scott: (435) 357-4345or send Scott a message
Keep going
Continue your Park City research.
Eight more doors into Park City, chosen for what this page covers.
Questions about Park City?
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Referral Disclosure: For moves outside Southern Utah, I can connect you with trusted local agents. If you choose to work with one, their brokerage pays my brokerage (Real Broker, LLC) a referral fee from their commission. This costs you nothing extra, and you are never obligated to use my referral.