Well, I've lived in Utah all of my life, so I don't know very well how to compare it with Cali...
But I can guarantee you that the gun climate here is much better than California. I can't think of any Utah restrictions on firearms above Fed law, except that tracer-ammunition is illegal in Utah. But hey, it's a small price.
The economic climate was pretty bad a year ago (as a college student), but it is much better now, and I have seen more of my friends with good jobs, and more job openings than I have for a loooong time.
As for your wife wanting a job in childcare -- You're kidding, right? This is Utah! We've got more kids than you can throw a cat at! Childcare should be a great choice for a job. We also have the highest bankruptcy, and THEE highest teen pregnancy in the WORLD (and my hometown, Tooele, is #1 in Utah. Gotta be good at something, I guess...), so if your career has something to do with any of those, you may be looking at good work climate. [edit: just reread your post, so I guess underground construction wouldn't have much to do with those.
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My town, Tooele, which is 30 miles (and 30 mins.) southwest of downtown Salt Lake City, is a nice place to live. We have a lot of businesses, enough so that you won't have to go to SLC much except when you need something special, or maybe for holiday shopping. The property taxes out here are kinda high, and the city and school districts are a big good 'ole boy system (read: corrupt), but it is small enough that you only have to drive 5 minutes to find a nice piece of wilderness to shoot at, but big enough you don't know everybody -- nowhere near, to be exact.
Finding a good job in Tooele is doable, but SLC is within easy commute distance, and there are plenty of them there. Our traffic is nothing compared to yours, but you'll find some of the dumbest, least-considerate, and least-cooperative drivers here. But road rage is almost unheard of.
I don't know anything about prices of houses, but I'd bet they're less than in Cali.
It might be kinda tough to get used to two climates, though -- In the summer, it is frequently over 100 degrees, and in the winter it can frequently be below 0 degrees. (Where I went to college, in northern Utah, it got to -38 degrees for 2 or 3 weeks in the winter.)
I guess you have to remember that when the Mormons settled here, they took the place nobody else wanted, to keep from being bothered.
I often wonder if they had any idea what they were doing, but it's probably just the high temps getting to me.
I'd be glad to answer any questions you might have.
Wes
P.S. Mormon Crickets make great reactive targets, and one of the funnest plinking trips you'll have.