Living in Murray, Utah: Frequently Asked Questions from a Local Realtor

I am Sam Holman with Real Brokerage, LLC. I grew up in Salt Lake, I am a Utah native, and I have spent more than 16 years helping people buy and sell homes across the Salt Lake valley.

Murray comes up constantly with my clients, and usually for the same reason: it is right in the middle of everything, and it is one of the last places in the valley where a normal family can still buy a house near a TRAX line. Below are the questions people actually ask me about it, answered with real numbers and real place names.

What is Murray actually like?

Murray is a city of about 53,297 people sitting in the middle of the Salt Lake valley, roughly twelve miles south of downtown Salt Lake City. Median household income is about $90,746.

It is not a bedroom community and it is not a new suburb. Murray is an old smelter town that grew into a full city with its own hospital, its own mall, its own school district, and its own power company. Most of the housing stock is established rather than new — mid-century ranches, brick homes, post-war subdivisions, and newer townhome and apartment development clustered around the train stations.

What people notice first is the location. You are ten to twenty minutes from almost anywhere on the valley floor, you have three TRAX stations and a FrontRunner stop inside the city, and I-15 and I-215 both run through it.

What do homes cost in Murray?

Here is where I have to be careful, because the honest answer is a range, not a number, and different sources measure different things. I would rather show you all of it than hand you one tidy figure that hides the truth.

Across all home types, citywide, Redfin puts Murray’s median sale price at about $535,000, down 2.6% from a year ago, at roughly $267 per square foot. Homes are taking a median of 34 days on market and selling for about 1% under list. In July 2026, 140 homes sold in Murray, down from 157 a year earlier.

Split by property type, the picture is very different, and this is the more useful way to look at it. The Salt Lake Board of Realtors’ second-quarter 2026 figures for ZIP 84107, the heart of Murray, show:

• Single-family homes: $651,625 median
• Condominiums: $409,000 median

That gap is the whole story of the Murray market. The all-types median sits near $535K because condos and townhomes pull it down. If you are shopping for a detached house with a yard, budget from the single-family number, not the citywide one.

For context, the median single-family sale price across all of Salt Lake County was $645,000 in the second quarter of 2026 — the highest quarterly median on record, up 4.88% year over year. So Murray’s houses are running right at the county median, while its condos are a genuine value for someone trying to get in.

One caution on numbers you will see elsewhere. Murray’s other ZIP, 84123, is often labeled “Taylorsville/Kearns” in market reports, because that ZIP straddles Murray, Taylorsville, West Valley City and Kearns. If you see a much lower “Murray” figure, check which ZIP it came from.

If you are renting first, the Census puts median gross rent in Murray at about $1,500. About 64.7% of Murray households own their home.

Is Murray expensive to live in?

Housing is the expensive part. Everything else is about average or better.

Property tax is genuinely low, and Utah’s exemption is the reason. Utah exempts 45% of the fair market value of a primary residence from taxation, so your home is taxed on 55% of what it is worth. That exemption applies to your primary home and up to one acre of land. The practical effect in Murray is an effective property tax rate around 0.59%, with a median annual bill near $2,750 — versus a national median rate closer to 1.02%.

I want to be straight with you: I could not pull Murray City’s certified tax rate for the current year from the county’s own system, so the figure above is an effective rate from a tax data service rather than the city’s published rate. Treat it as a good working estimate and confirm your specific bill with the Salt Lake County Assessor before you rely on it.

Utah’s state income tax is a flat 4.45% for 2026. It was cut from 4.50% in March 2026, the sixth straight annual reduction. Be aware that the state’s own tax-rate webpage still displayed an older 4.55% figure when I checked.

Sales tax in Murray is 7.65% combined.

And here is a Murray quirk almost nobody knows about: Murray runs its own electric utility. Murray City Power has been municipally owned since 1913 and serves roughly 18,000 customers. The city publishes an average residential rate of about 9.1 cents per kilowatt-hour. Independent data has put Murray’s average residential rate below the Utah state average. I am not going to tell you it definitively beats Rocky Mountain Power, because the city does not publish that comparison and the third-party figures I found are from different years. But it is a real, unusual amenity, and your power bill in Murray is not the same as your power bill one city over.

On overall cost of living, the widely quoted indexes put Murray and Salt Lake City at the same overall number, which makes me skeptical of them. The one piece I will stand behind is that Murray’s housing sub-index runs meaningfully below Salt Lake City’s. Groceries and utilities in Murray come in slightly under the national average.

Which neighborhoods should I be looking at?

I am going to answer this differently than most agents would, because I would rather be useful than confident.

Murray does not have officially named residential neighborhoods the way Salt Lake City has Sugar House or the Avenues. The city does not publish a neighborhood list. What it publishes are planning districts, small area plans, historic districts, and five numbered City Council districts. So when you see a blog or a listing site naming Murray “neighborhoods,” those names usually come from a real estate data vendor that drew the boundaries itself, not from the city.

That matters practically. “Winchester Estates,” which shows up on several neighborhood-listing sites as a Murray neighborhood, is actually a mobile home park at 6409 South 990 West. If you go looking for houses there based on a blog post, you are going to have a confusing afternoon.

Here is how buyers actually orient themselves in Murray, using names the city really uses:

The City Center, along State Street. Murray’s downtown, and the subject of an active zoning overhaul called the City Center Form Based Code, adopted to reshape about 86 acres around State Street into five sub-districts — Civic Center, Boulevard, Neighborhood Corridor, Residential Transition and Transit Neighborhood. This is where Murray is putting its density and its new mixed-use building. If you want walkability and you do not mind construction, look here.

The historic downtown, around State Street and Vine Street. The Murray Downtown Historic District was listed on the National Register in 2006 and runs along State Street from roughly 4800 South east to Vine Street, with contributing buildings from 1897 through the mid-1950s. Next to it is the separately listed Murray Downtown Residential Historic District. This is the oldest and most characterful housing in the city.

Fireclay, around the Murray North TRAX station. Named for Fireclay Avenue, this is Murray’s transit-oriented redevelopment area near 4400 South, with projects like Birkhill at Fireclay and Birkhill on Main. This is the closest thing Murray has to a modern, colloquially named neighborhood, and it is where most of the newer condo and townhome inventory sits.

Fashion Place West, in the southwest corner near the mall and the Fashion Place West TRAX station. Murray adopted a Fashion Place West Small Area Plan in February 2021 covering about 245 acres. Note the name: “Fashion Place” on its own means the mall. “Fashion Place West” is the district.

The west side, along Murray Parkway Avenue. Not an official district name, but a real and distinct part of the city — this is the corridor along the Jordan River where you find Murray Parkway Golf Course, Willow Pond Park and Germania Park, with quieter residential streets backing onto the river parkway.

When you and I are looking at homes, I will tell you which council district and which planning district a house sits in, and what is actually approved to be built near it. That is a more honest answer than a made-up neighborhood name.

What about schools?

Murray is one of the very few cities in the Salt Lake valley with its own independent school district. Murray City School District has been running since 1906 and serves roughly 6,000 students across seven elementary schools, two junior highs — Hillcrest and Riverview — and Murray High School. Most valley suburbs are folded into the much larger Granite or Canyons districts. Murray is not, and families notice.

There is a real catch, though: the Murray city limits and the Murray City School District boundary are not the same line, so some homes with a Murray address are zoned to Granite District schools instead.

I wrote a full guide to this, with every school’s grades, address and website, how to check a specific address, how open enrollment works, and the grade reconfiguration coming in 2027–28:

Best Schools in Murray, Utah: A Parent’s Guide from a Local Realtor

What is the commute like?

This is Murray’s strongest card.

Transit. Murray has three TRAX light rail stations, all served by both the Blue Line and the Red Line:

• Murray Central — 5144 South Cottonwood Street
• Murray North — 71 West Fireclay Avenue (4295 South)
• Fashion Place West — 222 West Winchester Street (6400 South)

And FrontRunner commuter rail stops at Murray Central, which puts Ogden and Provo on the same train from Murray. The FrontRunner platform there opened in December 2012; the TRAX station has been running since 1999. Very few valley cities have both. Schedules are at UTA.

Driving. I-15 runs north–south through Murray, I-215 crosses it, and State Street — which is US-89 — runs the length of the city. Downtown Salt Lake City is about 12 miles away; Salt Lake City International Airport is about 13 miles. I am not going to quote you a drive time to the minute, because I-15 in the middle of the valley is entirely a function of when you leave. Figure roughly fifteen to twenty-five minutes to either, and more at rush hour.

If you are the kind of buyer who wants to leave the car home some days, Murray is one of the few places in the valley where that is realistic.

What is there to do outdoors?

Murray Park, at 296 East Murray Park Avenue near State Street and 5100 South, is the center of civic life here and it is genuinely well equipped. On the grounds you will find an outdoor amphitheater, an outdoor swimming pool, an outdoor ice rink, an arboretum, rugby, softball, soccer and multipurpose fields, five pavilions, playgrounds, picnic sites with grills, and walking trails. Ken Price Ballpark, the County Ice Center, and the Boys & Girls Club of Murray are all on the site.

The Park Center, at 202 East Murray Park Lane, is Murray’s recreation center — basketball gyms, an indoor leisure and lap pool, aerobics, spinning and a weight room.

Murray Outdoor Pool, at 5109 South Murray Park Avenue, runs roughly June through Labor Day and has a four-story slide, two diving boards and a zero-depth-entry beach area.

Murray Parkway Golf Course, at 6345 Murray Parkway Avenue, is a city-run 18-hole, par-72 course playing about 6,900 yards from the tips.

The Jordan River Parkway Trail runs 45 miles through Salt Lake County, and Murray is one of its primary access points. The Little Confluence Trailhead is at 4800 South 580 West.

Germania Park, at 5243 South Murray Parkway Avenue, is seven acres along the Jordan River with a three-acre wetlands pond, a pavilion, playground, volleyball and basketball courts, and pedestrian and equestrian trails. It was dedicated in 1995 and named for the Germania Smelter that operated here in the late 1800s.

Willow Pond Park, at 6059 South Murray Parkway Avenue, sits just north of the golf course on the same river corridor.

Wheeler Historic Farm, at 6351 South 900 East, is a working historic farm and public park with milking demonstrations, wagon rides and farmhouse tours. Worth naming precisely: it has a Murray mailing address but it is a Salt Lake County park, not a Murray City one, and it sits just east of the city.

Events. Murray Fun Days is the city’s Fourth of July tradition, running since 1958 — a sunrise service, a 5K, a parade that runs from Fashion Place Mall to Murray Park, a car show, an evening concert and fireworks at 10:00. Through the summer the city runs Arts in the Park, all free: a Lunch Concert Series on Tuesdays at midday in Murray Park, a Matinee Series on Thursday afternoons aimed at younger kids, and Family Night Concerts on the second Monday of the month at the Murray Senior Recreation Center. Ticketed Evening Series performances run at the Murray Park Amphitheater.

What should I know before I move here that nobody tells me?

Four things.

Murray was a smelter town, and the ground remembers it. Two smokestacks dominated the skyline for eighty years until they were brought down in August 2000. The 142-acre smelter site is a federal Superfund site that has been remediated, and it now holds Intermountain Medical Center, Costco and the FrontRunner station. Murray’s zoning still carries a Smelter Site Overlay District. This is not a reason to avoid Murray — the cleanup is done and the land is in productive use — but you should hear it from your Realtor rather than discover it on a disclosure.

Intermountain Medical Center is right here, at 5121 South Cottonwood Street. It is a major regional hospital with a 24-hour emergency department and the Simmons Trauma Center. For anyone with a medical condition in the family, or anyone who works in healthcare, that proximity is worth real money.

Fashion Place — 6191 South State Street, open since 1972 and anchored by Nordstrom, Macy’s, Dillard’s and Crate & Barrel — is inside Murray. It draws traffic, and the streets around it behave accordingly. Some map services mislabel the mall as Salt Lake City. It is Murray.

Murray’s downtown is actively changing. The City Center zoning overhaul is real and buildings are going up. If you buy near State Street, look at what is approved next door before you fall in love with a view.

If you are thinking about Murray

Murray is the city I recommend most often to buyers who want to be central, want a real house rather than a new-build in the far suburbs, and do not want to spend their lives on I-15. It is also, right now, a market where condos and single-family homes are moving very differently — which means the right strategy depends entirely on which one you are shopping for.

As a Realtor who specializes in Murray, I will tell you what a street is actually like, which planning district a house sits in, what is approved to be built nearby, and which schools the address really feeds. Whether you are buying your first home, selling one, or doing both at the same time, I handle both sides.

Sam Holman, Real Brokerage, LLC

Prices, tax rates and city plans change. Figures here were verified against Redfin, the Salt Lake Board of Realtors, the U.S. Census, the Utah State Tax Commission, UTA and Murray City sources as of September 2026. Please confirm anything you are relying on.