Park City is a different market from the valley in almost every way, including who the buyers are and what time of year they show up. It sits about 32 miles from downtown Salt Lake City up I-80 through Parleys Canyon, mostly above 7,000 feet, and most of my work here is second homes and mountain property for clients who also own down the hill.

The layout

Most of Park City is in Summit County, with a small piece in Wasatch County. The town sits at the south end of the Snyderville Basin. State Route 224 comes up from I-80 at Kimball Junction, and State Route 248 heads east toward Kamas.

Old Town and Main Street sit at the base of Park City Mountain, Deer Valley is just to the southeast, and Kimball Junction, with Junction Commons and most of the big-box shopping, is a few miles north just outside city limits.

Mining town to ski town

Park City started as a silver mining town in the 1860s and 1870s and nearly became a ghost town when silver prices collapsed. The ski resort that became Park City Mountain opened in 1963 on the old mining land, and tourism has run the town ever since.

You can still see it. Main Street has 64 Victorian buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, old mine buildings and hoists still stand on the slopes, and the Park City Museum on Main Street keeps the original basement jail.

Skiing and the outdoors

Park City Mountain: merged with Canyons in 2015 to become the largest ski area in the United States
Deer Valley: just southeast of Main Street, and with Park City Mountain a venue for the 2002 Winter Olympics
Utah Olympic Park: near Kimball Junction, with the Olympic ski jumps, bobsled rides and the Alf Engen Ski Museum
Trails: hundreds of miles of them, enough that the town was named a Gold-level Ride Center for mountain biking

In summer, a lot of people from the valley come up to get out of the heat. Park City usually runs well cooler than Salt Lake.

Main Street

Historic Main Street is the center of town for restaurants and shops. A few long-standing ones are No Name Saloon, High West Saloon, a distillery with its own restaurant, and Davanza’s, which has been serving pizza and burgers since 1979. The restored Egyptian Theatre hosts plays, comedy and live music.

Events and Sundance

Park City hosts the Kimball Arts Festival each year, a big Fourth of July parade, and a Miners’ Day parade on Labor Day. The Sundance Film Festival was held here from 1978 through 2026 and is moving to Boulder, Colorado.

That last one matters if you are buying to rent. The festival was worth roughly $80 million a year to the local economy, and a lot of nightly rental income was built around that week in January, so any projection based on past Januaries needs a second look.

What to understand before you buy

Nightly rental rules vary by area and by association, and they are the single most consequential thing to verify if any part of your plan involves renting the property out. An income assumption that is not permitted is not income.

HOA structures, dues, and what they actually cover vary widely here. Two similar-looking properties can have very different carrying costs.

Timing and seasonality

This market has a season in a way the valley does not. When you list and when you shop both matter more here.

If you are buying in Park City while selling in Davis County, the two timelines need to be planned together rather than in sequence.

Useful local reference: Park City Museum.

Within Park City, I work specifically in Old Town , Deer Valley , Kimball Junction , Park Meadows , Prospector Square , and Snyderville Basin . If your street is in one of these, I can tell you what is happening on it specifically.

Working with me in Park City

Whether you are selling or buying, the work starts the same way, with a real read on your specific street. If you are selling, start with Sell Your Home or go straight to a free Home Valuation. If you are buying, Buy a Home covers how I work.

Licensed Utah REALTOR® since 2015, license 9500608, with CENTURY 21 Everest, rated 5.0 across 73 client ratings.

REALTOR® in Park City, Utah