Best PlacesSt. George, UT Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in the St. George metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

St. George ranks 124th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on a strong job market and low property taxes. The weaker spots are an overheated housing market, tree cover, and disaster risk.

#124
of 387 metro areas
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 387 metro areas
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in the St. George metro

Map of the best neighborhoods in the St. George Metro area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

The best areas in St. George

The towns and districts of the St. George metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.

#1

Downtown St. George

Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.

WorseBetter
68th nationally
#2

Santa Clara

Disaster risk is lower and biking is better.

WorseBetter
65th nationally
#3

Washington

More households have young kids, though prices have run up more.

WorseBetter
58th nationally
#4

Ivins & Enterprise

It is quieter, though more homes sit empty.

WorseBetter
57th nationally
#5

Hurricane & La Verkin

Homes cost less, though commutes are longer.

WorseBetter
48th nationally

Scores across St. George run from about the 18th to the 94th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.


St. George's strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%A strong job market
Top 5%Low property taxes
Top 10%Low crime

St. George lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. A strong job market is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Low property taxes and low crime follow.

The one real hole is an overheated housing market, near the bottom of the country. Tree cover and disaster risk also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of St. George to another than it does between St. George and its neighbors, which the map below shows.

Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare St. George with other metro areas.

Where St. George ranks high

  • Local economyBetter than 99% of metro areas
  • Low property taxBetter than 95% of metro areas
  • Crime safetyBetter than 94% of metro areas
  • Nice weatherabout 169 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of metro areas
  • Short commute19.2 minutes each way, better than 91% of metro areas

Where St. George ranks low

  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of metro areas
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of metro areas
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of metro areas
  • Air qualityBetter than only 17% of metro areas
  • Low vacancyBetter than only 17% of metro areas

What it costs to buy a home in St. George

A household needs to earn about $130,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. George home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $86,292, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$130,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$3,029
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $524,376 home
Median rent
$1,732
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,674
Property tax$180
Homeowners insurance$175

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses St. George's effective rate of 0.41%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in St. George

St. George's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.

Median age
41
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
23%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.9
above the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1824%
18 to 3421%
35 to 4916%
50 to 6416%
65 and older23%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for St. George.


Who works in St. George, and how

Work in St. George centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
15%
about the national average
Unemployment
3.6%
below the national average
Job growth
+6.8%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social15%
Retail trade12%
Construction10%
Education10%
Hospitality & food8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 81%
  • Work from home 15%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in St. George

St. George has less parkland per resident than most metro areas and more late-night spots per resident than 94% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of St. George and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
780
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 43.3 per 10,000 residents, more than 36% of metro areas
Coffee shops
131
about 7.3 per 10,000 residents, more than 69% of metro areas
Parkland
683 acres
about 3.8 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 25% of metro areas
Open past 10pm
~222
food and drink venues open late, about 12.3 per 10,000 residents, more than 94% of metro areas
Living on campus
860
students living in college or university housing

Is St. George growing, and who is moving in?

St. George has grown about 38% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Provo, UT.

Population growth
+38%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
207,943
up from 151,081
Growth pace
99th percentile
of US metros by growth
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

Provo, UT1,389 / yr
Salt Lake City, UT1,002 / yr
Ogden, UT917 / yr
Las Vegas, NV815 / yr
Iron County, UT476 / yr

Where people leaving St. George go

Salt Lake City, UT1,561 / yr
Provo, UT1,272 / yr
Iron County, UT735 / yr
Las Vegas, NV557 / yr
Ogden, UT434 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in St. George, month by month

St. George sees roughly 169 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 104 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January54°41°30°
April79°63°47°
July104°90°74°
October81°64°50°

Flying in and out of St. George

The nearest airport, St George Regional, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Harry Reid International, about 112 miles away.

Nearest airport
SGU
St George Regional, about 5 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
193rd-busiest in the US, 6 nonstop destinations
Average drive
8 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around St. George

Schools across St. George average a B−, better than 62% of metro areas.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. George school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


St. George measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare St. George against the other 386 metro areas.


Who St. George suits

Families

Schools beat 62% of metro areas and crime safety beats 94%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

15% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 93% of metro areas and health care access beats 69%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in St. George

Is St. George a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. George ranks 124th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on a strong job market, low property taxes, and low crime, and lowest on an overheated housing market and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is St. George expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $524,376. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $86,292 median income, cost of living beats 46% of metro areas.

Is St. George safe?

Yes, St. George is safer than 94% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $270 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in St. George?

July highs average about 104 degrees, and January highs near 54 with lows near 30. That works out to about 169 pleasant days a year, more than 93% of metro areas.

What are the best neighborhoods in St. George?

Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Downtown St. George, Santa Clara, and Washington. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.

Is St. George good for families?

Schools beat 62% of metro areas, crime safety beats 94%, and childcare runs $929 a month.

Is St. George good for remote workers?

Cost of living against local pay beats 46% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 27% of metro areas. About 15% of workers already work from home.


Compare St. George with other metro areas


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. George. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. George represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

St. George detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for St. George: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in St. George: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of St. George: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in St. George: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

St. George detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.