Scores
Research
AI research, with sources“St. George is a sunny, fast-growing desert retirement market with strong outdoor appeal and relatively affordable housing for Utah, but summer heat, wildfire exposure, and patchy data availability are important watch items.”
St. George offers a compelling retiree package if you want golf, hiking, red-rock scenery, and a large 65+ community in a mid-sized city. The tradeoffs are intense summer heat, county-level wildfire and flood exposure, and higher property insurance risk than the headline climate might suggest.
Cost of living & taxes Housing costs are below many Western retiree hotspots, but Utah taxes and homeowner costs still matter.
The Census reports median owner-occupied home value at $456,900 and median household income at $72,870 for St. George (Census QuickFacts[1]). St. St George sits in Utah, which means the state income-tax and sales-tax environment matters for a retiree budget, but city-specific tax figures are not given here. The housing and income figures for St George are confirmed, but a city-level grocery index is not given here.
Healthcare access You have local hospital access, but serious specialty care will still mean some regional travel.
A verifiable agency page for local hospital systems, drive times, or Medicare Advantage plan options in St George is not given here. For retirement planning, that means the healthcare picture remains incomplete in this pass, even though St. George is large enough to support basic local care. If you want a decision-grade medical section, I would need hospital and Medicare.gov pages opened directly for confirmation.
Climate & weather St. George is very sunny and dry, with long hot summers and mild winter nights.
NOAA-based climate summaries show roughly 9 to 10 inches of annual precipitation and about 298 to 300 sunny days per year in St. George (PlainClimate[2], VSWeather[3]). July highs are around 102°F and winter lows are commonly near 28°F, so the comfort window for outdoor living is strongest in spring and fall (Climate-Charts[4]). The seasonality is clear: hot, very dry summers, cool desert winters, and a long shoulder season that favors golf and hiking (PlainClimate[2]).
Crime & safety Crime-data confirmation for St George is not given here, so no FBI rate is quoted.
The FBI Crime Data Explorer is the right authority for this topic, but the town name is not given here. George, Washington County, or Utah page with usable violent and property crime rates. Agency reporting can be incomplete after 2021, so a crime-score site or estimate is not used. The responsible conclusion from the available evidence is simply that the FBI figure is not confirmed in this pass.
Housing market St. George’s housing market is active but not cheap, with metro home values still up over the long run and local listings around the mid-$500Ks, plus several 55+ communities to choose from.
St. George’s city-level median listing price is about $550,000, and the year-over-year trend is down 2.32%, with homes taking a median 74 days to sell (Realtor.com[5]). At the metro level, FHFA’s St. George, UT house price index shows a 1-year change of -0.13%, which confirms that prices have softened modestly even though the long-run metro trend remains strong (FHFA HPI[6]). For retirees, the market does have active-adult options, including 55+ communities such as SunRiver St. George, Regency at Desert Color, and Vista Ridge Estates (55places[7]).
Airport & travel Las Vegas is the practical air gateway unless you are using the smaller local airport.
The nearest commercial airport, drive time, and direct-flight network for St. George are not given here. George. The airport answer cannot be verified to the requested standard from the evidence gathered here. In practice, retirees often compare St. St. George Regional Airport and Las Vegas offer route flexibility, but that is not treated as a sourced claim here.
Golf & recreation St. George is one of Utah’s best golf towns, with abundant desert recreation beyond the fairway.
A reliable official golf-course inventory or greens-fee source is not available here, so course counts or pricing are not listed. What is clear from the climate and geography sources is that the city’s long warm season supports year-round or near-year-round golf, hiking, and red-rock outdoor recreation (PlainClimate[2], Climate-Charts[4]). The same dry, sunny conditions that help golf also make summer water use, heat management, and wildfire awareness part of the lifestyle equation (PlainClimate[2]).
Community & demographics This is a large and still-growing city with a meaningful 65+ population.
The Census QuickFacts page reports a July 1, 2023 population estimate of 104,578, and 22.0% of residents were age 65 and over (Census QuickFacts[1]). Median age is not present in the Census QuickFacts excerpt, but the city has an established retiree presence rather than being a purely young-market town. The same Census page shows median household income of $72,870 and per-capita income of $36,254, which suggests a broad middle-income base rather than an especially luxury-oriented community (Census QuickFacts[1]).
Hazard & air quality Washington County has notable wildfire and flood exposure, while local air quality is usually good but ozone-driven.
FEMA’s National Risk Index is county-based, and the Washington County summary shows wildfire as a relatively high hazard, with riverine flooding and heat also standing out in the county breakdown (Utah Online Public Library PDF[8], FEMA NRI[9]). The county-level summary also describes heat wave, landslide, and riverine flooding as important exposures, so St. George buyers should think about more than just fire risk (Utah Online Public Library PDF[8]). The source reports 216 good air-quality days in 2025 and a median AQI of 45, with ozone as the primary pollutant and a generally stable trend (LocalAirData[10]).
Sources (11)
Numbered sources are the ones cited inline above.
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, St. George city, Utah
- St George, UT Climate: Monthly Temperature & Rain
- St. George, Utah - Weather and Climate Averages
- St George, Utah: Climate and Daylight Charts and Data
- Realtor.com St. George market report
- FHFA House Price Index datasets
- 55places St. George area active adult communities
- Washington County, UT - Utah's Online Public Library
- National Risk Index for Natural Hazards
- St. George Air Quality, AQI and annual summary
Also consulted, not cited inline.
Cost of living
102.8 composite index (100 = U.S. average, general population — an estimate, with no retiree-specific figure). About 2.8% above the national average overall.
| Housing | 107.7 |
| Utilities | 89.5 |
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities, 2024 (as of 2024).
Free federal price data, published yearly, converted to the scale of the purchased index used for most towns.
St. George is not covered closely by the purchased index used for most towns. This is estimated from federal price levels for the St. George, UT metro area, converted to the same scale as the other towns. Treat it as approximate.
Census figures
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total population Everyone living here, from the Census Bureau’s rolling five-year survey and controlled to its official population estimate — an average over the five years, not a headcount on one day. Source: Table B01001 on data.census.gov ↗ | 101,995 plus or minus 39 |
| Share of population aged 65+ calculated Residents aged 65 and over as a share of all residents, added up from the survey’s age brackets. It counts people living here year-round, so a town with many seasonal residents will read lower than it feels. Source: Table B01001 on data.census.gov ↗ | 21.8% plus or minus 1.2 percentage points |
| Median household income The midpoint of what households here earned over the twelve months before they were surveyed — half earned more, half less. Not an average, and not per person: a household can be one earner or five. Research text elsewhere on this page may quote an income from a different source, year or boundary, so it will not match this figure. Source: Table B19013 on data.census.gov ↗ | $76,508 plus or minus $4,339 |
| Median home value The midpoint of what owners estimate their own homes are worth, across owner-occupied homes only. It is not a list price, not a sale price, and not an assessment, so it will not match a market figure quoted elsewhere on this page. Source: Table B25077 on data.census.gov ↗ | $496,100 plus or minus $12,652 |
| Median gross rent The midpoint of rent plus tenant-paid utilities across occupied rental homes — what sitting renters pay, not what is being advertised to someone moving in today. Source: Table B25064 on data.census.gov ↗ | $1,545 plus or minus $81 |
| Median real estate taxes paid The midpoint of the property tax actually paid by owner-occupied households, which reflects what they own and any exemptions they hold. It is not the rate a new buyer would pay on a purchase at today’s price. Source: Table B25103 on data.census.gov ↗ | $2,122 plus or minus $67 |
| Owner households spending 30%+ of income on housing calculated Owner households whose monthly housing costs — mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities — take 30% or more of their income, out of the owner households for which that ratio can be computed. Renters are not in this figure. Source: Table B25091 on data.census.gov ↗ | 21.3% plus or minus 2.4 percentage points |
3 of 7 figures are precise enough to compare with another town. These are survey estimates, not a census count, and the margin of error is part of the figure.
Key details
| Region | UT |
| Airport | SGU, about 15-25 min, regional |
| Climate | Hot, arid desert; ~298 sunny days, ~9-10 in precip; best outdoors Mar-May and Oct-Nov |
| Lot size | 0.10–0.25 ac low-maintenance |
| Home type | 1,800–2,500 sq ft single-level ranch or patio home |
| Key watch | Summer heat; wildfire/insurance exposure; water and HOA costs |
| Healthcare | Local hospital care is present, but major specialty care often means travel |
| Best season | March - May and October - November |
| Top community | SunRiver St. George, Entrada, The Ledges, Desert Color, Stone Cliff |
In your free trial: more on St George
Retirement taxes: Social Security, pensions and IRA withdrawals partly taxed · Typical home: $500K–$750K
- A tax comparison using your income: how St George's state treats Social Security, IRA and pension income, plus property and sales tax
- Carrying costs and break-even: insurance, HOA, utilities and property tax, and how long until moving pays off
- Example homes in your price range, with live searches on Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com
- Golf clubs nearby, with membership and initiation costs
- A trip journal for scouting visits, with photos and a PDF report
- Two-home planning: pair St George with a winter or summer town and see the combined budget
- Any U.S. town researched in about a minute, not just these
Start your free 14-day trial or take the 2-minute quiz first →