St George Utah

St George Utah or Saint George Utah

St. George, Utah has become the mid-western investiture equivalent of rustic, old, new, quaint, thriving, desert serene, red rock rim and water flowing, blunted cliff dwelling, pining away with golf, or occasional reservoir enjoying, all mixed in with roots- a flare of historic, pioneer, but community like charm.

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Saint George is the population and commercial center of Utah's Dixie, a nickname given to the area when Mormon pioneers grew cotton in the warm climate. St. George's trademark is its geology (see geology section below).

Located in the midst of stunning, red rock formations, rolling hills and towering Pine Valley Mountain, the peaks of Zion National Park can be seen in the distance. Some relocate here because of the lower crime rate. Others relocate here because this really is a special place grounded in pioneer history, alive with strong community values, culture and the arts and where people really are neighborly. Many have expressed the feeling of being "drawn" to this incredible area.

The city is a popular retirement destination for many Utahans and is host to the largest Spring Break parties in Utah.

History

St. George was founded as a cotton mission in the 1850s under the direction of Brigham Young, the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons or LDS Church)-- part of a greater church effort to become self-sufficient. Official Church Site

While the early settlers did manage to grow cotton, it was never produced at competitive market rates; consequently, cotton farming was eventually abandoned.

In April 1877, the LDS Church completed construction of the St. George Utah Temple, the Church's third temple and its first temple in the Rocky Mountains.

St. George was the location of the 1998 United States Academic Decathlon national finals.

The city began booming in the mid-1980s, first as a retirement hotspot and tourist gateway to Southern Utah's color country, and then as a transportation center.

Geography

St. George is located at 37°5′43″N, 113°34′41″W (37.095279, -113.578151)GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 168.0 km² (64.9 mi²). 166.8 km² (64.4 mi²) of it is land and 1.2 km² (0.5 mi²) of it (0.72%) is water.

St. George lies in the lowest elevation region of the state, Dixie, with most of the city lying below 3,000 feet (900 m).

Location

St. George is a city located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Utah, and the county seat of Washington County, Utah. GR6 It is the principal city of and is included in the St. George, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is 119 miles or two hours (192 km) northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and 303 miles (488 km) or 4 hours south of Salt Lake City on Interstate 15.

St George is centrally located in the mid-western United States and being along the I-15 freeway makes it a hub of sorts, with major trucking going through and sometimes stopping at the Regional Wal Mart Distribution center located approximately 5 miles north of St George.

Geology

St George is in high desert country. Red sandstone buttes and bluffs make up the northern part of the city with two hills covered in lava rock in the city's center. The northeastern edges of the Mojave Desert are visible to the south. Zion National Park can be seen to the east, and mountains are nearby to the north, southeast and west. It is also near Bryce Canyon National Park. The Virgin River flows through the city.

As you travel from the south toward St George along I-15, you'll go from lower lying desert terrain into higher desert, pre-mountainous terrain. St George is a desert prelude, nestled beneath Pine Valley mountain as a mixture of desert scenery, red rock cliffs, buttes, rolling hills and mountains. Many people may generalize the geologic attractions found near St George, to include Southern Utah color country.

Climate

Maximum daily July temperatures average about 102°F (39°C). In winter, temperatures frequently drop below freezing overnight (due to radiational cooling resulting from low humidity), but temperatures warm into the 50s°F (low 10s°C) during the day. St. George averages 8.27 in (210 mm) of precipitation annually. Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, except for late April-June. Precipitation mostly comes from the Pineapple Express during late fall, winter, and early spring. The summer monsoon from the Gulf of California can bring localized but often intense thunderstorms from mid-July through mid-September.

There has been a surge of population growth in the warmer and lower lying desert climates to the south, including Phoenix Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada- it is thought due to retirement or mild winter climate accommodations. St George features the same advantages plus more attractive views. You do not get temperatures as sustainably high as you do in the larger cities of Arizona, like Phoenix and Mesa.

Our climate is sometimes what attracts people to the area. The combination of warm dry winters and comfortable summers (low humidity) draws new residents and tourists. Some retirees talk about having better health associated with the weather. We might get a couple incidents of snow, but it does not stick around more than a day or so, if that.

Cityscape

Main Article: Greater St George- List of common neighborhoods of St George

The whole city and area is laced with golf courses with some of them being world class. It is known for its scenery, golf, low crime rate, pioneer history, tourism with Zion Park near-by and its hospitality. There are three suburb type cities, that have grown into the fabric of Greater St George. These are Santa Clara, Ivins and Washington. Common neighborhood areas of St George are the larger subdivisions including Bloomington, Bloomington Hills, Desert Hills, Dixie Downs, Green Springs, Green Valley, Little Valley, Middleton, Red Cliffs, Snow Canyon, Sun River, Sunbrook, and Washington Fields.

St George Downtown

The city center and how the town is built up takes pride in its history with many historic buildings downtown and maintains good community spirit and family values type feel, even though the growth has been significant. One of my favorite family get away's is downtown to main street for where a few childlike statues play along the street, a new water feature fountain that shoots up out of the ground tantalizes children. There are some small shops too, and the historic St George Tabernacle occasionally lets its bell go off kiddie-corner across the round about. It is also a hot spot for some of the communities parades. Two main thoroughfares triangle-in the downtown area, namely St George Boulevard and Bluff St. Adding variety is that between the two old parts of Greater St George is the space in between downtown St George and old Washington City that contains the Strip Mall and Mall as well as the modern Home Depot, Wal Mart, Sportsman's, Costco, Best Buy and a host of others that cluster together in that same general area.

St George Terrain

The terrain here follows more of the arid desert type feel, while breaking it up with some beautiful red rock features found in our local bluffs and hills. Also, Pine Mountain is big enough to tour in the distance, which set upon some deep reds at the base with snow on top for a couple two or three months through the winter really leave one breathlessly remembering why they moved here.

So, come on, we'd love to have you and Brian can help you with all those St George homes for sale!!!

Demographics

The city is growing fast. According to the Census Bureau St. George was declared the fastest-growing metro area in the United States from the combined years from 2000 to 2006! From 1990 to 2000, St. George beat Las Vegas by 0.6% as the fastest growing metropolitan area in the U.S. The city grows at an average pace of 750 to 1,000 new residents each month. Many of these new residents are retirees who move here because of the mild winters. St. George, Utah has a current 2007 estimated population of 75,000 people, metropolitan wise, about 115,000 residents.

The racial makeup of the city was 92.27% White, 1.64% Native American, 0.57% Asian, 0.59% Pacific Islander, 2.87% from other races, and 1.83% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.72% of the population.

St. George had just 120 African Americans in the 2000 Census. The metropolitan area was tied with five other cities in having 0.3% African Americans in 2003.

There are 17,367 households, out of which 34.2% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.6% were married couples living together, 8.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.9% were non-families. 19.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.2% have someone living alone who is 65 years old or older. The average household size was 2.81 individuals and the average family size was 3.21.

The city resident's ages are spread out, with 28.4% under the age of 18, 13.7% from 18 to 24, 22.0% from 25 to 44, 16.8% from 45 to 64, and 19.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 94.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $36,505, and the median income for a family was $41,788. Males had a median income of $31,106 versus $20,861 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,022. About 7.4% of families and 11.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.4% of those under age 18 and 4.4% of those age 65 or over.

Culture and the Arts

The area offers many St George culture and the arts events, from the St George Musical Theater, Tuacahn Amphitheater, arts festivals and just north the world famous Shakespearean Festival.

Events

St George has many events. It is home of the St George Marathon and many more St George area events.

Education

If you need to know things like how St George schools test scores stack up against the test scores nationally or student-teacher ratios or class size, enrollment or ethnicity, our St George Schools page is comprehensive and gives some of the best outsource links available.

St George Real Estate

Because of St George's unique central location, and top ratings from magazines, newspapers and polls, St George real estate is becoming more valuable, prized, prestigious and known to be the smart haven for many a family and retiree alike.

Tourism

Tourism is a fairly significant part of St George's business industry. Being along I-15, it serves either as an occasional business motel resting place or convention meeting place. A factory outlet mall and St George Boulevard see many stragglers come for the glamorizing nature of friendly St George and its unique resting and vacationing tid bits. One can tour the historical monuments, hit near by Snow Canyon State Park and various other St George attractions. Many more vacationers know it as the gateway to Southern Utah's color country. Zion National Park and other National Parks and National Monuments spread out 40 minutes East of St George, starting from Zion (gets over 2 million visitors a year), to Bryce, to Grand Staircase, to Escalante and Capital Reef, to Lake Powell and the Canyonlands.