Retiring in St. George, Utah (LDs, years, taxes, places)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Many people think St. George would be great to retire, until they get there. It is very LDS, which is something for people who are not Mormon, to really consider. Much of social life in St. George revolves around the LDS church, and doing church activities, like going to the temple with friends, doing volunteer church work.
Even my Grandparents, who were LDS, decided that they were not "Mormon" enough to live there, and they moved down the road to Vegas. They got bored, and felt isolated from the social scene.
This is an issue for some people. I've written about it on the St. George forum. I think the consensus is something like this: If you are not raising young children and simply looking at St. George as a place to retire, you'll likely be fine. There are many other people in the same boat that you are and you can find them, by seeking them out. OTOH, I wouldn't encourage someone who was not LDS to move to St. George if they had young children. There are issues about young kids fitting into a community where so much of the social life of the members occurs at church and family activities. I am LDS, but I don't plan on spending my retirement years doing "temple work" or much in the way of church activities. For that matter, I don't intend on being fully retired until I'm 70 anyway.
[quote]
Quote:
Originally Posted by happyinca
Many interesting threads on the Utah forum about this issue and the experience people have had or are currently having. Certainly something to consider especially if you are not LDS. And if you are LDS are you "Mormon" enough? I have not heard it put quite that way. I don't want to get us in trouble discussing religion in the retirement forum, but you certainly brought up an important consideration for people considering St. George.
I have a sister with a vacation house in Cedar City. My sister is not LDS and Cedar City has a much higher population of LDS than St. George. She spends two weeks of every month in Cedar City and finds the LDS situation to be a non-issue and she has made many friends in Cedar City. Most of her friends are non-LDS. So maybe the non-LDS like to hang out together. I don't know. I can tell you she loves St. George, Cedar City, skiing at Brian Head and all things Utah.
Cedar City is a very different community than St. George is in many ways. Its only about 50 miles from St. George, but since the elevation is about a mile high (think Denver), the weather is very different. It gets considerable snow in the winter and temperatures can drop very low. There is also a pretty big chunk of Cedar City that is low income. If you go east of Main Street, you'll see what I am talking about. There is more wealth in St. George and that shows. Its much smaller than the St. George area is in terms of population and services are less as a result. You can find just about every chain restaurant and store you want in St. George now. In Cedar City, you don't have the same variety of choices.
Jasper 12
Quote:
Cedar City is actually much different than St. George, primarily because of the university, more diversity, than St. George, and a younger population of people, more 50's and 60's, than 70-80 age range, as far as retirees goes. More people in Cedar City vacation there, and are still employed.
There is a different mind set in Cedar City, maybe because there is no temple there. And it is colder, with a real winter, snow and all...even though it is an hour or so from St. George, because of elevation.
I like Cedar City much more than St. George, but, it is not a "retiree" place, due to the winter weather.
Well, you have Dixie State College in St. George which has recently become a branch of the University of Utah. This means that credits and such will be directly transferable. In Cedar City, you have Southern Utah University (SUU). It may have more influence on the town, simply because Cedar City is smaller. They do have the annual Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City and there is even a small indoor theater that features plays the year round. I saw a good production of Les Miserables there about two years ago. Not living there, I can't comment much on the LDS influence. I did look up the proportion of LDS vs. non-LDS population. It does appear that at least 60% of the population is LDS in both Cedar City and St. George. I honestly didn't know whether Cedar City had a temple or not. However, at the rate the church is building them, I suspect it may get its own temple one of these days.
I probably wouldn't choose Cedar City as a retirement destination because of the weather and that its too small to offer some services we would want. However, one could do worse. The nice thing about southern Utah is the proximity to the national parks.
There's been a creep upward in medical costs in Utah in the past 10 years.
We moved from California 23 years ago to Utah - but IHC (Intermountain Health) has a lock on the state - and their costs have risen dramatically.
As for retiring there - it's just too hot for us. I have spent time in Southern Utah - and it's too bone dry. We will be returning to rural, inland central coast California - close to family and friends.
DW have a second home in Ivins which is a suburb of St. George. We've owned it for the last four years and hope to ultimately retire there. My wife becomes eligible for a retirement from her government job in less than five years. Most of the homes in our area are Spanish style stucco and are designed to fit it in next to the red rock bluffs and canyons we live next too. We have lawn, but our yard is planted with cactus, succulents, and other plants native to adjacent desert.
Others have pointed out that taxes are comparatively high here. I've lived in Utah most of my life and perhaps because of that I'm just used to the tax structure. It doesn't bother us. The St. George area or Washington County is a very nice area. Taxes are high for a reason. We have great infrastructure and services. We have very low violent crime. I spoke to a deputy sheriff once who told me that he had trouble thinking of a community in the area with a significant crime problem.
The area where we live has an endless assortment of walks and hiking trails. Since I love hiking this suits me very well. I am one mile from a state park. I'm about a mile and a half from a large outdoor theater that schedules major plays during the summer months and has a farmers market on Saturday, nine months a year. I live about five miles from a huge Indian petroglyph site. We have a large pool and aquatic center about 2 miles away. My wife is in to water aerobics and plans to make heavy use of this. A brand new public library is about three miles away.
One misconception though about the area is that winter is nonexistent. Winter does come here and during January, at least, there will be some amount of snow that falls. However, it doesn't last long. It is quite hot in the summer and temperatures can reach 110 degrees. I find that tolerable because I'm used to a dry climate and there is very little humidity in the area. St. George is just a little cooler than Las Vegas is. Make no mistake, the area around St. George is essentially desert. If you are looking for something else than this is probably not the place for you. I love the desert and this sort of climate.
The area is within one day's drive of the Los Angeles area. Its about one and one-half hours from Las Vegas. Its a little more than one hour away from Zion National Park.
One could choose to live in Mesquite, Nevada which is just 40 miles away. However, because taxes in Nevada are lower, the infrastructure in such places is worse. I also think because Utah doesn't allow gambling and the kind of activities that take place in Nevada that the people here are more well behaved and take better care of their property.
The cost of living in St. George maybe a little higher, but to us it is worth it. If you want more information about the area, don't hesitate to DM me. I'll be happy to answer any questions.
Hello! Thank you for this post. We are also moving to Ivins. We're building and due to move in Jan. I agree with you on everything you've shared. Did you finally move to Ivins?
All the best to you.
Hello! Thank you for this post. We are also moving to Ivins. We're building and due to move in Jan. I agree with you on everything you've shared. Did you finally move to Ivins?
All the best to you.
My OP was six years ago. We own a home in Ivins about one mile from the Tuacahn Theater. My plan, right now, is to retire at age 63 which is three more years down the road.
I have some concerns about the area that I did not express six years ago. Its growing rapidly and much of the growth is from retired persons. I am concerned about zoning issues, but more concerned about the water situation. The St. George/ Ivins/Santa Clara area is in the northern part of the Mojave Desert. There is little water here naturally and there is a burgeoning population. I think St. George was actually the fastest growing city in the USA for approximately three of the last five years.
The desert is very beautiful, but if you want fancy yards with a lot of grass this area is not for you. Nor, is it for you if you can't stand a little bit of snow and frost in the months of December and January.
There is much to recommend this area, but with the housing market in better shape it is not cheap to live here. Nor, are wages here very high.
In short, make your money somewhere else and come here only when you are ready to retire. Than plan on a big housing budget.
On another topic, what ever happened to Jasper12? She used to post a lot here and I haven't seen her in years?
We cashed out our Sandy, Utah home in December and moved to semi-rural California.
Outside of property taxes - I am pretty inspired by the fact that our costs - utilities, food, etc. are not much more than what we were paying in Utah. They are really manageable on our retirement income. We have an electric car so gas prices are nil.
I think Utah is at a tipping point. The air quality up north in winter is hazardous.... and the population is exploding. We moved TO there in 1990 when the I-15 was a two-lane highway.
I feel bad for it - the growth is really uncontrolled and the developers have the upper hand.
I was in Ivins this past March for a while & was admiring the area & some of the homes. But the development pace is obviously fast & the price of even a mostly undeveloped lot was shocking to me. I lived in SLC in the late 80's & the St George area then was almost a punch line for "old retired folks, cheap". Not anymore.
DW have a second home in Ivins which is a suburb of St. George. We've owned it for the last four years and hope to ultimately retire there. My wife becomes eligible for a retirement from her government job in less than five years. Most of the homes in our area are Spanish style stucco and are designed to fit it in next to the red rock bluffs and canyons we live next too. We have lawn, but our yard is planted with cactus, succulents, and other plants native to adjacent desert.
Others have pointed out that taxes are comparatively high here. I've lived in Utah most of my life and perhaps because of that I'm just used to the tax structure. It doesn't bother us. The St. George area or Washington County is a very nice area. Taxes are high for a reason. We have great infrastructure and services. We have very low violent crime. I spoke to a deputy sheriff once who told me that he had trouble thinking of a community in the area with a significant crime problem.
The area where we live has an endless assortment of walks and hiking trails. Since I love hiking this suits me very well. I am one mile from a state park. I'm about a mile and a half from a large outdoor theater that schedules major plays during the summer months and has a farmers market on Saturday, nine months a year. I live about five miles from a huge Indian petroglyph site. We have a large pool and aquatic center about 2 miles away. My wife is in to water aerobics and plans to make heavy use of this. A brand new public library is about three miles away.
One misconception though about the area is that winter is nonexistent. Winter does come here and during January, at least, there will be some amount of snow that falls. However, it doesn't last long. It is quite hot in the summer and temperatures can reach 110 degrees. I find that tolerable because I'm used to a dry climate and there is very little humidity in the area. St. George is just a little cooler than Las Vegas is. Make no mistake, the area around St. George is essentially desert. If you are looking for something else than this is probably not the place for you. I love the desert and this sort of climate.
The area is within one day's drive of the Los Angeles area. Its about one and one-half hours from Las Vegas. Its a little more than one hour away from Zion National Park.
One could choose to live in Mesquite, Nevada which is just 40 miles away. However, because taxes in Nevada are lower, the infrastructure in such places is worse. I also think because Utah doesn't allow gambling and the kind of activities that take place in Nevada that the people here are more well behaved and take better care of their property.
The cost of living in St. George maybe a little higher, but to us it is worth it. If you want more information about the area, don't hesitate to DM me. I'll be happy to answer any questions.
I loved Ivins and the St George area. It was a little on the warm side when I visited in July (coming from the northeast) but the dry heat was tolerable. The humidity on Long Island, NY is the pits!
It's also essentially a bowl almost ringed by mountains so that the particulate pollution is contained & hangs over the metro area almost like a fog during much of the winter, it took a good storm system to blow it clear & then it would gradually build up again. Bad for respiratory issues.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Moving from California to Ivins
