Iron County, UT

County Profile

62,252 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Iron County, UT.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

59out of 100
Area Score
Top 50% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 14 sources
OpportunityTop 24% of 1,463 counties measured68
SchoolsTop 42% of 1,377 counties measured56
GrowthTop 2% of 1,453 counties measured85
Housing affordability1,350th of 1,462 counties measured51
Climate1,226th of 1,463 counties measured58
Physical resilience1,289th of 1,463 counties measured25
AccessTop 29% of 1,463 counties measured89
Economic stabilityTop 39% of 1,463 counties measured68
The quick read

Iron County ranks in the top 24% of counties measured for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.4% and median household income of $66,247.

In the public schools here, 47% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 19.9 students for every teacher.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 752 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 16% on the prior year.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
62,252
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$66,247
Top 47% nationally
Density
19/sq mi
3,296.2 sq mi of land
Median age
30.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Iron County
Utah
Micro area
Nearest major airport
CDC
18 mi · Cedar City Rgnl
Median home value
$379,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.4%, lower than in 77% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment fell 0.9% over the past year, to 31,178 employed residents.

32% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 80% of measured US counties.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$57,71448th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$49,26620th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$4,0582024 ACS 5-Year$66,247Top 47%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,4332024 ACS 5-Year$30,186Bottom 26%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$42,766Bottom 4%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year10.5%Top 30%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.9 min2024 ACS 5-Year18.3 minTop 9%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year31.6%Top 20%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year72.8%24th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202631,178Bottom 47%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+4.5%Top 10%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026−0.9%Bottom 45%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202632,26947th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year77.4%Top 40%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.1%2024 ACS 5-Year0.1%33rd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 20260.0%Bottom 40%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20263.4%Top 23%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year11.4%72nd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/073.62.1
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.4% in July 2026. It has been falling, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202466k56k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $66,247 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

47% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 50% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 19.9 students for every full-time teacher across 18 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
20
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
19.9
across 18 of them
Math proficiency
46.8%
Top 27% in Utah
Reading proficiency
50.4%
Top 36% in Utah
The 12 largest of 20 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Southwest Educational AcademyIron District4,239302.8——
Cedar City HighIron District1,37220.538%59%
Cedar MiddleIron District1,13920.347%49%
Canyon View HighIron District1,02117.335%52%
Canyon View MiddleIron District94819.346%53%
Gateway Preparatory Academy · charterGateway Preparatory Academy73222.928%38%
Three Peaks SchoolIron District64620.858%48%
Iron Springs SchoolIron District63619.959%53%
Cedar East SchoolIron District59820.658%47%
Cedar North SchoolIron District57819.953%52%
Cedar South SchoolIron District54518.244%39%
Enoch SchoolIron District51617.244%44%

30.4% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Utah’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the non-metropolitan parts of Utah is up 44% over five years, and up 1.2% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $1,558 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.41% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,120, close to the $1,065 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,120 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $44,800 a year, about 68% of the median household income here of $66,247.

The typical renter household here spends 32% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,065 a month.

A median home at $379,000 costs 4.6 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $82,323, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

Rent as a share of income
31.7%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.6×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,120
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,065
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$379,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Iron County’s median household income of $66,247, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of Utah’s figure2026 Q2+1.2%14th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Utah’s figure2026 Q2+43.5%42nd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Utah’s figure2026 Q2+125.1%93rd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.32024 ACS 5-Year4.6Bottom 6%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year68.3%24th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±372024 ACS 5-Year23,55069th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$888Top 40%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,558Bottom 49%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,120Top 43%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$752024 ACS 5-Year$1,065Bottom 25%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,7312024 ACS 5-Year$379,00089th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$672024 ACS 5-Year$1,55848th percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$5,0652024 ACS 5-Year$82,323Top 38%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.02%2024 ACS 5-Year0.41%8th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year31.7%Bottom 16%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±2802024 ACS 5-Year2,00484th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year8.5%77th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year5.9%24th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±4272024 ACS 5-Year3,39369th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures.

Development Momentum

85/ 100
Top 2% of 1,453 published county profiles
Permitting has been rising for the last 2 years of a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 14% since 2020, reaching 65,936 in 2024.

Population is still rising but the pace is easing: 65,936 residents in 2024, up 2.3% over the year, a smaller gain than the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 752 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show Iron County gained about 1.0% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $57,714, above the $49,266 of households that moved out.

At 12.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
752
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
12.1
Top 4% nationally
Year over year
+16%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202466k58k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population. It has been rising for the last 4 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+1.0%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
56%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$57,714
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$49,266
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Washington County, UT 658 people · 15% of arrivals
  2. Clark County, NV 499 people · 12% of arrivals
  3. Utah County, UT 317 people · 7.5% of arrivals
  4. Salt Lake County, UT 295 people · 6.9% of arrivals
  5. San Bernardino County, CA 102 people · 2.4% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Washington County, UT 624 people · 17% of departures
  2. Utah County, UT 320 people · 8.5% of departures
  3. Salt Lake County, UT 270 people · 7.2% of departures
  4. Clark County, NV 244 people · 6.5% of departures
  5. Beaver County, UT 97 people · 2.6% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

20222023202420251k460
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−34%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 91°F and January a low of 18°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 11.0 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 43, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CEDAR CITY MUNI AP, 18.1 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND1.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year552024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals11.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals18°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year02024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year432024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals45°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
43
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
55
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

25 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are wildfire, inland flooding and earthquake, with wildfire alone responsible for 48% of it. Inland flooding is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

WildfireHigh
LandslideModerate
EarthquakeHigh
Volcanic activityModerate
DroughtModerate
AvalancheModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, lightning, inland flooding, ice storm, strong wind, cold wave, tornado, hail, tsunami, hurricane, coastal flooding.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Iron County has a modeled homicide rate of about 2.9 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 17.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at about 16.6 per 100,000 residents in Iron County.

Homicide
2.9
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
17.1
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
16.6
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
20.2
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Iron County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Cost of living
Price parities are published for metropolitan areas, and this place lies outside one.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Cedar City Rgnl at 18 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year91.5%Top 16%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle18 miTop 23%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle2Bottom 15%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year5.1%Top 11%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Cedar City RgnlCDC18 mi8,653 ft
St George RgnlSGU61 mi9,300 ft
Grand Canyon Ntl ParkGCN150 mi8,999 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology, or every source with how often each updates.

Cities in Iron County, UT

ZIP areas

Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.