Washington, Utah

Area Profile

32,348 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Washington, in Washington County.

63out of 100
Area Score
Top 43% of 2,943 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Data updated · 14 sources
OpportunityTop 5% of 3,899 cities measured83
SchoolsTop 40% of 2,668 cities measured59
GrowthTop 1% of 2,973 cities measured90
Housing affordability3,131st of 4,147 cities measured64
Climate4,197th of 4,223 cities measured49
Physical resilience3,569th of 4,182 cities measured21
AccessTop 40% of 4,226 cities measured95
Economic stability2,622nd of 4,226 cities measured54
The quick read

Washington ranks in the top 5% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.5% and median household income of $91,853.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 1,154 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 57% on the prior year.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by wildfire, inland flooding and earthquake.

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
32,348
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$91,853
Top 24% nationally
Density
895/sq mi
36.1 sq mi of land
Median age
38.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Washington County
Utah
Metro area
St. George, UT
Nearest major airport
SGU
6 mi · St George Rgnl
Median home value
$570,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.5% is lower than 84% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.5% over the past year, to 16,656 employed residents.

36% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 77% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$12,506$91,853Top 24%of 29,4632024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,550$46,453Top 21%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate5.5%Bottom 26%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.5 minBottom 13%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher35.8%Top 23%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment16,656Bottom 18%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)7.9%Top 2%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.5%Top 20%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force17,252Bottom 18%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation59.8%Bottom 47%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$55,920Bottom 6%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$45,140Bottom 6%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.0%Bottom 45%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate3.5%Bottom 16%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/063.51.9
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.5% in June 2026. 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
202120222023202495k79k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $91,853 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.
Largest occupations — St. George, UT
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers3,460$28,270
Retail Salespersons3,050$33,150
Office Clerks, General2,560$44,880
General and Operations Managers2,050$82,850
Stockers and Order Fillers1,950$36,940
Registered Nurses1,910$86,380

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

50% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 46% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 22.6 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
10
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
22.6
across all schools here
Math proficiency
50.1%
Top 22% in Utah
Reading proficiency
45.9%
Top 35% in Utah
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Crimson Cliffs HighWashington District1,40126.9
Crimson Cliffs MiddleWashington District93323.975%61%
Washington Fields IntermediateWashington District91324.7
Majestic Fields SchoolWashington District73222.241%42%
Horizon SchoolWashington District62622.472%51%
Riverside SchoolWashington District61021.042%46%
Coral Canyon SchoolWashington District55820.728%33%
Washington SchoolWashington District46822.341%38%
St. George Academy · charterSt. George Academy22915.335%45%
Mountain View Montessori · charterMountain View Montessori21014.024%30%

22.2% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Utah’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Prices for everything a household buys run about 3% below the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

A new two-bedroom lease runs about $1,575, close to the $1,614 tenants already here pay.

Median rent of $1,614 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 6.2 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Cost of living
96.7

Prices here run about 3% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Rent as a share of income
21.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
6.2×
median home value ÷ median income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,575
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,614
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$570,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index96.7Bottom 33%of 3,6582023
Home price to income6.21Top 7%of 27,9722024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate74.6%Bottom 47%of 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±51413,751Top 4%of 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroom$1,218Bottom 38%of 4,067FY2026
Market rent, three bedroom$2,072Bottom 45%of 4,067FY2026
Market rent, two bedroom$1,575Bottom 45%of 4,067FY2026
Median gross rent ±$144$1,614Top 17%of 23,3292024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$28,222$570,400Top 9%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.1%Top 34%of 22,8042024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate16.4%Top 31%of 31,8722024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
90/ 100
Top 1% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting has been rising for the last 3 years of a series running from 2020 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run, not a comparison of the two endpoints.

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 24% since 2020, reaching 35,501 in 2024.

Permit activity rose in each of the 3 calendar years through 2025.

At 35.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
1,154
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
35.7
Top 1% nationally
Year over year
+57%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
29.2%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202436k29k
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.
Housing units permitted per year
202020212022202320242025979688
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+8%).

Weather & climate

4 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 102°F and January a low of 28°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 9.3 inches, including 1.2 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 44, in the Good band, and about 2 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ST GEORGE, 6.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND1.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index67.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation9.3"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low28°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high102°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months41991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10022024 calendar year
Median air quality index44.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing46°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
44
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
67
90th percentile index
Days above 100
2
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. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modeled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — a little over half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and about a fifth of all US counties do, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

21 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are wildfire, inland flooding and earthquake.

WildfireHigh
Inland floodingModerate
EarthquakeModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, landslide, heat wave, avalanche, volcanic activity, ice storm, winter weather, drought, strong wind, tornado, hail, cold wave.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

Violent crime
109
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
803
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Washington's police department reported 109 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, lower than most places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 803.

Washington County records 2.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 15.8 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 12.8 per 100,000 residents in Washington County.

Homicide
2.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
15.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
12.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
23.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Washington’s own police department, for the population it serves, and are shown only where it reported every month of the year — a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime counts what was reported to and recorded by police, which is not the same as what happened, and a place that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate. Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Washington County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city center and a quiet suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Washington rather than Washington itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Some things people look for are not on this page, and each is absent for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighborhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 6 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
St George RgnlSGU6 mi9,300 ft
Cedar City RgnlCDC45 mi8,653 ft
Grand Canyon Ntl ParkGCN110 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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Area Score
63
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Other cities in St. George, UT

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
St. GeorgeWashington County101,99557vs Washington
HurricaneWashington County22,77155vs Washington

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
SafetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar yearAnnually, with monthly revisions
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April 2025 to March 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026Annually, each October for the coming fiscal year
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 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 browse every source.

ZIP codes in Washington

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
8478032,366$91,96363