Washington County is one of the fastest-growing corners of the Intermountain West, and growth stories usually get told in adjectives. The Atlas prefers numbers. Pulling from the Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' county employment series, Zillow's typical-value index and long-run climate normals, here is what the county's expansion actually looks like right now, and the practical ways it changes the math for someone buying a home here in the next year.
The growth, in actual numbers
The county's population sits at 207,943, and it is unusually concentrated: St. George alone accounts for 106,289 residents, or roughly 51% of everyone in the county. Washington City (32,348) and Hurricane (22,771) are the next tiers, and about 17,000 people live outside any incorporated city at all, in the unincorporated pockets and communities strung between the towns.
The job market has expanded alongside the rooftops. The county labor force grew from 88,445 in January 2023 to 94,964 in June 2026, an increase of about 6,500 workers (+7.4%) in three and a half years. Employment rose by roughly 5,800 over the same stretch, to 91,382. The unemployment rate is 3.8%, essentially in line with Utah's 3.7% and below the national 4.1%. Median household income countywide is $86,983, and the average commute is a genuinely short 20.5 minutes.
What growth has (and hasn't) done to prices
Over five years the appreciation has been substantial almost everywhere. Typical home values are up 14.6% in St. George, 16.2% in Washington City, 17.5% in Ivins, 20.2% in La Verkin and 21.2% in Leeds across that window, with Hildale the extreme outlier at 42.3%.
The last twelve months tell a different story. Most of the county's larger markets have drifted slightly down: St. George -1.2%, Washington City -1.4%, Santa Clara -1.6%, Hurricane -1.7%, La Verkin -1.7%. A few smaller markets moved the other way, including Hildale +11.6%, Enterprise +1.5% and Springdale +0.8%. In other words: long-run demand is still climbing, while the last year has been a plateau. That combination — steady in-migration and job growth against flat to slightly softer pricing — is the part buyers should actually pay attention to, because it tends to show up as more inventory to choose from and more willingness to negotiate than the headline growth narrative would suggest.
Typical values as of mid-2026 for orientation: Hurricane $507,974, St. George $521,140, Santa Clara $537,041, Washington City $544,746, Ivins $617,887, with the countywide ACS median home value at $567,200.
Where the next wave is landing
Growth in a valley hemmed in by public land and red rock has to go somewhere, and the data shows it moving outward along the corridors. The eastern towns — Hurricane, La Verkin and Toquerville — carry the county's strongest five-year appreciation outside Hildale (15.5%, 20.2% and 18.9%), and they are also the towns where you trade minutes for money: average commutes run 23.3, 27.9 and 29.2 minutes versus 19.6 in St. George and 18.4 in Washington City.
Homeownership rates hint at which places are still absorbing newcomers versus which are long-settled: Toquerville is 90.6% owner-occupied, Enterprise 87.7% and Santa Clara 77.8%, while St. George, with the county's deepest rental stock, sits at 64.6%. Median ages diverge just as sharply — 26.3 in Hildale and 31.3 in La Verkin against 52.1 in Ivins and 61.3 in Leeds.
The rental side of the same story
Rents track the growth closely. Typical rent runs about $1,884 in St. George, $1,908 in Hurricane, $2,001 in Washington City, $2,139 in Santa Clara and $2,161 in Ivins. Measured as gross rent against typical value, that works out to yields of roughly 4.2% to 4.8% — Santa Clara currently the highest at 4.78%, Ivins the lowest at 4.20%.
What it means if you're buying in the next year
A few practical implications fall out of the numbers rather than the hype:
- Use price-to-income, not price alone. The countywide ratio is about 6.5 years of median income per median home. Santa Clara (5.6) and Washington City (5.9) sit below it; Ivins (7.9) and Leeds (7.7) sit well above.
- Price the commute. Moving east can save real money per square foot, but budget for roughly 8-10 extra minutes each way versus a central St. George address.
- A flat year is not a stalled market. With the labor force still adding thousands of workers, softness in the twelve-month numbers is better read as a breather in pricing than as a shrinking market.
- Check the utilities and the water plan for new outlying subdivisions. Fast-growing fringe areas are exactly where infrastructure, impact fees and build-out timing vary the most between one development and the next.
None of this is a forecast, and none of it substitutes for a look at the specific street and specific house you're considering. It is simply the public record, assembled in one place, so the conversation starts from facts.