Population Growth

A new plant that cleans and recycles more sewage is another big step toward stretching Washington County’s limited water supply. It highlights the massive effort and big money it’ll take to keep the St. George area growing in the desert.

The Milken Institute put southwest Utah’s largest city in its top spot for the first time. The ranking highlights St. George’s job growth and wage growth, both among the nation’s highest in recent years.

For Garfield and Kane counties, the years since Grand Staircase-Escalante was established have seen large increases in populations and jobs.

The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute has reduced its Washington County future population forecast. That could have ripple effects for southwest Utah’s water needs.

Judkins has just finished moving into her new office, and housing and west side investment are already top of mind.

While economic pressures are still high, a slow decline in interest rates could provide an opening for buyers who feel shut out of the housing market.

In Washington County, projects like townhome developments are less common than they were two years ago. In 2023, two out of every five new homes built in Washington County were condos and townhomes. Now, it’s just one in five.

The latest 40-year projections show growth slowing slightly, but still outpacing national numbers by a factor of three.

There's been an especially steep drop in fertility rates in Western states, including Wyoming, which has also seen a big jump in the cost of housing.

El Instituto de Política Migratoria estima que 138,000 personas vivían en Utah en 2023 sin estatus legal o con un estatus “crepuscular” o “liminal” como el permiso humanitario.

The Migration Policy Institute estimates 138,000 people were living in Utah in 2023 with no legal status or a “twilight” status like humanitarian parole.

The sight of bulldozers leveling part of the popular Zen Trail has heightened concerns about the future of other recreation areas around the fast-growing city.