What salary do you need to live in St. George, UT?

What housing costs in St. George

Census figures put the median gross rent in the St. George, UT metro at $1,017 for a one-bedroom, $1,409 for a two-bedroom and $1,693 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $392 a month, and the third bedroom another $284.

On the ownership side, the typical owner-occupied home is valued at $510,700. Set against the $80,632 median household income, that is a ratio of 6.3×, which keeps the buying part of the score low for most incomes.

BEA's Regional Price Parity for the metro is 97.3, where 100 is the US average. In plain terms, the full basket of goods, services and housing costs 2.7% less than average, so $100,000 here buys roughly what $102,753 would at average US prices.

The salary lines for a two-bedroom in St. George

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $54,000, Okay at $109,000 and Comfortable at $219,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 8% of income and the median home is 2.3× income.

Royal, the top band, starts at $547,000. At that income rent is 3% of pay and the median home 0.9× income.

Nothing here is a separate rule of thumb; plug any of these incomes into the calculator with two bedrooms and St. George shows the matching grade.

Four salaries, three home sizes in St. George

At $75,000 home size barely changes the picture: one, two and three bedrooms all grade Tight, with scores from 32 to 40.

Comfortable is above every row of the table here. At $150,000 a two-bedroom still grades Okay, with rent taking 11% of income.

St. George compared with every US metro

Out of 387 metros, St. George has the 123rd highest price parity and the 94th highest two-bedroom rent, which puts it in the middle half on overall prices and in the top quarter on rent.

Next to St. George on the national rent ranking: Madison, WI ($1,410) and Savannah, GA ($1,408).

St. George next to Utah and similar metros

How St. George stacks up against its state: $1,409 for a two-bedroom against Utah's $1,423, $510,700 for the median home against $489,400, and a price level of 97.3 against 98.9.

Scored the same way, the statewide figures turn Comfortable at $224,000, so St. George needs $5,000 less than Utah overall.

If St. George is on your list, Ogden, UT, Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT, and Salt Lake City-Murray, UT are the most similar Utah metros by two-bedroom rent and price level; the table shows where each turns Comfortable.

St. George's median income on the scale

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $80,632, which grades Tight (37) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. Reaching Comfortable would take $138,368 more than the median household earns. Statewide, the Utah median household ($95,166) grades Tight on the state's own medians. Since a household can have two or more earners, compare it with a combined income rather than one paycheck.

All figures are pre-tax estimates from public data, not financial advice.