Quality of Life
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11/10/2011
I was reared in Phoenix Arizona so have been accustomed to a desert environment albeit larger city for most of my life. I have lived in Dallas Texas and worked in down town Los Angeles as an adult though.
I enjoy living in St. George as I find it a great balance of quality of life with abundant outdoor activities as well as incredible landscapes. It is a gateway city to 3 National Parks, Grand Canyon (North Rim), Zion and Bryce Canyon's national Parks. as well as numerous National Monuments and State Parks. There are 3 major reservoirs with in a 20 minute drive as well as the 2 largest man made bodies of water in North America, namely Lakes Mead and Powell, less than 2 hours away. Las Vegas is also less than 2 hours away for those seeking the big city, while Mesquite NV is just 20 minutes if you enjoy gaming and casino activities.
On the other end of the spectrum Snow skiing and boarding are about 1 hour in 30 minutes north of the St.George metro area in the winter as well as cool mountain summer activities in 3 close by mountain locations to escape the summer heat.
A 4 year dynamically growing (Dixie State College) with national ranked sports as well as business programs, numerous art, dinosaur, historical and other museums dot the city. Excellent libraries, outstanding parks and world class trails system, 5 public and 1 private high school as well as Broadway in the desert out door amphitheater with big name performer concerts as well as Broadway musicals. A symphony orchestra and civic coral have a regularly scheduled season with visiting artists included.
Dixie Regional Medical Center is nationally recognized in numerous medical services offered from Cardiology to Neurology, pediatrics to Oncology. A large regional hospital with an extensive list of some of the finest physicians in the south west.
A brad new regional airport opened in 2011 built with expansion in mind as the city and area continues to grow. Numerous non-stop flights are offered via regional jets to destinations from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles.
Progressive but prudent thinking by city and county officials has kept pace with infrastructure in regional water and waste treatment, a burgeoning parks and trails system, rapidly developing road and mass transit networks as well as numerous high quality downtown public spaces, squares, beautifully landscaped major thoroughfares, round abouts and public buildings.
Housing is affordable and plentiful with condo/town homes offered from well under the 100's and custom and semi-custom homes offered from the 100's and up. Full retirement communities such as Sun River are centered around an 18 hole golf course (of which there are 12 in the area) as well as very upscale world class communities with homes ranging into the multiple millions of dollars. Shopping abounds from pocket boutiques to National Factory Stores, indoor and out door malls, most chain as well as private gourmet restaurants etc.
Weather ranges in the high desert (same elevation as Tucson AZ) from the low 100's in the heat of a summer afternoon, to the 50's in January. Low annual rainfall equals well over 300 days of sunshine each year!
The St.George Marathon, the Ford Iron Man Competition as well as the Huntsman Wold Senior Games all call St.George and the surrounding area a perfect venue for sporting activities.
Golf is big in the St.George area with stunning 9 hole city courses and sprawling 18 to 27 hole championship private and semi-private courses. You can golf a different course each day for weeks!
Clean light industry has been aggressively courted and nation wide service Sky West Airlines home office is in St. George operating from coast to cost as Atlantic South Eastern, Delta Connection, United Express, and Sky West Airlines with well over 1,000 departures daily.
The crime rate is low, the air is clean, the scenery is magnificent and the people are friendly. The St. George area chamber of commerce used to have as a motto on their printed material..."Get Sun-kissed in St. George." I think that friendly axiom pretty well sums up the feeling in this community and I guess it's the reason it's historically been one of the fastest growing smaller metro area in the nation. It has almost all things to all people.
William | St. George, UT