Moving to Ivins, Utah

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, NOAA, Utah State Tax Commission, and my Ivins market report for Q3 2026 (single-family homes). Prices move, so ask me for current numbers.

Ivins sits at about 3,150 feet on a hillside above the St. George area. Snow Canyon State Park is on its north edge, with Red Mountain rising beside it. Red rock fills the sky from almost every street. Downtown St. George is about 15 minutes away.

Thirteen farming families settled this hillside between 1922 and 1926. It was called the Santa Clara Bench then, and the name still fits. The town took the name Ivins in 1926, for Anthony W. Ivins, a former mayor of St. George. It became a town in 1935. Growth picked up in the 1980s with Kayenta, and it took off in 1998. That is the year Snow Canyon Parkway opened and the town became a city, at about 5,000 people. Ivins has more than doubled since.

The town has two sides. One is the arts. Tuacahn stages Broadway shows in a big outdoor theater under the red cliffs of Padre Canyon. Kayenta, on the west side, has an art village, galleries, and a theater. The other side is golf. Black Desert opened its course on the lava rock in 2023, and the PGA TOUR plays there every October.

Day to day, Ivins is quiet. The city keeps its skies dark with a lighting code. Roundabouts are city policy, so most big corners have one instead of a signal. There is still no supermarket in town. Groceries, the hospital, and most big shopping are a short drive away in Santa Clara and St. George.

If you want the St. George area with red rock at your door and stars overhead, Ivins is worth a close look. The cost is a longer drive for most errands and a summer that runs hot. The rest of this page covers both.

For other common questions about moving to Utah, see the Utah FAQ. My guides to life in Ivins on The Local go deeper on the park, the theater, and the golf.

Ivins sits at the edge of the Mojave Desert. That gives it a long, hot summer and a mild, sunny winter. The heat is the headline. The mild months are the reward.

Ivins has no weather station of its own with long-term normals. The numbers here come from the St. George station, about 5 miles away and about 300 feet lower. It has kept records since 1893. Ivins sits higher, so it may run a touch cooler. Nobody has measured that, so treat the St. George numbers as the best guide.

Month by month

These are the normal highs and lows for each month. Look at July. Even the normal night stays above 70°F, so the house does not cool off much after dark.

• JanuaryHigh 54°F, low 28°F
• FebruaryHigh 59°F, low 32°F
• MarchHigh 68°F, low 39°F
• AprilHigh 75°F, low 46°F
• MayHigh 85°F, low 56°F
• JuneHigh 96°F, low 65°F
• JulyHigh 102°F, low 72°F
• AugustHigh 100°F, low 70°F
• SeptemberHigh 92°F, low 61°F
• OctoberHigh 79°F, low 47°F
• NovemberHigh 64°F, low 35°F
• DecemberHigh 53°F, low 28°F

Source: NOAA climate normals, 1991 to 2020, the St. George station, at about 2,857 feet. NOAA has no Ivins station with normals.

Rain is rare. The station logs about 9 inches of rain and melted snow in a normal year. June is the driest month, with less than a fifth of an inch. February is the wettest, with about 1.4 inches.

Frost is mild and short. The last spring freeze usually comes around March 14, and the first fall freeze around November 10. A normal year has about 62 nights at freezing or colder, and 52 of them fall from December through February.

Want to see how Ivins stacks up on winter warmth? The warm winter towns list sorts Utah towns by it.

Snow is rare in Ivins. The St. George station logs about 1.2 inches in a normal year. In most years it does not snow measurably at all. When it does, it melts fast. A snowfall of a tenth of an inch or more happens on fewer than one day a year.

The last big snow came in February 2019, when 7.8 inches fell over five days. Two smaller ones came in February 2015 (2.7 inches) and March 2021 (2.5 inches). Winters like those are the exception. Normal snow only shows up in January, February, and March.

If you want real snow, you drive up. Cedar City is about an hour away and gets far more snow than the desert. Brian Head Resort is about 1 hour 40 minutes away. Its base sits at 9,600 feet, and Brian Head gets about 87 inches of snow a year by the NOAA normal at the Bryce Canyon station. Pine Valley Recreation Area, a closer snow stop, is closed after the 2025 fire and floods.

Sources: NOAA climate normals, 1991 to 2020, and the station's daily snow record. Brian Head figures are from Ski Utah. The Pine Valley closure: Deseret News and KUTV, 2025 and 2026.

Summer here is hot, and it is long. A normal July afternoon reaches about 102°F. The normals show about 63 days a year at 100°F or hotter, and about 128 days at 90°F or hotter. Your first July here will change what you think "hot" means.

The record is 117°F. It was set at the St. George station on July 5, 1985, and tied in July 2021. That is the highest temperature ever measured in Utah. Summer 2026 ran hot too. By September 13, 2026, the station had logged 78 days at 100°F or hotter, and its hottest reading was 112°F on August 2.

You learn to live early and late. Walk, hike, and water the yard in the morning or after sunset. Let the house handle the middle of the day. Summer evenings are also when Tuacahn fills up for its shows.

The summer storm season has its own risk. The National Weather Service counts June 15 to September 30 as monsoon season in the Southwest. Near St. George, the storms come mostly in July and August. The airport reports thunder on about 8 days in each of those months. Dry washes can fill in minutes, and streets can flood. In August 2020, a storm flooded streets across St. George and closed Red Hills Parkway overnight.

For a swim on a hot morning, see where to swim near Ivins.

Sources: NOAA climate normals, 1991 to 2020; the St. George station's daily record through September 2026. Also the National Weather Service flood and monsoon pages, and KJZZ, August 24, 2020.

Ivins has no wind station of its own. The nearest one is at St. George Regional Airport, where the wind averages 6.1 miles an hour over the year. The airport is about 35 minutes from Ivins by car, so treat its numbers as a guide. The figure comes from about 115,900 hourly readings between 2012 and 2025. Cedar City airport, on the same count, averages 7.4.

Spring and summer are the windy seasons, tied at 7.6 miles an hour. Fall averages 5.1 and winter 4.2. May and June are the windiest months at 8.4. December is the calmest at 3.5.

Strong gusts are not common. Gusts of 30 miles an hour or more show up in about 3 or 4 hours out of every 100 in spring. In winter it is less than 1 hour in 100. Calm air is common in the cooler months. In winter, about 4 hours in 10 are dead calm.

An inversion is when cold air gets trapped in a valley under a lid of warmer air, and smog builds up for days. The Salt Lake and Utah valleys are known for them in winter. Ivins does not have that problem. The record shows almost none. In the six winters from 2020 to 2026, fine particles of soot and smoke pushed county air past the good range on only 8 days.

Washington County is also not on the EPA list of Utah counties that fail, or once failed, a federal air standard. That list names nine counties, and Washington is not one of them. The county is also outside the state's mandatory no-burn rule for winter smog days. That rule covers seven counties in northern Utah.

Source: EPA AirData, daily air quality index for Washington County, 2020 to 2025. A day is good at 50 or under and moderate at 51 to 100.

Ozone is the main pollutant. It is a gas that forms in strong sunlight, and it sets the daily reading on most days of the year. It pushed the county past 50 on 59 to 89 days a year from 2020 to 2025. Summer and fall can bring a few smoky days, most likely from wildfires. Fine particles pushed the reading past 50 on 27 summer and fall days in 2020. In 2023 and 2024, that happened on just 1 day each.

One thing to know about the numbers. The county has two air monitors, in Hurricane and in Zion Canyon. Neither one sits in Ivins. The last monitor in the St. George area, in Santa Clara, closed in September 2012. So these readings describe Washington County air, not a single street in town.

Check the air on any day at the state's air quality site, the way you check the weather.

Sources: EPA Green Book, EPA AirData, the Utah Division of Air Quality, and the Utah DEQ no-burn page.

Housing is the big cost in Ivins. The Census puts the typical home value in Ivins above St. George and Hurricane. Day-to-day costs are close to the rest of the region. Utah keeps property taxes low, and the state charges one flat income tax. So the price of the home is the number to plan around.

Whether your costs go down depends on where you are coming from. If you live in coastal California or a Mountain West resort town, Ivins can feel like good value for the setting. If you live somewhere else in Utah, the cost of the home may feel high. Ask me for current numbers and a side by side with where you live now.

For general information only. This is not tax or financial advice. Tax rates and home prices change. Consult a qualified professional for guidance specific to your situation.

Three taxes matter most when you move here: sales tax, state income tax, and property tax. Ivins adds two things on top. The city raised its own property tax rate in 2025, and homes inside the Black Desert district pay an extra levy. Here is each one in plain terms, with the rate in effect as I write this.

The primary home exemption

Utah gives a tax break to the home you live in. A primary home is taxed on 55% of its market value, not the full value. To get it, you must live in the home at least 183 days in a row each year. The break covers the house and up to one acre of land.

Washington County already asks you to apply. The county says the owner must apply to get the break. You can apply online on the county assessor's page, or call (435) 301-7020. From January 1, 2027, state law makes this the rule across Utah whenever a home changes owners.

The Ivins city rate

In August 2025, the Ivins City Council raised the city's own property tax rate by nearly 34%. It was the first increase since 2010. The city's share is only one part of a tax bill, and the county and school district make up most of it. Your tax notice shows each part.

The Black Desert district

Homes inside the Black Desert resort project sit in the Black Desert Public Infrastructure District. The district pays for roads, water, sewer, and parks for the project. It charges 10 mills, which is 1% of a home's taxable value each year. That comes on top of the regular county, school, and city rates.

A primary home is taxed on 55% of its value, so the district levy works out to about 0.55% of market value. A second home or a nightly rental is taxed on its full value, so it works out to about 1%. The district's boundary map is not posted online. The tax notice for a parcel shows its tax area, so read it before you make an offer.

Car fees and tests

Utah does not tax your car as property. Instead, you pay an age-based fee each year when you register it. The fee is below for 2026, for cars, light trucks, SUVs, and vans. Registration fees come on top. Washington County has no emissions test. A car that is new to Utah needs a quick VIN check.

Sources: Utah State Tax Commission, Utah DMV, the Washington County Assessor, Utah Code 59-2-103.5, Black Desert district filings, and the Salt Lake Tribune (August 16, 2025). Questions about your own bill go to the Washington County Assessor.

For general information only. This is not tax or financial advice. Tax rates and home prices change. Consult a qualified professional for guidance specific to your situation.

The glance box at the top of this page shows the latest median sale price for a single-family home, from my Ivins market report. Ivins is a small market, and only a handful of homes sell in a given month. That makes the monthly numbers swing a lot, so ask me for the latest.

Ivins is mostly a town of single-family houses. About 9 in 10 homes are detached. More than a third were built since 2010. About 7 percent are second homes, used part of the year. Those are Census estimates for 2020 to 2024.

The range is wide. The old streets near the center and the townhome areas are the more affordable end. The newer neighborhoods on the west and south sides sit in the middle. Kayenta, the Palisades, and the resort homes at Black Desert reach the top.

Nightly rentals follow a firm rule in Ivins. They are allowed only in the city's short-term rental overlay areas and in the Resort Commercial and Resort Mixed Use zones. They are not allowed in ordinary neighborhoods. Check the zone for the exact home before you count on rental income.

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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024, for the home counts. Ivins City Council minutes, November 20, 2025, for the rental zones.

Ivins changes feel from street to street. The older grid sits near the center. Custom desert homes spread across the west side. Newer neighborhoods fill the south and east, and the park border sits to the north. Here are nine to start with, from north to south. Each card opens a full community page with lot sizes, home styles, what homes cost, and current listings.

West and northwestKayentaCustom desert homes off Kayenta Parkway, designed to blend into the land. The Kayenta Art Village is here, and there are no streetlights.Explore the areaNortheastVermilion CliffsA neighborhood on Snow Canyon Drive, right at the south entrance to Snow Canyon State Park.Explore the areaEastEagle RockA neighborhood on Snow Canyon Drive just north of the roundabout, about half a mile below the park entrance.Explore the areaCentral-eastAravaA small neighborhood just north of Center Street, under a mile from City Hall.Explore the areaSoutheast-centralPadre LakesA neighborhood off 400 South, next door to Red Rock Canyon.Explore the areaSoutheastRed Rock CanyonA neighborhood next to Padre Lakes, off 400 South.Explore the areaSouth-centralElfin CoveA neighborhood just south of 400 South.Explore the areaSouth-centralRed Cliff EstatesA neighborhood just east of Main Street.Explore the areaSouthRed Mountain TerraceA neighborhood near Old Highway 91 on the south edge of town. Red Mountain itself is about 3 miles north.Explore the area

Six more areas are worth a look. Black Desert Resort is the golf resort on the lava fields on the east side. It has condos and homes along the championship course the PGA Tour plays each fall. Financing and tax details differ here, so ask. Palisades at Snow Canyon sits off Center Street and Tuacahn Drive, and its north edge touches state park land. Sentierre Padre Canyon sits at the mouth of Padre Canyon, beside Tuacahn, with villas that are built and resold. Anasazi Vista and the Onyx neighborhoods are on the west side, a few minutes from City Hall. Serenity Estates sits on the south end of Main Street.

More areas are added as the city grows. The full community index lists them all. Want to compare lots, prices, and styles side by side? Tell me what you are looking for and I will point you to the right ones.

Ivins is building, but on its own terms. The city's 2024 plan says Ivins will not be fully built, at about 19,000 residents, until at least 2040. In the city's own survey, most residents opposed more crowded housing and more resorts. So approvals move slowly, and growth comes over years rather than months.

The resort side gets the headlines. Black Desert is selling its final Phase 1 homes. At Sentierre Padre Canyon, the villas are built and resold, and the resort hotel has no confirmed opening date. Red Mountain Resort closed in late 2025. In October 2025, the city approved a plan for 450 visitor lodging units on that site.

On the home side, new houses are listed in 2026 at Serenity Estates on south Main Street. More are listed at Onyx Valley and Onyx Canyon on the west side. Anasazi Vista is finished, so homes there are resales. Custom builders work the view lots in Kayenta and the Palisades.

Buying new works differently from buying resale. You pick a lot, choose your finishes, follow a build schedule, and sign the builder's contract. I walk you through each step, so the loan lines up with the build schedule and nothing surprises you once the walls go up. Builders often cover the buyer agent fee, and I put that in writing before you sign.

• ResortBlack Desert ResortEast sideSelling its final Phase 1 homes.
• New homesSerenity EstatesSouth Main StreetNew homes listed in 2026.
• New homesOnyx Valley and Onyx CanyonWest sideNew homes listed in 2026.
• ResalesAnasazi VistaWest sideFinished. Homes here are resales.
• VillasSentierre Padre CanyonMouth of Padre CanyonVillas are built and resold. The resort hotel has no confirmed opening.

Sources: Ivins City General Plan 2024; the Black Desert Resort sales page, checked October 3, 2026; Ivins City Council record, October 2025. These are areas, not endorsements of any one builder. Builders and phases change, so the listings page is the fastest way to see what is open.

Every town has its own list of things to check. Ivins has a few that come from its desert ground, its canyons, and its dark-sky rules. None of them should scare you off. They are the questions I would ask about any home here, and each one has a free tool you can use for a single address.

A map shows an area, and I will walk through each of these with you on any home you like. I will tell you what I see.

This is general information, not legal, engineering, or insurance advice. Sources: the Utah Geological Survey, the county hazard map, FEMA, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, the county water district, and the Ivins General Plan 2024. Have a licensed inspector look at any home before you buy.

The best thing you can do before you shop for a home is get pre-approved. That means a lender checks your finances and tells you how much you can borrow. It shows you what you can spend, and it makes your offer stronger when the right home comes up. Ivins is a small market, so a ready buyer has an edge. That head start matters most if you are moving from out of town and want to act fast.

Buyers in Ivins use every kind of loan, including conventional, FHA, and VA. Second homes and resort condos follow different loan rules than a home you live in. Black Desert parcels also carry the district tax from the taxes topic. Sort these out early. I am licensed in both real estate and lending. On any one purchase I take one role. If I am your lender, I can tell you early if a home could be hard to get a loan on. The loan guides on this site explain each loan type in plain English.

How my dual role works. I am licensed in both real estate and lending. On any one purchase I take one role. Every role is disclosed, and you are always free to choose your own agent and your own lender. The full explanation is on How I Work. This section is general information, not financial, legal, or tax advice.

The city's own plan calls Ivins a peaceful bedroom community with some farmland. Most people who live here work somewhere else in the St. George area, or they work from home.

The census survey for 2020 to 2024 estimates that 21% of Ivins workers work from home. Of the people who do commute, about 81% get to work in under 30 minutes. Those are survey estimates, so treat them as a guide.

Jobs inside Ivins

The city's plan names the main workplaces inside town. They are Rocky Vista University, the Southern Utah Veterans Home, and Tuacahn Center for the Arts. They also include the Center for the Arts at Kayenta and five major resort properties. Vista School and the city itself employ people too. When Black Desert Resort was planned in 2021, its first phase was expected to create 500 jobs.

The plan also lists what holds back new business here. Ivins is far from the main commercial areas and highways, and it is small. Santa Clara next door keeps adding stores. Many residents do not want much commercial building, and the city has no definable downtown. That is why most jobs sit down the hill in St. George.

The wider job market

Washington County had about 89,800 jobs in 2025, up from about 70,600 in 2020. That is a rise of about 27%. The jobless rate for the St. George area was 3.8% in August 2026, which is a preliminary number. Average yearly pay in the county was about $50,900 in 2025. Big employers in the area include the Washington County School District, SkyWest Airlines, and Utah Tech University.

If you bring your work with you, fiber internet reaches the city. My guide for remote workers in Utah covers what to check before you move.

Sources: the Ivins General Plan (2024), the U.S. Census Bureau (2020 to 2024), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the state workforce agency. The job counts are for the whole county.

Ivins does not have a hospital or an emergency room. St. George Regional Hospital is the closest one, about 20 minutes away, 10 miles by road. It is part of Intermountain Health. It has 284 beds and an emergency room that is open all day, every day. It is also a Level II trauma center, which means surgeons and other specialists are ready for badly hurt patients. It is the only Level II center south of Utah County.

Urgent care is a drive too. The nearest one is Intermountain Sunset Clinic InstaCare at 1739 West Sunset Boulevard in St. George, about 12 minutes away. Its phone number is 435-634-6050. There is no urgent care in Ivins or Santa Clara as I write this. Ask me if that has changed.

Inside Ivins, the city's plan counts a 23,000 square foot medical office building as part of the Rocky Vista University campus. The Southern Utah Veterans Home is at 160 North 200 East. It is a 108-bed home that opened in 2013. It offers short-term rehab, long-term care, and secure memory care.

Fire and ambulance service come from Santa Clara-Ivins Fire & Rescue. It is one department with two stations, one at 90 West Center Street in Ivins and one in Santa Clara. Ivins runs its own city-owned ambulance service.

If you are moving on military orders, my military PCS guide has VA loan and timing notes.

Sources: Intermountain Health, the Ivins General Plan (2024), the Utah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs, and the VA. Drive times are from City Hall.

The Washington County School District runs the public schools in Ivins. The district counted 34,396 students on October 1, 2025. That includes 3,305 students in its Utah Online School. It has 27 elementary schools, 6 intermediate schools, 6 middle schools, and 10 high schools. In 2025 to 2026, elementary runs from kindergarten to grade 5. Intermediate is grades 6 and 7, middle school is grades 8 and 9, and high school is grades 10 to 12.

Every part of Ivins checked on the district maps falls in the same four schools. Red Mountain Elementary is at 263 East 200 South in Ivins. Lava Ridge Intermediate is in Santa Clara. Snow Canyon Middle and Snow Canyon High are in St. George. That includes Kayenta, Black Desert, Sentierre, and the west side. The city's plan says Red Mountain Elementary is where most Ivins children attend.

Vista School is the one public charter school in Ivins. A charter school is a public school that runs on its own board and takes students by application. Vista teaches kindergarten to grade 9. It has a science, technology, engineering, art, and math focus in the early grades, with electives in visual and performing arts and technology.

Tuacahn High School for the Arts, in Padre Canyon, closed in May 2021. Its charter moved to Utah Arts Academy in St. George. The Utah Conservatory of Performing Arts at Tuacahn is a separate training program. A school directory lists other charter schools in St. George, including George Washington Academy, Success Academy at Utah Tech, and Freedom Preparatory Academy. Check each school's own site for how to apply.

I do not rate schools, and I would be wary of anyone who tells you which one is best. Look at the boundaries, programs, and ratings yourself, with what matters to you in mind. The links below go to the district and to independent sites.

Ratings and boundaries come from the district and independent third parties, not from me. Boundary checks were made in October 2026.

Ivins is not a college town, but it does have a university campus. Rocky Vista University has a Utah campus at 255 East Center Street. It is a medical school. The first class started in 2017. The campus sits on 11.2 acres, with two buildings, and the university lists about 657 students.

Two programs run on the Ivins campus. One is the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, a degree for doctors who train in osteopathic medicine. The other is a nine-month master's degree in biomedical sciences. Rocky Vista's other programs run on its Colorado campus.

For general college, you head to St. George, about 18 minutes away. Utah Tech University had 13,207 students in fall 2025. It was Dixie State University until July 1, 2022. Its teams play NCAA Division I sports, and it joined the Big Sky Conference on July 1, 2026.

Dixie Technical College is also in St. George, at 610 South Tech Ridge Drive. It had 1,347 students in fall 2024. Its programs include welding, automotive and diesel work, culinary arts, medical assisting, and practical nursing. Southern Utah University is in Cedar City, about an hour north.

Sources: Rocky Vista University, Utah Tech, the Utah System of Higher Education, and national college data. Drive times are from City Hall.

The city's own plan says Snow Canyon Parkway and Old Highway 91 are the only roads into Ivins. Snow Canyon Parkway runs in from St. George and ends at the roundabout at Center Street on the east side of town. Old Highway 91 comes in from Santa Clara at the southeast corner and crosses the south and west sides.

Old Highway 91 is busier than it used to be. Drivers use it as a way into St. George from Nevada when I-15 backs up in the Virgin River Gorge. The city rebuilt the road in two phases, in 2023 and 2025. North of town, Snow Canyon Drive leads into the state park. It is a park road with a fee station, not a way to commute.

Inside town, the city uses roundabouts at major intersections instead of traffic signals. A planned road called Hamblin Parkway would add a link from Snow Canyon Parkway south to Old Highway 91, between Main Street and 200 East. The city's plan shows it reaching Gap Canyon Parkway in St. George later, for easier access to I-15 and the airport. That second part is only an idea so far.

I did not find a recent traffic count for roads inside Ivins, so I will not guess at one. A drive on a weekday will tell you more.

Sources: the Ivins General Plan (2024) and the city's newsletters. Drive times are from a road-routing model, run from City Hall in October 2026.

The city of St. George runs a bus system called SunTran. It has seven local routes in St. George, Ivins, and Washington. Route 5 is the Ivins route. There is no bus on Sundays or on listed holidays, and there is no rail. As in most of Southern Utah, plan on a car for daily life.

Once you reach Zion Canyon, the National Park Service runs a free shuttle inside the park for much of the year. Check the park's page for this season's dates.

Fares and hours come from the city's SunTran pages, checked in October 2026. They can change.

Ivins has no airport. St. George Regional Airport (SGU) is about 22 miles and 35 minutes away. Three airlines fly there, all flown by SkyWest. Delta flies nonstop to Salt Lake City. United flies nonstop to Denver and Los Angeles. American flies nonstop to Phoenix and Dallas-Fort Worth.

• St. George (SGU)~22 mi · ~35 min
• Las Vegas (LAS)~128 mi · ~2 hr 15 min
• Salt Lake City (SLC)~310 mi · ~4 hr 40 min

For many trips, that saves the long drive to Las Vegas. SGU had 318,532 passengers in 2024, up from 269,209 in 2023. The terminal opens two hours before the first flight of the day.

For the widest choice of flights, Harry Reid International in Las Vegas (LAS) is about 2 hours 15 minutes down I-15. If you will make that drive often, my guide on how far St. George is from Las Vegas covers it in more detail.

Ivins sits on the west side of the St. George area, with Santa Clara between it and the city. Most daily trips head east to Santa Clara and St. George. Here is how long the common trips take from City Hall.

• Snow Canyon State Park~6 min
• Harmons grocery (Santa Clara)~6 min
• Downtown St. George~15 min
• St. George Regional Hospital~20 min
• St. George airport (SGU)~35 min
• Zion, south entrance~1 hr

More errands and places are close. Kayenta Art Village is about 6 minutes away. Fire Lake Park and Black Desert Resort are about 7 minutes. Tuacahn is about 8 minutes, and urgent care in St. George is about 12. Utah Tech is about 18 minutes, and Gunlock State Park is about 20.

Here is how long the longer drives take.

Cedar City

60 mi · ~1 hr

Brian Head

90 mi · ~1 hr 40 min

Las Vegas

~125 mi · ~2 hr 15 min

Bryce Canyon

~150 mi · ~2.5 hr

Grand Canyon North Rim

~155 mi · ~3 hr 15 min

Salt Lake City

~310 mi · ~4 hr 40 min

The towns around Ivins are close. Here is how far each one is by road.

Outdoor places are within reach too. Quail Creek State Park is about 30 minutes away, and Sand Hollow State Park is about 40. The Kolob Canyons part of Zion, off I-15, is about 45 minutes. Zion's south entrance, in Springdale, is about 50 miles and about an hour. Brian Head, where the snow is, is about 1 hour 40 minutes.

Going somewhere else? Look up any Utah drive between 138 towns.

Drive times come from a road-routing model, run from City Hall in October 2026. Real trips vary with traffic and the season.

Almost nobody puts this on a real estate site, but it is what you need in your first week. In Ivins, the city bills most of your services on one account. Power and gas come from other companies.

The Washington County Water Conservancy District mostly sells water to the cities. The city runs the water system and sends you the bill. The city also bills a small county water surcharge, which pays for future water projects.

Set up city services through the Ivins City website. The city also posts a welcome packet for new residents.

Phone numbers and rules come from the city and company pages, checked in October 2026. They can change.

You have fiber choices for home internet in Ivins. The state's data shows fiber from TDS Telecom, Quantum Fiber, CenturyLink, and InfoWest at the point checked in the city. A wireless provider, Kayenta Technologies, shows up there too. The city's own welcome packet names CenturyLink and TDS for phone, internet, and TV. What you can get still depends on the street, so check the exact address before you buy.

Source: the Utah Broadband Center's provider data, updated October 2026. I list who reports service, not speeds or prices.

Cell service varies by carrier and by street. Check your carrier's map for the address you are looking at.

Moving day is only the start. Here is the short list for your first 90 days in Ivins, in the order most people do it. One surprise: there is no driver license office in Ivins or St. George. You will drive to Hurricane.

1. Turn on the utilitiesPower is Rocky Mountain Power. Gas is Enbridge Gas Utah. Water, sewer, and storm drain are on the Ivins City bill. Start them before you move in.
2. Get your Utah driver licenseThe only Driver License office in the county is at 102 South 5300 West in Hurricane. Book an appointment. Bring proof of who you are, your Social Security number, proof of your Utah address, and your current license. There is a written test.
3. Register your carUtah gives you 60 days to register after you set up a permanent home. The state DMV office is next door to the license office. Washington County does not require an emissions test. A car that is new to Utah needs a quick VIN check.
4. Register to voteDo it online at vote.utah.gov once you have your Utah license or state ID. Registration must reach the county clerk by 5 p.m. 11 days before an election. After that, you can register in person with two forms of ID. The clerk is at 111 East Tabernacle Street in St. George.
5. Claim the primary home tax breakUtah taxes a primary home on 55% of its value, on up to one acre of land. Washington County asks the owner to apply. You can apply online, or call the assessor at 435-301-7020. From January 1, 2027, state law makes an application mandatory when a home changes owners.
6. Sign up for schoolRegister through the Washington County School District. Check the boundary map for your address first.
7. Learn your trash and recyclingTrash is Monday. Recycling is every other Monday. Glass goes to a drop-off site, not the curb.
8. Start your mailIvins mail runs through the Santa Clara Post Office at 1400 Chapel Street.

Rules and office hours change. Check each office before you go.

Ivins still has no supermarket. A lease listing on Center Street pitches a site for a boutique grocery, which tells you none is there yet. Most people shop in Santa Clara or on the west side of St. George, and then keep a short list for the bigger trips.

In town

Family Dollar is at 445 South Red Mountain Boulevard. It is open until 10 p.m. and sells refrigerated food. A Chevron (Lightfoot's) at 555 South Red Mountain Boulevard sells gas and convenience items. The Tuacahn Saturday Market runs every Saturday all year, weather permitting, and it is free. It is mostly art and crafts, with food vendors, so it is not a produce market. The Kayenta Art Village has galleries and studios too.

The nearest full groceries

There is no Walmart, Costco, or Smith's in Ivins or Santa Clara. The St. George Downtown Farmers Market is at Vernon Worthen Park, 300 South 400 East, about 18 minutes away. It meets on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon, May to October, with a winter market from February to April.

Store lists and hours change. These were checked against store, city, and listing pages in October 2026.

This is the part that sells many people on Ivins. A state park touches the north edge of town. Red Mountain fills the skyline. There is even a beach in town. Here are the places I would start with.

Paved trails link much of the city. The city counts about 13 miles of them, and it has 13 parks. On the west side, Kayenta has hiking too, with names like Elephant Rock and Hell Hole Canyon.

Pine Valley is not an option for summer heat right now. Its recreation area and campground are closed after the 2025 fire and floods. It also lies north-northeast of town, not west. For cooler air, try Kolob Terrace, Cedar Mountain, or Brian Head.

Fees and closures change, so check before you go. Details come from Snow Canyon State Park, the BLM Red Mountain page, and the city's Fire Lake page.

Zion is a day trip from Ivins. The south entrance is about an hour away. Kolob Canyons, the quieter Zion section off I-15, is about 45 minutes. Snow Canyon, a state park, is only about 6 minutes from home.

Drive times are map estimates from Ivins with no traffic. Fees and dates are for 2026 and come from the National Park Service. Check before you go. The Snow Canyon guide has more on the park next door.

Brian Head Resort is the closest place with ski lifts. It is about 1 hour 40 minutes from Ivins, in the mountains east of Cedar City. Its base sits at 9,600 feet.

The resort usually opens in November. Check its site for opening day. In town, it hardly ever snows. Ivins gets about 1.2 inches in a normal year, so skiing always means a drive.

Eagle Point Resort, in Beaver County, is closed for the 2026-27 winter after the Cottonwood Fire.

Thinking about a place up the mountain? See the Brian Head page. Dates come from local news reports from August 2026.

Black Desert Resort is the golf course in Ivins. Tom Weiskopf drew it on black lava rock, and it was his last design. It opened on May 27, 2023. It has 18 holes plus a bonus 19th hole for settling bets.

The course is public, so you do not have to stay at the resort. Non-guests book tee times, and the rates cost more for them than for resort guests. The resort says Golfweek ranks it first in Utah. That is the resort's claim, not mine.

Black Desert is also where the PGA TOUR comes to Utah. The Tour has played here every October since 2024. It was the first Tour event in Utah in more than 60 years. In 2026 it is the Bank of Utah Championship, October 1 to 4. The course is closed to all other play that week.

An LPGA event ran here once, in May 2025. It is not held in 2026.

More courses are close. St. George has four city courses, plus The Ledges and SunRiver. Washington City has Coral Canyon and Green Spring, and Hurricane has Sky Mountain, Sand Hollow, and Copper Rock. Entrada at Snow Canyon is private.

Course facts come from Black Desert Resort and the PGA TOUR. Call 435-222-7830 for tee times and today's conditions.

Ivins is small, so the list is short. The biggest group of places is at Black Desert Resort, which runs seven spots for food and drink. The rest are scattered. There is a steakhouse on Red Mountain Boulevard and a cafe in the Kayenta Art Village. You will also find coffee on Snow Canyon Parkway and a cafe at Tuacahn.

For a long list of restaurants, St. George is about 15 minutes away.

Six places people know

• SteakhouseBasaltBlack Desert Resort, 1500 E Black Desert DrThe resort steakhouse, over the lava field course. Open for dinner Tuesday to Saturday. It is closed Sunday and Monday.
• Baja foodLatitudeBlack Desert Resort, 1500 E Black Desert DrBaja California food, open air, with a Snow Canyon view. It serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with hours that change by day.
• Steak and ItalianArrabiata Steakhouse575 Red Mountain BlvdDry-aged steaks and Italian dishes from Chef Eric Shameti. Open for dinner Wednesday to Saturday.
• Cafe and dinnerXetava and Rusted Cactus815 Coyote Gulch CtXetava serves lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch. Rusted Cactus, run by the same owners, serves shared plates at dinner. Both sit in the Kayenta Art Village, and both changed owners in late 2025.
• CoffeeFeelLove Coffee1185 E Snow Canyon Pkwy, Ste 201The Ivins store of a St. George coffee roaster. Open daily, 6 am to 5 pm.
• Show nightsTuacahn Cafe1100 Tuacahn DrBurgers, sandwiches, street tacos, and shakes. It opens for show nights, and has a pancake breakfast on Saturdays.

I chose these because each one shows a current website or a recent news report. This is not a ranking, and no one paid to be on it. Hours change, so check before you drive.

Ivins is quiet on a normal evening. Most weekends here revolve around the park, the water, and a show at Tuacahn. There is no movie theater and no museum in town. For those, people drive to St. George.

• MarketTuacahn Saturday MarketTuacahn, 1100 Tuacahn DrArt, crafts, food, and music every Saturday, weather permitting. Admission is free. It runs 10 am to 2 pm from October to April, and 9 am to 1 pm from May to September.
• WaterFire Lake and the Unity Park splash padFire Lake Park and 200 W 400 SBoth were open for the 2026 season. Fire Lake is the swim beach. Unity Park has the splash pad, tennis courts, and a skate park.
• SwimSand Hollow Aquatic Center1144 N Lava Flow Dr, St. GeorgeIvins residents pay the resident rate there, under an agreement between the two cities. It has leisure and lap pools, open all year.
• Park nightsHeritage Park100 N 100 WHome of Heritage Days, Concerts in the Park, Movies in the Park, and Santa in the Park.
• ResortBlack Desert Resort1500 E Black Desert DrA 15,000 square foot spa, the 20th Hole sports bar with golf simulators, and an open-air yard with a 36 hole putting course. A water park, Black Desert Rapids, is set to open in May 2027.
• ArtKayenta Art VillageCoyote Gulch CtGalleries, studios, the Desert Rose Labyrinth, and a cafe. The arts topic below has more.

A bigger night out

St. George has the movie theaters, the Dinosaur Discovery Site, and the America First Performing Arts Center, which opened on August 28, 2026. Downtown is about 15 minutes away. For a major concert or a pro game, many people drive to Las Vegas, about 2 hours 15 minutes away.

Hours and fees change. Check each place before you go. Facts come from Tuacahn, the City of Ivins, and Black Desert Resort.

Ivins has more art than a town this size would seem to need. Tuacahn stages big musicals in a red rock canyon. The Kayenta Art Village keeps a theater and galleries busy through the year. Both are a few minutes from the middle of town.

Details come from Tuacahn and the Kayenta Arts Foundation. Check before you go.

The year here follows the show season and the weather. Tuacahn runs from May to October. The Kayenta festivals fill the spring and fall. Heritage Days, the city's own festival, comes in September. Where a date is given below, it is from 2026.

• JanuaryTuacahn's indoor winter show usually opens in late January. The Saturday Market runs every week.
• FebruaryThe Kayenta February Art Festival, usually in mid February.
• MarchTuacahn holds spring concerts, and its indoor winter show runs into March.
• AprilThe Kayenta Street Painting Festival ran April 11 to 12, 2026. The city also held its Hog and Jog 5K and Easter Egg Scramble at Unity Park on April 4.
• MayTuacahn opens its outdoor season. The Kayenta Native Arts Market ran May 1 to 3, 2026.
• JuneFire Lake and the splash pad are in full summer use.
• JulyThe city has no Fourth of July fireworks of its own. Tuacahn runs its own displays. Grease opened there on July 10.
• AugustMovies in the Park on Friday nights at Heritage Park, usually at about 8:30 pm.
• SeptemberHeritage Days ran September 9 to 12, 2026, with a free parade on Saturday, September 12. All events are free.
• OctoberThe Bank of Utah Championship plays at Black Desert in early October. Art in Kayenta follows each October, with more than 50 juried artists.
• NovemberTuacahn holds fall concerts in early November. Christmas in the Canyon starts in late November.
• DecemberChristmas in the Canyon runs to just before Christmas. Santa in the Park usually comes to Heritage Park in early December.

These are the usual months, and dates move a little each year. Check the Heritage Days page, Tuacahn, and the Kayenta Arts Foundation before you plan a trip.

Ivins sits at the west end of the St. George area, with Santa Clara next door. Here are the towns and places around it, with drive times from Ivins.

Longer drives

• Cedar City60 mi · ~1 hr
• Brian Head90 mi · ~1 hr 40 min
• Las Vegas~125 mi · ~2 hr 15 min
• Bryce Canyon~150 mi · ~2.5 hr
• Grand Canyon North Rim~155 mi · ~3 hr 15 min
• Salt Lake City~310 mi · ~4 hr 40 min

Drive times are map estimates from Ivins with no traffic.