City · Washington County, Utah

La Verkin, Utah

La Verkin is a city in Washington County, Utah, part of the St. George, UT metro area. It has 4,476 residents. La Verkin, Utah has a quality-of-life score of 55 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #7,008 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Utah it ranks #143 of 175 cities and towns. It ranks best on hospital quality rating (high), preventable hospital stays (low) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (low). It ranks worst on drought exposure (high), students per teacher (high) and social associations (low).

55Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #7,008 of 15,651 cities and towns
Utah: #143 of 175 in UT
Population: 4,476 (2020-2024)
Land area: 14 mi²
Density: 328.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 4943440

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety71#4,508/15,637
Economy46#8,417/15,631
Housing60#6,005/14,977
Health51#7,577/15,609
Healthcare49#7,927/15,650
Environment68#4,944/15,453
Education58#6,545/15,649
Infrastructure35#10,241/15,650
Community43#8,967/15,651
Leisure & amenities49#8,009/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where La Verkin, Utah ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Washington County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Hospital quality rating · high5.0
98/100Utah 4.2United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesWashington County value
Preventable hospital stays · low1,390 /100k
98/100Utah 1,640 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteWashington County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · low5.2 µg/m³
95/100Utah 7.3 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyWashington County value
New business applications · high23.8 /1k
95/100Utah 20.6 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauWashington County value
Job growth · high3.0%
94/100Utah 0.9%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataWashington County value
Effective property tax rate · low0.45%
91/100Utah 0.48%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090

Weaknesses

Drought exposure · high100%
1/100Utah 98%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAWashington County value
Students per teacher · high22.8×
1/100Utah 21.6×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsWashington County value
Social associations · low3.8 /10k
3/100Utah 3.6 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteWashington County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · high138 mi
6/100Utah 31 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauWashington County value
Distance to an airport · high116 mi
6/100Utah 31 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauWashington County value
Depression · high28.8%
8/100Utah 26.9%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Child poverty rateWorsening
24.9% (2015-2019) → 41.3% (2020-2024)
+16 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
New homes permittedWorsening
11.4 /1k (2021) → 2.5 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−79%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
53.0% (2015-2019) → 68.2% (2020-2024)
+15 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
3.4× (2015-2019) → 5.8× (2020-2024)
+68%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Poverty rateWorsening
13.6% (2015-2019) → 23.5% (2020-2024)
+9.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
High school diploma or higherImproving
86.0% (2015-2019) → 94.0% (2020-2024)
+8 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, La Verkin, Utah improved on 0 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 3. 11 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved0

No measure improved by more than its margin of error.

Declined3

Price / income+2.3×3.4× → 5.8×
Child poverty+16 points24.9% → 41.3%
Inequality+0.0620.321 → 0.382

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of La Verkin, Utah between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	24.8 min2015-2019	28.5 min2020-2024	+3.7 min	Within the margin of error	15%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.3%2015-2019	21.8%2020-2024	+4.6 points	Within the margin of error	64%
Broadband subscriptions	89.1%2015-2019	90.6%2020-2024	+1.5 points	Within the margin of error	13%
Child poverty rate	24.9%2015-2019	41.3%2020-2024	+16 points	Declined	6%
Effective property tax rate	0.63%2015-2019	0.45%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	54%
High school diploma or higher	86.0%2015-2019	94.0%2020-2024	+8 points	Within the margin of error	92%
Home price to income ratio	3.4×2015-2019	5.8×2020-2024	+2.3×	Declined	2%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3212015-2019	0.3822020-2024	+0.062	Declined	12%
Median household income	$52,7852015-2019	$68,2692020-2024	+29%	Within the margin of error	54%
Poverty rate	13.6%2015-2019	23.5%2020-2024	+9.8 points	Within the margin of error	4%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	32.0%2015-2019	33.5%2020-2024	+1.5 points	Within the margin of error	43%
Rent-burdened households	53.0%2015-2019	68.2%2020-2024	+15 points	Within the margin of error	14%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	20.5%2015-2019	18.0%2020-2024	−2.6 points	Within the margin of error	74%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like La Verkin, Utah five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of La Verkin, Utah in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, La Verkin, Utah itself moved −7.2 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

4,476 residents (±17)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,334 households (±120)

La Verkin, Utah
Utah share

Under $25k15%†206
$25k–50k20%†266
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,334 households (±120)

La Verkin, Utah
Utah share

Own76%1,016
Rent24%†318

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,919 workers (±186)

La Verkin, Utah
Utah share

Drive alone85%1,632
Carpool4.2%†81
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the St. George, UT

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Washington County, the county holding most of La Verkin's residents.

Washington County has 7,191 employer establishments, 354 for every 10,000 residents (1.43× the US rate of 248; 1.28× Utah's), with 69,411 paid employees at an average annual pay of $44,418. The Census Bureau also counts 21,695 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 7,191; 21,695 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 354; US 248 · Utah 277
Paid employees: 69,411
Average annual pay: $44,418; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Washington County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Specialty trade contractors	944	46.5	3.00×More than typical	6,626	$49,795	1,208
Ambulatory health care services	649	32	1.53×More than typical	5,307	$64,376	907
Lessors of real estate	498	24.5	1.99×More than typical	1,085	$41,462	3,202
Services to buildings and dwellings	370	18.2	2.70×More than typical	1,711	$34,101	1,260
Restaurants and other eating places	363	17.9	0.97×About typical	8,242	$20,711	54
Construction of buildings	347	17.1	2.26×More than typical	1,416	$53,236	683
Real estate agents and brokers	300	14.8	3.04×More than typical	428	$45,673	788
Management, scientific and technical consulting	299	14.7	2.20×More than typical	650	$47,012	1,026
Building finishing contractors	293	14.4	3.80×More than typical	1,810	$41,866	404
Building equipment contractors	244	12	2.00×More than typical	1,825	$52,272	183
Foundation, structure and building exterior contractors	242	11.9	3.78×More than typical	1,622	$48,371	197
Offices of other health practitioners	220	10.8	1.78×More than typical	1,051	$35,068	496

Rank places for an industry Open Washington County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 202,953 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in La Verkin, Utah: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

122.2KFY2018
1KFY2019
1.6MFY2020
94.2KFY2021
323.6KFY2022
1.5MFY2023
-26.9KFY2024

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in La Verkin, Utah, so they do not add up across cities.

La Verkin, Utah's figures are part of those of Washington County, UT ($80.2M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: La Verkin is mostly in Washington County.

See federal money in Washington County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

La Verkin, Utah is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Celeste MaloyR-UT-2 · 100% of residentsWith party 96%Missed 0.9%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Washington County79100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

St. George, UT83

Other cities and towns in Washington County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/4943440

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends