How much are property taxes in St. George?

For a primary residence, Utah gives a 45% exemption, so you pay tax on 55% of value, an effective rate of roughly half a percent locally. Second homes and rentals do not get the exemption and are taxed on full value.

Do I have to apply for the primary-residence exemption?

Yes. You file for the residential exemption with the Washington County Assessor after closing. The home must be your primary residence, generally at least 183 days a year.

How much more property tax does a second home pay in Utah?

Close to double. Utah exempts 45 percent of a primary residence's value, so an owner-occupier is assessed on 55 percent and everyone else on the full amount — a ratio of about 1.8 to 1 that holds steady even as rates move each year.

Does the exemption cover the whole property?

The dwelling and up to one acre of land. On a larger parcel the excess acreage is assessed on a different footing, which catches buyers of the bigger lots out toward the rural edges of the county.

Does a long-term tenant qualify a property for the exemption?

No. Long-term rental, short-term rental and a second home are all treated identically — assessed on full market value. The distinction owners expect to matter, a year lease against a nightly booking, makes none at all.

Do you need a lawyer to buy a house in Utah?

No — closings run through title and escrow rather than an attorney's office. Buyers arriving from states where a lawyer signs off on every purchase tend to find this the most unfamiliar part of the process.

Why might a listing understate the property tax?

Because it frequently shows the current owner's bill. If the seller lives there and you will not, you are looking at a figure calculated on a basis that will not apply to you.

What happens to the tax if you turn a home into a rental?

It moves to the other side of the exemption, and the change follows the use rather than the sale. Plan for it before the year in which the switch happens, because the bill will reflect it afterwards whether or not you expected it.

Property Taxes and the Second-Home Tax Bump in St. George

Utah taxes a primary residence on 55% of its value and a second home on 100% — so the same house bills roughly 1.8x more. What to budget.

Here is the St. George detail that surprises second-home shoppers more than any other: two identical houses on the same street can carry very different tax bills, and the only difference is who lives in them.

The primary-residential exemption

Utah exempts 45% of a primary residence's fair market value from property tax, under Utah Code §§ 59-2-102 and 59-2-103. In practice that means an owner-occupied home is taxed on 55% of its value rather than all of it.

The rules that matter:

The home must be your primary domicile. For part-year situations the standard is 183 or more consecutive days in the calendar year.
The exemption covers the dwelling and up to one acre of land. On a larger parcel, the excess acreage is treated differently.
You generally need to claim it with the Washington County Assessor rather than receive it automatically. If you have just closed, this is the step people forget.

The second-home and rental catch

Second homes, vacation homes, cabins, short-term rentals and long-term rentals do not qualify. They are taxed on 100% of market value.

That difference is the whole story, and it is worth stating as arithmetic rather than as a rate, because rates change every year and this ratio does not: 100 ÷ 55 ≈ 1.8. A non-primary home carries roughly 1.8 times the property tax of the identical house next door claimed as a primary residence.

In a market with as many second homes and snowbird properties as this one, that is not a rounding error. It is often the single largest line item people leave out when they run the numbers on a winter place, and it recurs every year for as long as they own it.

What this changes about how you buy

A few practical consequences follow from the structure:

Model the tax as a second home if that is what it will be. Listing sites and casual estimates frequently show the current owner's bill. If the seller lives there and you will not, your bill is on a different footing entirely.

A property that switches use switches treatment. Turning a primary residence into a rental, or a rental back into a primary residence, changes which side of the exemption you are on. Plan for it before the year in which it happens rather than after.

Long-term versus short-term rental does not rescue the exemption. Neither qualifies. If a listing agent implies otherwise, verify it with the county rather than taking it on trust.

Two things Utah does not charge

Set against the second-home bump, Utah is genuinely light in two respects:

There is no state real estate transfer tax, and no local one either — the percentage of the sale price that disappears at closing in many states has no counterpart in Utah. Closing costs in St. George covers what a transaction actually costs.
No attorney is required to close. Transactions are handled through a title and escrow company, which is the norm across the state.

The honest caveat

None of this is tax advice, and your situation may have wrinkles — trusts, LLC ownership, mixed-use parcels and agricultural designations all behave differently. The durable point is structural and worth carrying into every conversation: primary means 55%, everything else means 100%, and the difference compounds annually. Confirm the specifics with the Washington County Assessor and your own accountant before you rely on them.