Living in Saint George.

What’s living in Saint George year round like? What are the people like? How is the climbing and the weather? How hot does it get in the summer? How far do I have to travel to climb in the summer? How many people will judge me because I smoke pot, don’t go to church, and don’t want kids? What are some of the best things about living there? What are some of the most inconvenient things about living there? What’s the overall cost of living like? How dog friendly is the place? I have a 75 pound Pitt bull. Rent looks cheap compared to what I pay currently, but what about things like utilities and groceries? My current utility bill is like $35 a month, just for reference, and I work remotely so thats not an issue.

The wife and I are currently thinking about moving out of San Diego, it is too freaking expensive and we aren’t really into the whole hipster/night life/ beach scene so we are basically paying 1,800 a month for a super basic 2 bedroom apartment because the weather is nice...

I live by Cedar city and work in St George, no one will judge you or care, it is a melting pot, not as bad as Moab, but, it is a cool place. You have to get your booze and smoke in Mesquite. Climbing is great, sandstone or limestone what ever your fix is. It is dog friendly, you can get a good house with property for what you are paying in SD. Check out Leeds or Toquerville for more quite life, and central locate for climbing trips up north when hot or local when the weather is perfect. The Mormon won't bother you they keep to them self( they judge to them selves.), But who cares. In the winter my electric is higher because my wife get cold but summer I open the windows and awesome. Just take a road trip and explore, if you want crazy go to Las Vegas, peace and quite southern Utah.
Cheers,

Most folks are fine and will impress you with their good manners.  It does get hot in the summer so try the Jungle at 10,400' three hours north, https://www.mountainproject.com/area/106494756/jungle-on-the-aquarius-plateauthe 
The spring, winter, and fall will find you enjoying good climbing more locally.

Let me say that I love this area, I will continue to go back etc. But, you should really visit here before you move. There will be a pronounced culture shock. Once again, amazing area, I even spent a summer there and made it work, but you should know what you are getting into first. 

Blackmore wrote: I live by Cedar city and work in St George, no one will judge you or care, it is a melting pot, not as bad as Moab, but, it is a cool place. You have to get your booze and smoke in Mesquite. Climbing is great, sandstone or limestone what ever your fix is. It is dog friendly, you can get a good house with property for what you are paying in SD. Check out Leeds or Toquerville for more quite life, and central locate for climbing trips up north when hot or local when the weather is perfect. The Mormon won't bother you they keep to them self( they judge to them selves.), But who cares. In the winter my electric is higher because my wife get cold but summer I open the windows and awesome. Just take a road trip and explore, if you want crazy go to Las Vegas, peace and quite southern Utah.
Cheers,

While I do prefer buying booze in Mesquite I know of at least two places in st George to buy it. 

Thanks for the all replies everyone. My wife and I will be planning a visit sometime in the near future to check it out. I am excited to see what it might be like, We don’t drink much or enjoy places like Vegas so from the sounds of it I think we would be happy there, the biggest change to our daily life would be not being able to smoke out in the open.

I guess I should also point out that I was actually born to a Mormon family in Vernal and was raised in a conservative town of about 28,000 in North Carolina, I just moved to California five years ago so I won’t be totally culture shocked, at least not like I was when I moved from small town NC to downtown San Diego!

Utah has a new medical cannabis law. Find a pot friendly doc.
Get a vape pen in Mesquite and they won't even know whats up.

Moved to SW Utah 42 years ago before Zion became a zoo.
There is good year round climbing, but now I climb further afield to escape the mobs.
Good luck finding a place in St George.

Its hot in the summer, but the long days are nice. There is enough local climbing to get some climbing in after work. There's Sandstone, limestone and basalt. Mostly sport climbing with some adventury trad climbing mixed in. Good bouldering at Moes Valley. Zion is close, Vegas/Red Rock is 2 hours away, JTree and Moab are 4-5 hours. Tons of other less known but awesome crags around. Exploring the remote areas of Nevada never gets old.  

There isn't a very large local climbing community, especially if Chuckwalla isn't your thing.  Its hard to meet people who can climb on Sundays.

Mesquite NV is only half an hour away.

The mountain biking is also world class.  

Roy Suggett wrote: Most folks are fine and will impress you with their good manners.  It does get hot in the summer so try the Jungle at 10,400' three hours north, https://www.mountainproject.com/area/106494756/jungle-on-the-aquarius-plateauthe 
The spring, winter, and fall will find you enjoying good climbing more locally.

I have some family over there and I'll crash at their place to go climbing once in awhile. A really nice spot is Kelly's Rock an hour out west. Nice and sharp limestone with some fun routes. 

Abogado Chris wrote: How many people will judge me because I smoke pot, don’t go to church, and don’t want kids? .

Probably the same number of people you will judge because they are different than you.  

Ron O wrote: Utah has a new medical cannabis law. Find a pot friendly doc.
Get a vape pen in Mesquite and they won't even know whats up.

Unfortunately the legislature gutted it, instead of the medical cannabis we voted for we got gummies only, sold by a small number of pharmacies and no dispensaries. Bullshit!

Yeah, I'm thinking about getting a Nevada card.

Third murder in St. George this year.

But the shooter has a cool name, Bronson Flynn.

Off subject - If you end up in the area make it a point to climb some of the routes that Ron O put up because they’re stellar.

In terms of living here - well, it’s kind of a weird place but quality of life is good and you will love the lack of traffic compared to S Cal. It gives you access to some really awesome climbing. But I’m not sure that I would stay if it wasn’t surrounded by amazing natural places.