Iron County, Utah

For counties in other U.S. states with the same name, see Iron County (disambiguation).

Iron County
County
The Parowan Gap petroglyphs, a well-known landmark in Iron County, July 2007
Location within the U.S. state of Utah
Utah's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 37°52′N113°17′W / 37.86°N 113.28°W / 37.86; -113.28
Country	United States
State	Utah
Founded	January 31, 1850 (created) January 17, 1851 (organized)
Named for	Iron mines
Seat	Parowan
Largest city	Cedar City
Area
• Total	3,301 sq mi (8,550 km2)
• Land	3,297 sq mi (8,540 km2)
• Water	4.4 sq mi (11 km2)  0.1%
Population  (2020)
• Total	57,289
• Estimate  (2023) [1]	64,211
• Density	17/sq mi (6.7/km2)
Time zone	UTC−7 (Mountain)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−6 (MDT)
Congressional district	2nd
Website	www.ironcounty.net

Iron County is a county in southwestern Utah, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 57,289. ^[2] Its county seat is Parowan, ^[3] and the largest city is Cedar City.

The Cedar City, UT Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Iron County.

History

Evidence of Fremont culture habitation ranging from 750 to 1250 AD exists in present Iron County. Petroglyphs of differing periods were carved into the walls of Parowan Gap NW of Parowan. Paiutes roamed the Parowan Valley in the centuries before Euro-American exploration; their descendants are now represented by the Southern Paiute Indian Reservation, which is headquartered in Cedar City.

The Domínguez–Escalante expedition traveled through the Iron County area on October 12, 1776. Fur trapper Jedediah Smith is the first recorded Anglo-American to pass through the area (1826). Settlement of the area began in 1851, when LDS President Brigham Young directed members from the northern colonies to move into the area. ^[4] A settlement, Coal Creek, ^[4] sprang up in 1851; it later became Cedar City. ^[5] To provide a local government structure, the State of Deseret legislature created the county on January 31, 1850, although it was not organized until January 17, 1851, with description stretching from the future Colorado, across Utah, and into the future Nevada. It was named "Little Salt Lake County" at creation, but on December 3, 1850, a legislative act changed its name to Iron County. Its borders were altered in 1850, 1852, 1854, 1856, and 1861. Also, in 1861, the federal government created the Colorado Territory, which administratively removed Iron County areas east of 109 degrees longitude.

The county borders were altered in 1862. Also, in 1862, the federal government created the Nevada Territory, which administratively removed Iron County areas west of 114 degrees longitude. Further boundary adjustments were passed in 1866, 1880, 1882, 1883, and 1884. The final adjustment was made in 1892; the county borders have remained in their current arrangement. ^[6]

Geography

Iron County lies on the west edge of Utah. Its west border abuts the east border of the state of Nevada. The Iron County terrain is a study in contrast to its arid western reaches of the Escalante Desert and Great Basin ranges to the meadows and forests of the High Plateau on the east. The Markagunt Plateau is creased by the colorful formations of Cedar Breaks National Monument. Brian Head is the county's highest point, at 11,307 feet (3,446 m) ASL. ^[5] The county has a total area of 3,301 square miles (8,550 km²), of which 3,297 square miles (8,540 km²) is land and 4.4 square miles (11 km²) (0.1%) is water. ^[7]

Major highways

• Interstate 15
• Utah State Route 14
• Utah State Route 56
• Utah State Route 130
• Utah State Route 143
• Utah State Route 148 ^[8]

Adjacent counties

• Beaver County - north
• Garfield County - east
• Kane County - southeast
• Washington County - south
• Lincoln County, Nevada - west

Protected areas

• Cedar Breaks National Monument
• Dixie National Forest (part)
• Fishlake National Forest (part)
• Red Cliffs National Conservation Area (part)
• Zion National Park (part)

Lakes

• Little Salt Lake
• Newcastle Reservoir
• Quichapa Lake ^[8]

Valleys

• Dan Leigh Hollow

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1850	360		—
1860	1,010		180.6%
1870	2,277		125.4%
1880	4,013		76.2%
1890	2,683		−33.1%
1900	3,546		32.2%
1910	3,933		10.9%
1920	5,787		47.1%
1930	7,227		24.9%
1940	8,331		15.3%
1950	9,642		15.7%
1960	10,795		12.0%
1970	12,177		12.8%
1980	17,349		42.5%
1990	20,789		19.8%
2000	33,779		62.5%
2010	46,163		36.7%
2020	57,289		24.1%
2023 (est.)	64,211	[1]	12.1%
US Decennial Census [9] 1790–1960 [10] 1900–1990 [11] 1990–2000 [12] 2010 [13] 2020 [14]

2020 census

According to the 2020 United States census ^[15] and 2020 American Community Survey, ^[16] there were 57,289 people in Iron County with a population density of 17.4 people per square mile (6.7/km²). Among non-Hispanic or Latino people, the racial makeup was 47,620 (83.1%) White, 375 (0.7%) African American, 948 (1.7%) Native American, 621 (1.1%) Asian, 237 (0.4%) Pacific Islander, 154 (0.3%) from other races, and 1,852 (3.2%) from two or more races. 5,482 (9.6%) people were Hispanic or Latino.

There were 28,404 (49.58%) males and 28,885 (50.42%) females, and the population distribution by age was 16,259 (28.4%) under the age of 18, 33,214 (58.0%) from 18 to 64, and 7,816 (13.6%) who were at least 65 years old. The median age was 28.9 years.

There were 18,731 households in Iron County with an average size of 3.06 of which 13,596 (72.6%) were families and 5,135 (27.4%) were non-families. Among all families, 10,799 (57.7%) were married couples, 978 (5.2%) were male householders with no spouse, and 1,819 (9.7%) were female householders with no spouse. Among all non-families, 3,592 (19.2%) were a single person living alone and 1,543 (8.2%) were two or more people living together. 6,906 (36.9%) of all households had children under the age of 18. 12,133 (64.8%) of households were owner-occupied while 6,598 (35.2%) were renter-occupied.

The median income for a Iron County household was $52,045 and the median family income was $63,633, with a per-capita income of $22,409. The median income for males that were full-time employees was $45,178 and for females $33,841. 16.4% of the population and 10.2% of families were below the poverty line.

In terms of education attainment, out of the 29,881 people in Iron County 25 years or older, 1,977 (6.6%) had not completed high school, 6,903 (23.1%) had a high school diploma or equivalency, 12,374 (41.4%) had some college or associate degree, 6,205 (20.8%) had a bachelor's degree, and 2,422 (8.1%) had a graduate or professional degree.

Ancestry

The top 5 ethnic groups in Iron County are:

• English: 29% ^[17]
• German: 10%
• Irish: 7%
• Scottish: 5%
• Danish: 5%

Recreation

• Woods Ranch Recreation Area, ^[18] a recreation area located in a pine/aspen forest with hiking, fishing, picnic areas, a volleyball court and restroom facilities.
• Three Peaks Recreation Area, ^[19] a recreation area made up of volcanic rock and hills. The area features rock climbing, picnics, fishing, off-road vehicle use and bike riding.
• Shooting Range ^[20]
• Brian Head Ski Resort

Politics and government

Iron County is an overwhelmingly Republican county in presidential elections, having not voted Democratic since 1936. Indeed, in no national election since the 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson landslide has the county given any Democratic presidential candidate 25 percent of its ballots.

State elected offices

Position		District	Name	Affiliation	First elected
	Senate	28	Evan Vickers	Republican	2012 [21]
	House of Representatives	71	Bradley Last	Republican	2002 [22]
	House of Representatives	72	Rex Shipp	Republican	2018 [23]
	Board of Education	15	Kristan Norton	Republican	2020 [24]

United States presidential election results for Iron County, Utah ^[25]

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	21,571	76.59%	5,683	20.18%	912	3.24%
2020	18,989	75.64%	4,892	19.49%	1,223	4.87%
2016	11,561	64.84%	2,450	13.74%	3,820	21.42%
2012	14,200	84.47%	2,148	12.78%	463	2.75%
2008	12,518	75.06%	3,258	19.53%	902	5.41%
2004	12,815	82.97%	2,267	14.68%	364	2.36%
2000	10,106	80.24%	1,789	14.21%	699	5.55%
1996	6,550	69.75%	1,887	20.09%	954	10.16%
1992	5,616	59.88%	1,537	16.39%	2,225	23.73%
1988	6,038	76.74%	1,736	22.06%	94	1.19%
1984	6,856	83.09%	1,342	16.26%	53	0.64%
1980	6,207	79.54%	1,242	15.91%	355	4.55%
1976	4,757	69.62%	1,700	24.88%	376	5.50%
1972	5,085	76.49%	1,098	16.52%	465	6.99%
1968	3,337	66.59%	1,157	23.09%	517	10.32%
1964	2,522	55.13%	2,053	44.87%	0	0.00%
1960	3,079	63.91%	1,738	36.07%	1	0.02%
1956	3,321	71.70%	1,311	28.30%	0	0.00%
1952	3,175	66.55%	1,596	33.45%	0	0.00%
1948	2,289	58.53%	1,596	40.81%	26	0.66%
1944	1,930	53.30%	1,677	46.31%	14	0.39%
1940	2,060	51.53%	1,915	47.90%	23	0.58%
1936	1,396	42.44%	1,844	56.07%	49	1.49%
1932	1,599	50.55%	1,358	42.93%	206	6.51%
1928	1,823	72.11%	682	26.98%	23	0.91%
1924	1,429	66.47%	485	22.56%	236	10.98%
1920	1,399	69.60%	561	27.91%	50	2.49%
1916	825	40.03%	1,156	56.09%	80	3.88%
1912	695	49.71%	544	38.91%	159	11.37%
1908	712	55.80%	488	38.24%	76	5.96%
1904	741	58.72%	442	35.02%	79	6.26%
1900	628	46.94%	708	52.91%	2	0.15%
1896	205	20.28%	806	79.72%	0	0.00%

Communities

Map of Iron County communities

Cities

• Cedar City
• Enoch
• Parowan (county seat)

Towns

• Brian Head
• Kanarraville
• Paragonah

Census-designated places

• Beryl Junction
• Cedar Highlands
• Modena
• Newcastle
• Summit

Unincorporated communities

• Beryl
• Buckhorn Springs
• Hamiltons Fort
• Hamlin Valley
• Lund
• Old Irontown
• State Line
• Zane

Former communities

• Gold Springs
• Iron Springs, named for the Iron Springs
• Uvada

Education

There is one school district, Iron School District. ^[26]

See also

• Utah portal

• List of counties in Utah
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Iron County, Utah

References

1. "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
2. "Iron County, Utah". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved June 30, 2023.
3. "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
4. Shirts, Morris A. (1994), "The Iron Mission", Utah History Encyclopedia, University of Utah Press, ISBN   9780874804256, archived from the original on March 21, 2024, retrieved May 15, 2024
5. Iron County Profile (accessed 31 March 2019)
6. "Utah: Individual County Chronologies". Utah Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. Newberry Library. 2008. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
7. "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". US Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
8. Iron County UT Google Maps (accessed 30 March 2019)
9. "US Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on April 26, 2015. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
10. "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
11. Forstall, Richard L., ed. (June 25, 1995). "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". US Census Bureau. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
12. "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). US Census Bureau. April 2, 2001. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
13. "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
14. 2020 Population and Housing State Data | Utah
15. United States Census Bureau. "2020 Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics File (DHC)" . Retrieved November 3, 2024.
16. United States Census Bureau. "American Community Survey 5-Year Data (2009-2022)" . Retrieved November 3, 2024.
17. "Iron County, UT - Iron County, Utah - Genealogy guide - ePodunk". Archived from the original on September 14, 2005.
18. "IronCounty.net > Departments > Parks and Recreation > Woods Ranch". Archived from the original on May 8, 2014. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
19. "IronCounty.net > Departments > Parks and Recreation > Woods Ranch". Archived from the original on May 8, 2014. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
20. "IronCounty.net > Departments > Parks and Recreation > Woods Ranch". Archived from the original on December 19, 2013. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
21. "Senator | Utah Senate". senate.utah.gov. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
22. "Rep. Last, Bradley G." Utah House of Representatives. Archived from the original on November 17, 2021. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
23. "Rep. Shipp, Rex P." Utah House of Representatives. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
24. "Kristan Norton". www.schools.utah.gov. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
25. Leip, David. "Atlas of US Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
26. "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Iron County, UT" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau . Retrieved September 28, 2024. - Text list

Further reading

• (1994) "Iron County" article in the Utah History Encyclopedia. The article was written by Gary B. Peterson and the Encyclopedia was published by the University of Utah Press. ISBN 9780874804256. Archived from the original on March 21, 2024 and retrieved on May 14, 2024.

External links

• Official website