A Cedar City community
Living in Cedar Highlands
Cedar Highlands is a mountain subdivision on the side of Cedar Mountain, southeast of town, up around 7,800 feet in the pines and aspen. It started as a cabin community in 1981, and custom homes have been filling in ever since. Instead of a street grid in town, you get wooded acreage, big views, and gravel stretches of road. There are two ways up, one for summer and one for winter.
New to the area? Start with the Cedar City guide, then come back for the mountain.
Current listings
Homes for sale in Cedar Highlands
This feed comes straight from the MLS and shows only properties inside Cedar Highlands. New listings appear the day they list, and sold properties drop off. You will see finished homes, cabins, and bare acreage lots together, so judge each kind on its own.
No homes available? Be sure to check out all Cedar City listings.
Want the map view? Open the full Cedar Highlands search. Selling instead? Start with what your home is worth.
Listing information comes from the local MLS and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
On this page
Life on the mountain
Getting up the mountain is part of the decision
Cedar Highlands is not a quick turn off Main Street. It sits above Cedar City on the side of Cedar Mountain, up around 7,800 feet in the pines. It started in 1981 as a private cabin community, and custom homes have been filling in the wooded lots since. The height and the setting are the whole point, and they are also the whole list of things to check.
Getting there takes some thought, because there are two routes. In the warm months you can take the scenic climb up State Route 14 through Cedar Canyon and turn off toward the subdivision near Milt's Stage Stop. The year-round way runs from I-15 Exit 57 out Greenslake Drive to the base of the mountain, and then you drive the last stretch on gravel. Stretches of the roads up here are gravel, the grades are steep, and snow is a real season. The road that serves a lot deserves as much attention as the house.
It is a good trade if you want the mountain. You get big treed acreage, space between homes, long valley and mountain views, and dark, quiet nights. In exchange, you have to think like a mountain-property owner about roads, snow, water, septic, power, and year-round access. Cedar Highlands briefly became its own town, with its own local government. Then in 2020 it voted to go back to unincorporated Iron County, which means the county runs it, not a city. That is why I check parcel details and county records on every property up here, and do not lean on assumptions.
Mountain highlights
Six things to know about the mountain
Six things set this part of the mountain apart. The first three are the height, the mix of homes, cabins, and bare land, and the big treed lots. The other three are the two routes up, utilities that differ from parcel to parcel, and the 2020 return to county rule.
Cedar Mountain at ~7,800 ft
The subdivision sits high on the side of Cedar Mountain, southeast of town, near 7,800 feet. Up here you find pines and aspen, not the sage and juniper of the valley.
Homes, cabins, and acreage
Finished custom homes, cabin-style properties, and vacant lots all share the name, so a fair comparison starts by separating a built home from raw land.
Treed lots, 1 to 5-plus acres
Lots commonly run from about one acre to four or five acres and beyond. Tree cover, slope, and the view make much of the difference from one lot to the next.
Two routes, summer and winter
One route is a warm-season climb up State Route 14, near Milt's Stage Stop. The other is a year-round route out Greenslake Drive from Exit 57. Both have gravel stretches near the top.
Utilities vary by parcel
Some lots already have power, water, natural gas, and county-approved septic at the building site. Rawer parcels can need a well, septic, propane, or a utility extension (a new line run to the lot).
Unincorporated again since 2020
Cedar Highlands went back to unincorporated Iron County in 2020, so read the county records and the rules for your exact parcel with care before you buy.
Homes & lots
Finished homes and bare land are priced apart
One middle number (the median) will not tell you what Cedar Highlands costs. What is for sale up here is usually a mix of finished homes and vacant land. Finished mountain homes have generally been listed from the high $500,000s up into the $900,000s and above. Bare acreage lots have a much wider range of their own. Not many homes are for sale at a time, so one new listing can move the average. Look at the two groups apart, and check everything against the live listings.
That is why a fair comparison starts with the kind of property. A built home with a driveway, utilities, and winter-ready access is a very different case from a raw lot or one with little work done. Slope, tree cover, the view, where the lot sits on the road, and which utilities are in all change the price a lot. Up here you really are buying the whole package. The road, the building site, the well or hookups, the septic, the trees, and the house are all priced together.
Buying? Separate homes from land before you judge a price. Selling? Do the same before you pick the recent sales to compare against. When sales are few and mixed, like these, the three closest matches matter far more than any neighborhood average. I would rather find those three than lean on a headline number.
On this mountain, the property is the whole package: road, building site, utilities, trees, view, and house, all priced together.
After more than 20 years living in Southern Utah, my one note to buyers is this: do not fall in love from the photos. Drive the route, walk the driveway, find out how the utilities work, and ask what the property is like after a storm and after a snow.
Trails & outdoors
The mountain is already out the door
From most Cedar City neighborhoods you drive up here to reach the high country. Cedar Highlands is already in it, tucked into Cedar Canyon and the Dixie National Forest along State Route 14. The list runs from a few minutes up the canyon to a seasonal day trip.
Cedar Canyon on SR-14
The scenic State Route 14 climb through Cedar Canyon is the road home in summer. It winds through the Dixie National Forest, with pullouts, creek access, and the Cedar Canyon Campground close at hand.
Lower Ashdown Gorge
The Ashdown Gorge Wilderness sits just up the canyon. A long hike with water crossings runs down through it from the plateau. The Twisted Forest bristlecone stand, a grove of ancient pine trees, is nearby. It is a real hike, best in warm, dry weather.
Bristlecone Pine Trail
Farther up SR-14, near mile marker 17, is the Bristlecone Pine Trail. It is a short, easy loop to ancient trees and a wide-open overlook toward Zion, a big payoff for a small walk.
Cedar Breaks, seasonal
Keep climbing SR-14 to the plateau, and Cedar Breaks National Monument is open in the warm months. Cascade Falls and Navajo Lake are on the same high road once the snow clears.
Going down the other way, the trails in Cedar City are a short drive. The paved Coal Creek Trail follows the creek across town. The Iron Hills trails add narrow dirt trails on the hills at the south end of town, including the climb to the white "C". In winter, Brian Head's ski runs are roughly 45 minutes north, by way of Parowan.
Trail details come from the Dixie National Forest, the National Park Service, and Cedar City outdoor pages. The wider outdoor picture, Cedar Breaks and Brian Head included, is in the Cedar City guide.
Errands & drive times
Errands, timed in minutes
How far is everything from up here? The mountain gives you views and quiet, and you pay for it with a real drive down for daily needs. Plan on about fifteen minutes to town in good conditions. These times are estimates, measured from near the base of the mountain by Greenslake Drive. From the upper lots, in bad weather, or on the gravel, add several minutes. Check each drive from your own door.
| The errand | Where it happens | From the mountain |
|---|---|---|
| Full grocery run | Lin's Fresh Market, 150 N Main Street | ~15 min |
| Big-box and hardware | Walmart & Home Depot, Providence Center | ~18 min |
| Freeway on-ramp | Interstate 15 at Exit 57, Cross Hollow Rd | ~13 min |
| Healthcare | Cedar City Hospital, 1303 N Main Street | ~18 min |
| Dinner up the canyon | Milt's Stage Stop, 3560 E Highway 14 | ~10 min |
| Campus and events | Southern Utah University | ~15 min |
| Flights | Cedar City Regional Airport (CDC) | ~18 min |
| Trailhead up the canyon | Lower Ashdown Gorge, SR-14 | ~10 min |
| High-country day trip | Cedar Breaks National Monument (seasonal) | ~40 min |
Farther out, you have plenty of weekend choices. Brian Head's ski runs are about 45 minutes north, by way of Parowan. The Kolob Canyons entrance of Zion is roughly 30 minutes down and south on I-15. St. George is about an hour away. The full list of day trips is in the Cedar City guide.
Schools & education
Schools, the facts
Cedar Highlands is part of the Iron County School District. The schools for it are down in Cedar City, not on the mountain. Cedar Highlands is a remote area of separate parcels on the southeast edge of the district. The district is also changing which schools serve which streets, so I do not want to name a school off the map and be wrong. Cedar City itself splits into the Cedar and Canyon View attendance zones (the areas each school serves). Cedar is roughly south-central, and Canyon View is north.
The elementary boundaries change for the 2026-27 school year, and the middle and high school boundaries change for 2027-28. For any address up here, ask the district which schools serve it. Ask about the elementary, the middle school (Cedar Middle or Canyon View Middle), and the high school (Cedar High or Canyon View High). Ask about mountain bus routes while you are at it. For outside school data, GreatSchools and Niche both publish numbers you can weigh yourself. Southern Utah University is about fifteen minutes down in town.
I cover the bigger education picture, including SUU, in the Cedar City guide.
Mountain checklist
What the mountain asks of a buyer
Buying at 7,800 feet on a wooded mountain is different from buying in the valley. Treat that as part of the deal, not a surprise. The views, the trees, and the quiet are the reason to live up here. They come with a short list of jobs that a listing photo will never show you.
Start with access. There are two routes, one for summer and one year-round, and stretches of the roads are gravel with steep grades. Who plows what, how steep your driveway is, and what vehicle you will need in February are real questions, not paperwork. Then look at the utilities. Some building sites already have power, water, natural gas, and a county-approved septic system. A rawer lot can need a well, a septic system, propane, or a costly utility extension. This is forested Cedar Mountain, so wildfire planning belongs on the checklist right beside snow and water. That includes defensible space, which is cleared ground around a building that slows a wildfire.
None of this is meant to talk you out of the mountain. It is meant to make sure the mountain you buy is the one you thought you were buying. I would rather walk a lot in a storm than only on a blue-sky afternoon, and I would rather read the county records than assume.
What I check before I call a mountain property a safe bet
- The road and driveway on both routes, who maintains and plows them, the grade, and the vehicle a year-round owner would actually need.
- The utilities for the exact parcel: power, water or well, natural gas or propane, septic, and internet, plus the cost of any extension.
- Defensible space, tree cover, slope, and drainage. This is forested Cedar Mountain, and wildfire planning is part of owning here.
- The parcel against Iron County records. Cedar Highlands is unincorporated again, so the county's rules govern up here.
This is general guidance, not legal, insurance, or engineering advice. Check any specific property with Iron County, a qualified inspector, the relevant fire and utility providers, and your insurer before you rely on it. Sources: Iron County records, the U.S. Forest Service, and local mountain-property experience.
What locals know
The details I would check twice
No listing photo shows you this part. Check the plain details before you fall for the view. These are the four things I would walk a friend through before they get attached to any one lot or cabin up here.
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Do not price a lot off a finished home. Raw acreage and a built home are priced in very different ways, even under the same name. Separate them and the prices make sense fast.
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Drive it like you live there, in winter. Drive both the Cedar Canyon route and the Greenslake Drive route, and try the gravel, the grade, and the driveway. Do it most of all if you plan to live here year-round.
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Ask the utility questions early. Power, water or well, natural gas or propane, septic, and internet can shape both cost and comfort. They vary from lot to lot up here.
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Read the county records. Cedar Highlands is unincorporated Iron County again, so look closely at the parcel records and the county's rules before you write an offer.
Buy or sell here
The buyer side and the seller side
Buying in Cedar Highlands
Cedar Highlands is a mountain subdivision on the side of Cedar Mountain, southeast of Cedar City, up around 7,800 feet. It is wooded mountain land, not a street grid in town. The year-round route runs from I-15 Exit 57 out Greenslake Drive to the base of the mountain. From there it is a couple of miles of gravel road. The warm-season route climbs State Route 14 up Cedar Canyon and turns off near Milt's Stage Stop. The exact parcel and the road that serves it matter as much as the house.
Cedar Highlands has a mix of custom mountain homes, cabin-style properties, and vacant acreage lots, spread across wooded land. The area started as a cabin community in 1981. Lots commonly run from about one acre up past four or five acres. A built home and a bare lot are two different searches, so I separate them before I look at a single recent sale.
Utilities vary from parcel to parcel, and that is one of the first things I check. Some lots already have power, water, natural gas, and a county-approved septic system at the building site. Rawer parcels can need a well, a septic system, propane, or a utility extension that adds real cost. I check which utilities a specific property has before we talk price.
Winter access is the one thing I tell every buyer to check up here. The warm-season Cedar Canyon route and the year-round Greenslake Drive route are different, parts of the road are gravel, and the grades are steep. Before you count on year-round access, check current road conditions, who plows what, how steep the driveway is, and what vehicle you will need.
It depends on the kind of property, so one number will not tell you. Finished mountain homes have generally been listed from the high $500,000s up into the $900,000s and above. Vacant acreage lots are a separate group with a much wider range. Not many homes are for sale up here, so one new listing can swing the average. Use that as a starting point, and check it against the live listings.
Plan on roughly fifteen minutes down to Cedar City for groceries and errands in good conditions. It is a little more from the upper lots or in winter. In return for that drive, you get the mountain out your door. The Cedar Canyon Campground in the Dixie National Forest and the Lower Ashdown Gorge trailhead are minutes up State Route 14. Cedar Breaks National Monument is a seasonal drive beyond.
Ready to look? See what is on the market or tell me what you are after.
Selling in Cedar Highlands
The first question is what kind of property you have and its whole package: road, access, slope, view, trees, and utilities. A finished home and a bare lot should not be priced from the same few recent sales just because they share the Cedar Highlands name. Once we sort that out, the pricing talk gets a lot more honest.
When you list with me, your home is featured on MovingUtah where it fits best. It shows first on the Cedar City listings and on this Cedar Highlands page, where buyers are already looking. The get featured page explains how it works. If you are thinking about selling, I would be glad to talk it through with you.
Yes, but on a purchase I take one role only, never both. I can work as your real estate agent or as your lender, and the role is disclosed before we move forward.
Thinking about it? Start with your number or see how featuring works.
Keep exploring Cedar City
Want a closer look at Cedar Highlands?
Buying? I can pull the current Cedar Highlands listings and separate finished homes from raw land before you compare prices. Then I check the access, the utilities, the slope, and the snow. Selling? I will price and market your property against the right group of sales on the mountain, not the whole map.
Selling in Cedar Highlands
Want to sell your home in Cedar Highlands? List it with Scott Buehler and get featured on MovingUtah.
I will not tell you I am the best agent, and I will not promise a price. You get an honest price that separates finished homes from land and looks at the road, access, and utilities before it names a number.