Central Utah Mona
A rural acreage town on I-15 at the foot of Mount Nebo
Mona, a lavender town under the mountain
A town of about 1,960 in Juab County, spread across acreage lots on the valley floor between Santaquin and Nephi. Mona is the exit where the fields turn purple in July and a reservoir sits under Mount Nebo. Four guides on the town itself, with the shared corridor written once and linked.
By Scott Buehler, Moving Utah
Updated October 2026
Mona in short
Mona is a small rural town of about 1,960 in northern Juab County, strung along the acreage lots of the valley floor where Interstate 15 runs below Mount Nebo. Two things put it on the map: the Young Living lavender farm that fills the north edge with purple rows each summer, and Mona Reservoir tucked into the corner under the peak. The rest is quiet country living, horse property and homes on land, with the groceries, the hospital and the county offices nine miles south in Nephi and the bigger stores up the freeway. This hub is the way in to four deeper pages, and it hands the shared country beyond town to the region pages the whole valley leans on.
Where it sits, what it runs on
A freeway exit on the valley floor, with the mountain at its shoulder
Mona sits in the north end of Juab Valley, a flat stretch of pasture and acreage where Interstate 15 slips between Santaquin and Nephi at Exit 233. To the east the ground climbs fast into Mount Nebo, 11,928 feet and the highest peak in the whole Wasatch Range, so the view out most Mona windows is a wall of mountain over open field. It is farm country by habit and by lot size: horse property, hay ground and homes set back on an acre or more rather than a street of matched rooflines. Mona only incorporated as a city in 2001, and it still carries itself like the small agricultural community it grew from.
What Mona does not have is a downtown of its own. There is an elementary school, a city park, a couple of churches and the lavender farm, but no supermarket, no hospital and no big-box store inside the city limits. Those things live nine miles south in Nephi, where the Juab County offices, the one full grocery store and the medical center are, and the wider selection is up the freeway in Payson and Provo. The trade a Mona buyer makes is plain and worth naming out loud: you drive for the day-to-day, and in return you get the space, the mountain and the water at the edge of the yard.
This hub keeps to the level of the map and sends the detail to the pages below. The purple fields and the bloom belong to the Young Living lavender farm and Lavender Days. The water under the peak belongs to Mona Reservoir. And when the question shifts from what the town feels like to what an acre costs, whether a lot runs on city water or a well, and how the Juab schools look, all of that lives on the Mona city guide.
Mona is the exit most drivers pass without a glance, until July, when the fields turn purple and the whole valley smells like lavender.
Beyond town
The country around Mona is bigger than the town itself
Mona is small, but it opens onto some of the best of the I-15 corridor. The mountain that backs the town is climbed from Nephi, a reservoir with sandy beaches, Yuba, is about forty minutes south, and Nephi, where the county offices are, carries the services Mona leans on. Those bigger subjects are written where they belong rather than retold here, and this is the door to them.
The mountain, up close
Mount Nebo and the Nebo Loop
The peak that backs Mona, and the scenic drive that climbs it, reached from Nephi to the south.
Read
South down I-15
Yuba State Park
The reservoir with sandy beaches and warm-water fishing, a short drive south past Nephi.
Read
The whole region
Central Utah, the corridor
Every town and the shared drives along the I-15, US-89 and I-70 corridor.
ReadNephi is where most of Mona's errands actually happen; the full picture of that neighboring town, its prices and its listings, sits on the Nephi city guide, and how Mona uses it day to day is folded into living in Mona.
The Mona guides
Four pages on the town itself, from the fields to the water
Four guides go deeper than this map: the ranked things to do, the Young Living lavender farm and its summer festival, Mona Reservoir, and one merged page on everyday life and making a move. Each stands on its own, and this is the way in to all of them.
Things to do
Top 7 things to do
The ranked picks in and around town, from the lavender fields to Burraston Ponds and a Nephi day trip.
Read
The signature
The Young Living lavender farm
The working farm and distillery on the north edge, and the late June bloom.
Read
On the water
Mona Reservoir
Fishing, paddling and birding under Mount Nebo, with the quieter Burraston Ponds just south.
Read
Everyday and moving
Living in Mona
Groceries and services from Nephi, the freeway run to Utah Valley, and what to check before buying acreage.
ReadWeighing a move, not a visit?
The money side moves over to the city guide: what acreage lots have sold for around Mona, the difference between city water and a private well on a parcel, the Juab School District picture, and every home for sale in town right now.
Scott Buehler
Moving Utah About Scott
Quick answers
Mona, answered
Mona is a small farm town on Interstate 15 at the foot of Mount Nebo, and it is best known for two things a traveler can spot from the freeway: the Young Living lavender farm that turns the north edge purple each summer, and Mona Reservoir tucked under the mountain. Past those, it is a rural acreage community of about 1,960 people in Juab County, nine miles up the interstate from Nephi.
The 2020 census counted 1,750 people, and the Census estimate for 2025 is about 1,960. Mona incorporated as a city in 2001. It sits at about 4,970 feet on the floor of Juab Valley, at Interstate 15 Exit 233 between Santaquin and Nephi. It is an agricultural town of pasture, horse property and homes on large lots, half an acre and up, laid out on an old street grid with newer subdivision streets, so it spreads out more than its head count suggests.
Mona is in northern Juab County on Interstate 15. Nephi, where the Juab County offices are and the nearest full set of services, is about nine miles south. Provo and the south end of Utah Valley are roughly 34 miles and 35 minutes north, and Salt Lake City is about 77 miles up the same freeway. That interstate access is the reason a Wasatch Front worker will look at a lot this far south.
It is a working lavender farm and distillery on the north side of Mona, below Mount Nebo. The rows bloom roughly late June into the first half of July, and the visitor center is open year round, Monday to Saturday. The farm did not post a Lavender Days event for 2026, only a fall festival, so check its own calendar before you plan around an event. It is the Mona name most out of town visitors recognize, and it has its own guide here.
Yes. Mona Reservoir sits about three miles north of town, about ten minutes by road, on Currant Creek. The state manages it for bass and wiper (a hybrid striped bass), with carp common, and the 2026 state fishing guidebook sets limits for all species at double the statewide limits, so check it before you go. About two miles south, Burraston Ponds are a state community fishery with a two fish limit, and fishing from a boat with any kind of motor is not allowed there. A Utah fishing license applies for anyone old enough to need one.
No full-size one. A real grocery run means Nephi, about nine miles south on Interstate 15, where the one full grocery store and everyday shopping are. The nearest Walmart Supercenter is in Payson, roughly nineteen miles north, and the warehouse stores and wider selection are in Utah Valley. People here learn to buy for the week on the way home rather than count on the town. Mona does have its own fuel stop at Exit 233, open around the clock, with a Subway inside.
Schools run through the Juab district. The elementary is in Mona on 200 South, while the junior high and the high school sit in Nephi, so teenagers commute by bus. Moving Utah does not grade schools here. Check GreatSchools or Niche and decide for your own household.
Yes. Mount Nebo, 11,928 feet and the highest peak in the Wasatch Range, rises east of town and forms the backdrop to the lavender fields and the reservoir. The scenic drive up the mountain, the Nebo Loop, is reached from Nephi to the south rather than from Mona, and its guide lives on the Nephi companion. From Mona the mountain is mostly the view.
It is a hub and four guides. This page is the overview and the way in: the ranked things to do, the Young Living lavender farm and Lavender Days, Mona Reservoir, and a single merged page on everyday life and moving to town. The bigger country around Mona, from Yuba State Park to the drive up Mount Nebo, is written once at the Central Utah level and linked from here.
A country lot worth checking carefully
Buying an acre in Mona raises questions a city lot never does: whether a parcel is on Mona city water and sewer or a private well and septic, what irrigation or secondary water shares come with the ground, how the freeway commute to a Utah Valley job holds up in winter, and which errands still mean a drive to Nephi or Payson. Tell me what you are weighing and I will introduce you to a Central Utah partner agent who knows Juab County and rural acreage, and stay on the file for the research and the financing side.
Or call Scott: (435) 357-4345or send Scott a message
Keep going
Continue your Mona research
Eight more doors into Mona, chosen for what this page covers.
Questions about Mona?
Call Scott, send a message, or find out what your Mona home is worth. No pressure, no obligation.
Referral Disclosure: For moves outside Southern Utah, I can connect you with trusted local agents. If you choose to work with one, their brokerage pays my brokerage (Real Broker, LLC) a referral fee from their commission. This costs you nothing extra, and you are never obligated to use my referral.