High-elevation Grass Valley ranch town, closest community to Fish Lake. Homes for sale, local market insight, and expert representation in Koosharem from the Donavan & Tyson Team.
Koosharem is a town of about 250 people in Grass Valley, a high mountain valley southeast of the main Sevier Valley at roughly 6,900 feet. It is about 29 road miles from Richfield via State Route 24 and State Route 62 over the mountain, and it is the closest town to Fish Lake, about 15 miles away. The valley is a pocket of private ranch land surrounded on all sides by the Fishlake National Forest.
The name comes from the Paiute word for the red clover that grows in the valley's meadows. Settlers arrived in 1877, and Grass Valley has been cattle and hay country ever since, stretching from Burrville on the north through Koosharem to Greenwich on the south. Koosharem Reservoir sits at the north end of the valley. The town has one store, the historic Grass Valley Mercantile, a couple of cafes, a motel, a church, an elementary school and a fire station.
Residents are ranch families, staff at Sorenson's Ranch School, hunting and ATV guides, and a growing number of second-home owners and retirees who came for the cool summers and the fishing. Koosharem is genuinely remote, and the people who choose it do so deliberately.
This is one of the best-located small towns in Utah for outdoor recreation. Fish Lake, with its lodges, campgrounds and lake trout and splake fishing, is 15 miles north. The Paiute ATV Trail runs through the valley, and the Fishlake National Forest surrounds it with elk and deer hunting that is nationally known; the world-record Spider Bull elk was taken near Koosharem in 2008. Bryce Canyon is about 70 miles south, Capitol Reef is about an hour east, and the valley itself is habitat for sage grouse, Utah prairie dogs and eagles.
Koosharem Elementary is in town and part of Sevier School District. For middle and high school, students are bused either to Richfield High School or to Piute High School in Junction, depending on the family's choice. Sevier Valley Medical Center in Richfield is about 40 to 45 minutes away, and residents plan errands around that trip.
Winters are real at this elevation, with about 38 inches of average annual snowfall and January lows in the low teens, so four-wheel drive and a plan for snow are part of life. Salt Lake City is roughly three and a half hours.
Koosharem's housing is a mix of old ranch houses and pioneer homes, cabins and newer log or frame homes built as second homes or retirement homes, and working ranches with pasture, water and hay ground. Vacant land, from one-acre lots in town to large agricultural parcels, is a significant part of what sells. Prices range from very modest older homes to substantial ranch and recreation properties, and with only a few sales a year, published medians are not meaningful.
Buyers are ranchers, hunters and anglers looking for a base near Fish Lake, retirees who want cool summers and dark skies, and Wasatch Front families buying a cabin they can reach in a few hours. Rather than quoting a town-wide price, we look at comparable ranch and cabin sales across Grass Valley and the Fish Lake area to value a specific property.
Koosharem is typically eligible for USDA Rural Development financing for primary residences, while second homes and land generally require conventional or specialty financing. We help buyers confirm water rights, well and septic status, road maintenance and winter access before they commit to a property here.
Yes, and many buyers do. Second homes generally need conventional financing rather than USDA, and we help you check winter road access, well and septic, and any HOA or road-maintenance arrangements before you buy.
Koosharem Elementary is in town. Older students are bused either to Richfield High School or to Piute High School in Junction, and families can choose which.
Fish Lake is about 15 miles north on State Route 25 via Highway 24, and Richfield is about 29 road miles, or roughly 40 to 45 minutes, over the mountain.
Free home valuations, full MLS access, and two agents who know Sevier County street by street.