Best PlacesSkagit County, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Skagit County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Skagit County ranks 476th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 14 minutes away. Its strengths are clean air and biking. The cost shows up in childcare costs, state infrastructure, and an overheated housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Skagit County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Skagit County
The parts of Skagit County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Anacortes
More adults hold degrees, crime runs lower, and health care is easier to reach.
La Conner
Tree cover is thicker, though fewer households have young kids.
Mount Vernon
Fewer homes sit empty and biking is better.
Sedro-Woolley & Concrete
It is quieter, though commutes are longer.
Burlington
Fewer residents vote and incomes run lower.
Skagit County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 14% of the country and others in the top 6%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Skagit County's strengths and weaknesses
Skagit County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Clean air is the standout, in the top 3% of counties. Biking and heat safety follow.
The one real hole is childcare costs, near the bottom of the country. State infrastructure and an overheated housing market also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Skagit County ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of counties
- BikingBetter than 90% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Household income$91,938 median, better than 88% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 86% of counties
Where Skagit County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,516 a month, better than only 2% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 11% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 25% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 29% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Skagit County
A household needs to earn about $141,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Skagit County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $91,938, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Skagit County's effective rate of 0.76%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Skagit County
Skagit County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Skagit County.
Who works in Skagit County, and how
Work in Skagit County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Skagit County
Skagit County has more late-night spots per resident than 89% of counties. The coast is about 14 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Skagit County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Skagit County growing, and who is moving in?
Skagit County has grown about 11% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Seattle, WA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Skagit County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Skagit County, month by month
Skagit County sees roughly 125 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 77 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 41° | 37° |
| April | 60° | 50° | 43° |
| July | 77° | 64° | 53° |
| October | 60° | 52° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Skagit County
The nearest airport, Bellingham International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 70 miles away.
Skagit County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Skagit County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Skagit County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Skagit County
Is Skagit County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Skagit County ranks 476th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on clean air, biking, and heat safety, and lowest on childcare costs and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Skagit County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $543,094. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $91,938 median income, cost of living beats 60% of counties.
Is Skagit County safe?
Yes, Skagit County is safer than 74% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $414 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Skagit County?
July highs average about 77 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 37. That works out to about 125 pleasant days a year, more than 78% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Skagit County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Anacortes, La Conner, and Mount Vernon. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Skagit County good for families?
Schools beat 58% of counties, crime safety beats 74%, and childcare runs $1,516 a month.
Is Skagit County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 60% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 85% of counties. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Skagit County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Skagit County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Skagit County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Skagit County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Skagit County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Skagit County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Skagit County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Skagit County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Skagit County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.