W. T. PRESTON (snagboat) · Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Anacortes are higher than in 70% of U.S. towns
7.3% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 9.9% for Washington as a whole. For jobs and income Anacortes is better than 52% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (A−). Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 94.7 in Seattle.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Anacortes
Anacortes’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Anacortes is Seattle, 61 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (759) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Anacortes trades workers with the towns around it
Anacortes has about as many jobs (6,258) as working residents (7,280), but they are mostly different people: 5,317 residents leave for work each day while 4,295 people come in. Only 31% of the jobs in Anacortes are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How Anacortes earns its Jobs & income grade
Household income holds Anacortes’ grade up ($91,951, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 20% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Anacortes could be anywhere from C+ to B.
Half of Anacortes commutes less than 20 miles
About 34% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In and out of Anacortes on a workday
On a workday 5,317 residents head out to work, 1,963 work right here, and 4,295 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.86 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
10% of working residents work in Seattle
Where Anacortes clocks in
10% of workers
6% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Jobs in Anacortes: what the 6,258 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Anacortes, 2013 → 2023: 5,653 → 6,258. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Anacortes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Anacortes: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Anacortes workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,390 commuters (the 16% who work from home are left out). Across Washington: 79% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Anacortes is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.9% across Washington, on an EPA index of 8.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 7,608 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 71% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.6% of Anacortes households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Anacortes’ commuters take a bus or train.
Anacortes next to U.S. towns of 13,000 to 24,000: 1,141st of 1,822 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Bothell West WA | 22,029 | $153K | 3.0% | 2.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 74 | Bothell East WA | 14,578 | $199K | 3.6% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 93 | Snoqualmie WA | 13,640 | $214K | 0.8% | 2.6% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,139 | Moreau NY | 16,818 | $81K | 12.8% | 3.5% | 11% | B− |
| 1,140 | Soddy-Daisy TN | 13,474 | $75K | 7.4% | 6.0% | 5% | B− |
| 1,141 | Anacortes WA | 18,080 | $92K | 7.3% | 4.2% | 27% | B− |
| 1,142 | Adelphi MD | 17,395 | $82K | 16.2% | 6.0% | 2% | B− |
| 1,143 | Orange City FL | 15,309 | $58K | 10.4% | 3.6% | 8% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,822 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Anacortes, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Anacortes: questions
What is the median household income in Anacortes?
$91,951 (±$3,389) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Anacortes?
7.3%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Anacortes?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Anacortes work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Seattle (10%, 61 mi), Mount Vernon (6%, 15 mi), Bellingham (5%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Anacortes walkable?
Anacortes is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Anacortes without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Anacortes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Anacortes
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.