Clear LakeWA
A town of 1,093, platted in 1890.
Is Clear Lake a good place to live?
The best of Clear Lake’s subject grades is a B for health; the weakest is a D for hazard risk. Clear Lake’s age of the median resident is 54.5 years, above both Washington’s towns (38.5 years) and U.S. towns (40.5 years). The typical home is worth about $550K, 6.2 years of the Mount Vernon metro’s $89K median household income. Only 32 of Washington’s 397 towns score lower on the outdoors. Clear Lake has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Clear Lake has grown 23% from 2010 to 2020
1,002 counted in 2010 and 1,228 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
How Clear Lake grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Washington), ordered by how far Clear Lake is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Clear Lake: who provides what
Clear Lake is unincorporated, so Skagit County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Clear Lake.
Clear Lake faces a very high natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
Storm and flood damage is expected to run higher than in 88% of U.S. communities. Of the losses FEMA expects in Clear Lake, 62% come from inland flooding and 18% from earthquakes.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Public schools in Clear Lake fall behind 63% of Washington districts
Its one school is below. The Sedro-Woolley School District runs its public schools. Enrollment at Clear Lake’s public school: 314 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clear Lake Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–6 | Grades K–6 | 314 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WA on state tests and graduation
Most of Clear Lake’s workers head elsewhere: there are 0.2 jobs for each of them
The typical household income for Clear Lake comes to $72,000. Only 1% of working residents stay in Clear Lake for work; the rest commute out. Also worth knowing: among residents locally, 14% live below the poverty line. The top destinations are Mount Vernon (15%), Sedro-Woolley (9%) and Seattle (7%).
| Clear Lake | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 14% | 7.9% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $72,000 | $98,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.4% | 4.9% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Clear Lake ranks healthier than 64% of the country’s towns
28% of adults in Clear Lake have been diagnosed with depression; 15% report frequent physical distress. For adults in the town, the share who had a checkup this year is 70%.
| Clear Lake | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 70% | 71% | 79% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 26% | 23% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 33% | 36% |
| What stands out | Clear Lake | WA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 7% | 5.1% |
| More smokers | 13.3% | 10.1% |
| More adults who have had a stroke | 3.6% | 2.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
0.5% of Clear Lake is conserved land
In 2 parks and preserves, walkers have 0.3 miles of trail. The density of trails in Clear Lake is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Clear Lake | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 0.5% | 4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Clear Lake Park | 0.1 mi | 1 |
| 2. Beaver Laket | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Mount Baker and 26 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Clear Lake. Close and well known come first.
Big draw30 mi MountainMount Baker
34 mi National ParkNorth Cascades National Park47K visitors a year
32 mi LandmarkFort Worden
33 mi Stadium & arenaAngel of the Winds Arena
28 mi LandmarkFort Casey
38 mi MuseumFlying Heritage CollectionPhoto credits
Mount Baker: Walter Siegmund (talk), CC BY 2.5 · North Cascades National Park: Daniel Hershman, CC BY 2.0 · Fort Worden: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Angel of the Winds Arena: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort Casey: mikelehen, CC BY 2.0 · Flying Heritage Collection: nsimpson, CC BY-SA 2.0
Everything we know about Clear Lake
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Clear Lake
About 2 of every 100 Clear Lake residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Washington.
1,093 people, and everyone knows the way
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
About Clear Lake
CDP in Washington, United States
Clear Lake is a census-designated place (CDP) in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,228 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Mount Vernon–Anacortes, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 2.2 sq mi
- Elevation
- 46 ft
- ZIP code
- 98235
- Area code
- 360
Questions about Clear Lake
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Clear Lake, WA expensive?
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.