Who polices Lake Cavanaugh, and what they report
Lake Cavanaugh has no police department of its own: it’s an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) in Skagit County. The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office reports to the FBI for the parts of the county without police of their own, so there are no figures for Lake Cavanaugh alone, and no Safety Grade. Out to 25 miles, the count of graded towns reaches 8. The nearest town with a Safety Grade is Arlington, 12 miles away, graded C−.
What stands out about safety in Lake Cavanaugh
Policed by the county
Lake Cavanaugh is a census-designated place, with no town government. Crimes there are reported to the FBI inside the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office’s totals for the county. County police ↓
Counts, not rates
The FBI doesn’t publish how many people the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office covers, so its totals can’t be turned into a per-resident rate or a grade for Lake Cavanaugh. County police ↓
The nearest graded towns
The closest Washington towns with their own police figures are Arlington (C−, 12 mi), Mount Vernon (C+, 16 mi), Granite Falls (B, 16 mi). Nearby towns can differ a lot from Lake Cavanaugh. Nearest ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office reports
Reports to the FBI for the parts of Skagit County without police of their own, which include Lake Cavanaugh.
Property crimes
Violent crimes
2025 offenses reported by the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office
Counts, not rates: the FBI doesn’t publish how many people each agency covers. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, Tables 10–11.
Crimes reported to the FBI for the whole area the department covers, by year.
The nearest Washington towns with a Safety Grade
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arlington | C− | 12 mi | 3.2 | 21.0 |
| Mount Vernon | C+ | 16 mi | 1.7 | 17.7 |
| Granite Falls | B | 16 mi | 1.4 | 9.5 |
| Stanwood | B | 16 mi | 1.4 | 9.8 |
| Sedro-Woolley | A− | 17 mi | 0.4 | 7.7 |
| Marysville | C+ | 18 mi | 2.1 | 17.3 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Lake Cavanaugh. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Lake Cavanaugh.
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
No one died in a crash on Lake Cavanaugh’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what is typical for Washington towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (0.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Lake Cavanaugh’s size would see about 0 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Lake Cavanaugh’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Lake Cavanaugh and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- A county agency covers a wide area. Its totals mix many communities, so they say little about any one of them.
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Lake Cavanaugh
Is Lake Cavanaugh, WA safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Lake Cavanaugh. The nearest Washington towns with a grade are Arlington (C−, 12 mi), Mount Vernon (C+, 16 mi), Granite Falls (B, 16 mi).
Who polices Lake Cavanaugh?
The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office. Lake Cavanaugh is an unincorporated community, and the department reports to the FBI for the parts of Skagit County without police of their own.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Lake Cavanaugh.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.