Burlington, Washington

Area Profile

10,003 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Burlington, in Skagit County.

58out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 43% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 41% of 3,904 cities measured61
GrowthTop 5% of 2,973 cities measured80
Housing affordability3625th of 4,223 cities measured55
ClimateTop 35% of 4,223 cities measured74
Physical resilience3165th of 4,182 cities measured31
Access3946th of 4,226 cities measured60
Economic stability2503rd of 4,226 cities measured56
The quick read

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 200 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 39% on the prior year.

Buying strains local incomes far more than renting does — the median home is 5.8 times median household income, against a historic benchmark near three — while rent takes 26% of it.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, earthquake and coastal flooding.

At a glance

Population
10,003
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$80,475
Top 33% nationally
Density
2,337/sq mi
4.3 sq mi of land
Median age
35.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Skagit County
Washington
Metro area
Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA
Nearest major airport
BFI
65 mi · Boeing Fld/King County Intl
Median home value
$466,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.4% is lower than 48% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.2% over the past year, to 57,510 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$10,532$80,475Top 33%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,319$36,525Top 42%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate14.5%Top 37%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute25.8 minBottom 45%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher20.5%Top 50%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment57,510Top 47%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)2.3%Top 19%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.2%Top 33%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force60,146Top 47%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation67.1%Top 26%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$71,790Top 39%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$59,590Top 21%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.6%Top 21%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate4.4%Top 48%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202480k58k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $80,475 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons1,730$39,240
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,580$36,890
Cashiers1,270$37,960
Home Health and Personal Care Aides1,200$42,690
Registered Nurses1,190$106,730
Stockers and Order Fillers900$44,300

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Skagit County, WA, which contains this city.

There are 16.7 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Burlington Edison High SchoolBurlington-Edison School District1,04718.4
Lucille Umbarger ElementaryBurlington-Edison School District61915.1
Bay View ElementaryBurlington-Edison School District41816.1
West View ElementaryBurlington-Edison School District35315.3
BECCBurlington-Edison School District4723.5
Burlington-Edison Alternative SchoolBurlington-Edison School District4

59.6% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Washington’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,746 takes 26% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.8 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
26.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,746
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$466,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income5.80Top 10%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate44.5%Bottom 6%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2664,246Top 13%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$96$1,746Top 14%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$19,411$466,400Top 13%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income26.0%Top 14%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.6%Bottom 40%of 32,0012024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
80/ 100
Top 5% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 18% since 2020, reaching 10,945 in 2024.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

99% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 20.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
200
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
20.0
Top 3% nationally
Year over year
+39%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
98.5%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202411k9k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2022202320242025262154
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−41%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 69°F and January a low of 38°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 19.9 inches, including 5.4 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 26, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

30°50°70°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station WHIDBEY ISLAND NAS, 17.5 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index41.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation19.9"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall5.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low38°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high69°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index26.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing19°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
26
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
41
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

31 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, earthquake and coastal flooding.

Volcanic activityElevated
EarthquakeHigh
LandslideModerate
Coastal floodingHigh
Inland floodingElevated
AvalancheModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: ice storm, winter weather, wildfire, lightning, cold wave, tsunami, drought, tornado, hail, strong wind.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Skagit County records 4.1 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 16.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 32.7 per 100,000 residents in Skagit County.

Homicide
4.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
16.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
32.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
21.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Skagit County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Burlington rather than Burlington itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 65 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Boeing Fld/King County IntlBFI65 mi10,007 ft
Seattle-Tacoma IntlSEA70 mi11,901 ft
Grant County IntlMWH164 mi13,503 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
58
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Other cities in Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
Mount VernonSkagit County35,37756vs Burlington
AnacortesSkagit County17,96657vs Burlington
Sedro-WoolleySkagit County12,83155vs Burlington

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Burlington

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
9823317,850$87,61460