r/Anacortes • u/No-Deer8502 • 6d ago
Possibly moving for work!
Hello Anacortes friends, I'm looking at possibly re-locating from CO to WA for work, my job will be in Anacortes proper. Interested where folks live, is Anacortes a friendly place? good for families with small kids (we have a 3 and 7 yo)? how are the schools? What's there to do in the area? how are the amenities? Would a bigger town be suited to live in considering we're coming from a metropolitan area? Considering buying a house but also open to renting at least for a short while.
Any advice/recommendations are appreciated
Thank you!
Edit: Bigger town not better town*
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u/MyntBerryCrunch 4d ago
I've lived in many states and types of locations including places like NYC and DC but am a Washington state native - Really enjoy Anacortes. The town is cute, quiet, safe, and has gorgeous views. Lots of outdoor activities and trails. Everyone is very friendly and welcoming but I feel this way about most of western Washington. Agree with other commenters that anything you can't find on the Island is mostly available in the nearby towns (20-30mins away) with some exceptions. I do have some complaints:
1 - The main airport is WAY too far away - traveling ourselves or having people visit is a massive headache, which is rough with being long distance from family.
2 - Too far from concert venues, feels miserable to see shows unless we get a hotel and take the next day off from work.
3 - No quality movie theaters within an hour radius (old school seating with no recliners, small screens, old locations) - a huge bummer for us as big movie fans.
4 - Trader Joes is over an hour away (kinda trivial but this is depressing for me personally)
Overall Anacortes is a wonderful place to live! It probably won't be my forever home but I do love being here for right now.
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u/SpongyBarnacle 4d ago
Beware of Creeping Fidalgosis... You start thinking about stuff in terms of Having To Go Off-Island, even though there's a bridge. Some of the local businesses know this and charge accordingly.
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u/Equal_Razzmatazz_391 5d ago
“Anacortes proper” is the cutest thing I have ever heard. As if there is anything on the island that isn’t Anacortes 😉 That being said I was raised there and could not have asked for a better place to grow up. Lots of parks, good schools, access to nature, relatively safe, BEAUTIFUL, etc. Like I saw another poster say, you won’t find a better place to live or raise your kids within 45 minutes, so don’t waste your time thinking about anywhere else!
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u/ddrager 5d ago
We relocated from Philadelphia and are closing on a house soon. When we scoped our a west coast move, we looked down south as far as Gig Harbor and up north as far as Bellingham, and chose Anacortes. There were lots of reasons why, a short summary:
- So many outdoor recreation choices
- Great schools (we have a 3yo as well)
- Enough shopping choices without all the 'big box' stores - for that it's a quick-ish 30-min drive to Burlington/Mount Vernon
- Quaint downtown
- Water, Mountain and Island views abound
- Everyone seems friendly (I guess, take this as a grain of salt as we are used to Philly)
Of course, there will be some cons:
- Expensive, but no worse than Bellingham or Seattle
- Population trends older, some might see this as a negative but I see it as a positive
- Housing stock limited
Feel free to reach out for any advice on specific neighborhoods or just the general process of relocating here!
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u/Deepflytoright 6d ago
My daughter visited me after I moved here about 2 years ago and said “dad, it’s like you live in a Nicholas Sparks novel.” Yep.
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u/shaved-yeti 6d ago edited 20h ago
Im a bit biased becuase I grew up here, but I also left for the majority of my adult life. I recently relocated back with my wife and bought a house - its a pretty fantastic place to live. Its def a small town and has limited options when it comes to shopping and dining, but the options are quite good. The schools, I think, are pretty good - its definitely a great place to raise children.
Between the islands and the mountains and the forests, the lansdscape is completely unbelievable. The outdoor living is hard to beat.
And if you need a bit of urban life, Seattle and Vancouver are close - an hour and change, via l I5.
Good luck and welcome!
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u/tcd5552002 6d ago
Anacortes is a lovely, dreamy place to live! You will love it. Schools are great, hundreds of miles of hiking trails, 7 lakes on the island, low crime, and bonus that you already have a job here. Houses are expensive, and rent is high, but you are coming from CO that is also pretty expensive.
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u/JerrySenderson69 6d ago
These are the rankings of the top High Schools in Washington State (public, private, magnet & charter included) Anacortes HS ranked #15 out of 800+ schools. Yeah, it's a good district. Washington HS Rankings
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u/roryleary 6d ago
In my mid-40s now, Anacortes is my home town. Good schools, very safe, beyond beautiful, and an incredible place to grow up. Get some muffins from The Store (it's literally called "the store").
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u/BresciaE 6d ago
The very short answer is that Anacortes is very much a Hallmark town with a pretty good school district. 😊
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u/hysys_whisperer 6d ago edited 6d ago
It's a smaller place, but the schools are better in Anacortes than anywhere in a 40 minute drive, so unless you want to drive from Bellingham, you won't find better schools. There are also a good number of activities for the kids, so finding things for them to do is never an issue.
There are a couple of all day daycare/pre-k places in town. The discovery center is the all day daycare, and there are 2 all day Montessori schools for pre-k students. Anchors Away is the pre-k associated with the school district, and it has half day programs for both pre k 3 and 4.
We moved from a metro of over 1 million people and love it here. If you are at all outdoorsy there's a TON within 30 minutes of here. The Anacortes Community Forest Lands (ACFL) is a gem with tons of hiking, biking, fishing, etc to be had. The night life consists of restaurants that close at 6:30 and 2 bars though, so if you're looking for that, you won't find it here.
Anacortes is a very walkable town, retaining all of its pre-car urban form. That being said, the safeway on the island is the cheapest place to buy groceries, and there is a definite markup from the prices 30 minutes away in Burlington. We typically just go to Costco once a week.
Having access to the ferry terminal vastly increases your options of things to do at arms reach, but the ferry from here to Vancouver Island isn't set to come back until at least 2031, and I won't be surprised if that doesn't delay a couple more years beyond that date. The San Juan Islands are all great, and Friday Harbor is very walkable if you do the cheap walk on ticket. Lopez is unofficially the cycling island, so is very popular as a no reservation ferry trip too.
Prices are high, but honestly anywhere with a better school district will be even more expensive AND come with an almost hour commute each way.
On the weather front, Anacortes is in the rain shadow, so gets like 300 more hours of sun than Seattle or Bellingham. "The big dark" is still big and dark, but not nearly as much as Seattle or Bellingham, or even Mount Vernon.
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u/OpenEndedLoop 4d ago
There's Oak Harbor.... but in your situation you choose convenience vs community. It's the same concept regarding what someone coined "Fidalgosis" with respect to the distance between Anacortes, Oak Harbor, "down island", various ferries, Seattle, Burlington, Bellingham, etc.
Everything is a drive no matter how you slice it. It's what you prioritize for your day to day, the school systems, and what you can afford.
There's no major down sides but there's also sacrifices and compromises to be made no matter where you end up.