In 2021, Skagit County had the worst housing market in the state, according to Community Action of Skagit County.
Though Executive Director Bill Henkel believes that is no longer the case, the county still has a long way to go when it comes to providing affordable housing for all different income levels.
Data illustrates persistent struggle
As individuals and households face rising costs of living, having a stable and suitable roof over one’s head is becoming more of a privilege than a right.
In March, the median sale price of a home in the county was $575,000, or 7.26% less than it was in March 2025, according to data provided by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
These numbers fluctuate every month, with the median sale price for February being $560,000 compared to $590,000 in February 2025, and the median of $660,000 for January, higher than $589,000 for the same month last year.
In La Conner, the median sale price of a home may vary depending on the real estate company that is reporting it. As of April 2026, it’s $568,604 on Realtor.com.
Tina Tate, CEO of Skagit Habitat for Humanity, said such prices are out of reach for most people in the county, making homeownership an even more “impossible” achievement for the lowest-earning households.
“Even a so-called starter home that needs some work is gonna cost, for a small one, at least $400,000,” she said.
This is the result of a “perfect storm” of low housing inventory, high prices and high interest rates, she explained.
Rent prices seem to have decreased by a modest margin over the past year.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment was $1,345, marking a 1.7% drop in the annual growth rate. For two-bedroom units, the average rent was $1,527, or a 2.1% decrease from the previous year, according to the University of Washington’s most recent apartment market report. Experts use averages, not medians, as statistical measure for rent.
Looking back seven years can help put the changes in better perspective.
Average monthly rent for all units has increased by 38% between 2019 and 2025; for two-bedroom apartments, specifically, costs have increased by 45% during that same time period, according to the Skagit County 5-Year Homeless Housing Plan.
Wages aren’t keeping up.
Washington’s minimum wage was $16.66 an hour in 2025 and $16.28 an hour in 2024.
In the first quarter of 2025, an individual would have had to make a minimum of $22.97 per hour to afford a one-bedroom apartment in Skagit and $26.12 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment. In 2024, those options would respectively require a minimum of $22.73 and $24.08 an hour, according to Western Washington University’s Skagit County Economic Profile.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development states that housing is affordable when its occupants spend up to 30% of their pre-tax income on housing costs — things like rent, utilities, mortgage, taxes and insurance. Anything above that threshold means the household is “cost-burdened.”
According to the most recent report from Lunous, a nonprofit that studies housing and homelessness data, 54% of Skagit renters spent over 30% of their income on rent per month in 2024, a percentage that has remained somewhat consistent since 2010, when those being cost-burdened represented half of all renters.
When it comes to prospective homeowners, those in the lower income brackets may not make enough to qualify for loans. At the same time, many of those who can afford a mortgage may be paying 50% or more of their income on the mortgage alone, Tate said.
The minimum wage required for a mortgage increased from 2024 to the first quarter of 2025. To afford the median monthly home mortgage payment in the county, which was $2,329.79, the minimum hourly wage would have had to be $40.32, almost $4 more than for the first quarter of 2024, according to WWU’s report.
“It’s impossible for anyone to buy a home in today’s market, unless you’re making 120% to 150% of the area median income,” Tate said. “Even 120% of the area median income has trouble.”
Not a “one-size-fits-all”
Lunous’ data for the county shows that housing for higher-earning households was disproportionately more abundant than the options for the lowest-earning folks in 2024.
To Bill Henkel from Community Action, this data illustrates “a big mismatch.”
The number of housing units affordable for each income level was:
- 1,596 for incomes below $833.33 per month.
- 911 for incomes of $833.33-$1,249.92.
- 4,113 for incomes of $1,250-$2,083.
- 4,426 for incomes of $2,083.33-$2.915.58.
- 4,166 for incomes of $2,916.67-$4,166.58.
- 9,481 for incomes of $4,166.67-$6,249.92.
- 16,856 for incomes of $6,250-$8,333.25.
- 4,769 for incomes of $8,333.33-$12,416.67.
- 6,011 for incomes of $12,500 or more.
In Washington, Skagit County has one of the “tightest” rental markets, with vacancies at 3% (below the 5% state average), the highest it’s been in years, according to the 5-Year Homeless Housing Plan.
In 2021, Skagit had the biggest shortage of apartments in the state, according to Community Action’s website.
“It was almost impossible to find a place a couple years back,” Henkel said.
Yet, he pointed out that today’s openings are not enough to meet demand from the middle- and low-income levels.
With limited supply and rising demand comes more competition for options that would be more suitable for lower-income households.
“When you have a landlord that has, say, 50 to 100 applications in front of them, they’re gonna pick the one that looks the best, right? The one that has the most income,” Tate said. “That decreases the supply for that lower-income level.”
Low vacancy rates drive up homelessness
Meanwhile, the number of unsheltered individuals more than doubled from 2024 to 2025, with over 68% of respondents stating their last permanent address was in Skagit County, according to the 5-Year Homeless Housing Plan.
In 2024, Skagit County had the ninth largest homeless population out of 39 counties in Washington, counting 390 unhoused individuals per 100,000 residents, according to Lunous, though it should be noted that Skagit is the 11th most populous county in the state with roughly 131,328 residents as of February 2026.
A person may become unhoused as a result of multiple factors, including — but not limited to — mental and substance use disorders. However, as reported in the 5-Year Homeless Housing Plan, the greatest influences are the cost of available housing and low supply.
According to the 2025 Point in Time Count, which is discussed in the plan, at least 682 individuals were experiencing homelessness in Skagit County. Of those, 239 were placed in shelter programs and 443 were living outdoors. Because many are difficult to locate, the actual count may be much higher.
That’s where organizations like Community Action and the Housing Authority of Skagit County come into play.
Building hope
Both organizations build affordable units and rent them out to low-income individuals and households while offering subsidies to the poorest tenants, among other efforts to help people avoid or get out of homelessness.
Gilberto Estrada, executive director of the Housing Authority of Skagit County, stressed the need for more housing to meet the needs of seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, farmworkers, first-time buyers and other less advantaged populations.
Nikki Turner, development director and properties manager at the Housing Authority, said this summer the organization will break ground for the construction of 31 units that will house farmworkers and their families. The project, known as Farmview Family Housing, is in Burlington and is expected to be completed by fall 2027, adding to the eight housing properties the organization already owns and manages.
After that, the Housing Authority might focus on building more apartments for groups like veterans and people with disabilities, Estrada said, as he and Turner acknowledged the challenges resulting from cuts to government funding and the increasing cost of construction and materials.
Community Action’s Kulshan Vista Village is also set to break ground in May, eventually providing a total of 48 units dedicated to housing primarily students and families in the Mount Vernon School District, according to Housing Project Director Michele Metcalf.
Luisa Loi is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.
