Anacortes · WA
South Anacortes: The Part of Town Locals Quietly Choose
The south end of the city, toward the lakes and the forest lands.
Where South Anacortes sits on the island
South Anacortes is the south end of the city grid: the numbered streets from around 28th Street down to 41st, on both sides of Commercial Avenue, where the town runs out and the hill toward Whistle Lake and the Anacortes Community Forest Lands begins. Storvik Park on 32nd Street is its center of gravity. Commercial Avenue is its main street, with the everyday shopping along it and Highway 20 a straight shot beyond.
I wrote in my neighborhoods guide that buyers who value quiet and value over views tend to land here, close to the schools and to shopping on Commercial, and that is still true. It is the part of Anacortes that does not photograph like Skyline and lives very well.
Talk with DiAnn about South Anacortes
Homes in South Anacortes
The housing stock is mostly mid-century ranches and their neighbors, on regular grid lots, with remodels and later infill mixed in, and a few surprises. The south hill is one of those surprises. This end of the grid actually climbs: 32nd Street sits well above Commercial at 12th, and when I pulled view-home comparables in the summer of 2026, a 1972 home on 39th Street that the county lists with views to the northeast was in the set. Not every South Anacortes home has a view, but the ones near the top of the grid can.
I have sold here steadily: a 1980 home on 32nd Street for its seller, a 1945 home on 37th Street for its buyers, a 1984 home on Down Jones Way in the Horizon Heights plat for its buyers in 2021, a 2004 home on 29th Street for its buyers in 2022, and in 2025 a 1975 home on N Avenue at the top of the hill for its seller. That N Avenue home sits on its own unplatted parcel with no association, and I called it "waterview in the city" on the flyer, mountain and Sound views from the living room and the front deck, and it was. What I know from that work: a well-kept mid-century home here, priced on the real sales instead of a wish, goes quickly.
Getting around from South Anacortes
Commercial Avenue runs north to downtown Anacortes and south, as the state highway spur, to Highway 20, so this end of town is the closest to the mainland, Burlington, and I-5. The Washington State Ferries terminal is across the island on the west side. The ferry traffic does use Commercial Avenue on its way through, but the residential streets off it do not see it; on my N Avenue flyer I wrote "no ferry traffic issues," and that held. Whistle Lake Road leaves the bottom of the grid for the trailhead. The Tommy Thompson Parkway has trailheads at 22nd and R and at 30th and U, and runs 3.3 paved miles along Fidalgo Bay to the March Point trestle.
What is nearby, by name
Storvik Park at 1110 32nd Street is 8.7 acres with a Little League field that doubles as a youth soccer field, two basketball courts, play equipment, a reservable picnic shelter, restrooms, and a summer spray pad. The Ace of Hearts Rotary Park and the off-leash dog park share the corner of 38th Street and H Avenue. The 28th Street Playground is a half acre at 28th and Q. Mount Erie Elementary School is at 1313 41st Street, and that is a location, not a promise: The Anacortes School District serves the city, and it is a non-boundary district: the district itself assigns each elementary student to Fidalgo, Island View, or Mount Erie on class size, sibling placement, parent preference, and transportation, not on street address, and sends the assignment by email in the summer. Anacortes Middle School, Anacortes High School, and Cap Sante High School serve the whole city, so no address on this page comes with a guaranteed elementary school, and I do not pretend otherwise. The Anacortes Community Forest Lands, 2,950 city-owned acres of forest, lakes, and trails, start where the streets stop.
How I work South Anacortes
Many South Anacortes sales are long-held homes, and the seller is often moving into the next chapter after decades on one street. That is the heart of my work: rightsizing, life transitions, and probate and trust sales, handled at your pace with the sale and the next home sequenced together. The campaign is the same one I run everywhere in town: see selling your home, priced from the free EPIC™ Home-Selling Report.
For buyers, this is where I take first-time buyers first, and where buying a home in Anacortes most often pencils. See my current listings. Neighbor pages: Stittwood and Whistle Lake. DiAnn Sager, RE/MAX Gateway, 914 15th Street. Ask me about South Anacortes.
By the road from South Anacortes
By the road from the middle of South Anacortes, it is 4.6 miles to the Anacortes ferry terminal, 1.2 to 10th and Commercial, 16 to the Burlington I-5 exit, 40 to downtown Bellingham. These are road miles from OpenStreetMap routing, measured September 2026, by road and not by ferry.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is South Anacortes?
The south end of the Anacortes city grid, roughly 28th Street to 41st, on both sides of Commercial Avenue, with Storvik Park at its center and the forest lands past the last street.
What kind of homes are in South Anacortes?
Mostly mid-century ranches on regular grid lots, with remodels and later infill mixed in. My own sales here were built in 1945, 1975, 1980, 1984, and 2004. Homes near the top of the hill can have views: the N Avenue home I sold in 2025 had mountain and Sound views from the living room.
Is South Anacortes the affordable part of town?
It is generally the most attainable part of the city grid, with friendlier price points than the water side of the island. Specific numbers change month to month, and I will show you the current sales rather than a guess.
How close is South Anacortes to the highway?
Closest in the city. Commercial Avenue runs straight south from the neighborhood, as the state highway spur, to Highway 20, the mainland, Burlington, and I-5. The ferry traffic uses Commercial itself; the side streets do not see it.
Buying in South Anacortes
Selling in South Anacortes
The method
How we do it in South Anacortes
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