Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Clinton Clinton, WA

Clinton is an unincorporated community and census-designated place on the southern end of Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington, and serves as the island's main gateway from the mainland.

Clinton is the western terminus of the Mukilteo–Clinton ferry run by Washington State Ferries; State Route 525 rolls off the ferry at Clinton and continues the length of Whidbey Island.

Ferry service at Clinton began in 1911 with a passenger ferry and became a car ferry by 1919, first under the Black Ball Line of the Puget Sound Navigation Company before the state took it over into what became Washington State Ferries.

The community was initially known as Brighton Beach and was later renamed Clinton, possibly after the Clinton family, some of the area's earliest settlers.

By the late 1800s Clinton had developed around milling and logging, with early landmarks including the old Clinton Union Store, the post office, and the Salisbury Shingle Mill.

Long before Euro-American settlement, the Snohomish people maintained three main villages in southern Whidbey, the largest being Digwadsh — meaning "in the basket" — with about seven longhouses near present-day Clinton.

Much of Clinton sits atop a high bluff overlooking Saratoga Passage on Puget Sound, while the Columbia Beach neighborhood at its shore rests at sea level.

Although the Clinton CDP spans 3.7 square miles in total, only about 1.0 square mile of it is land — the other 2.7 square miles are water.

Clinton had 956 residents in 507 households at the 2020 census, up slightly from 928 people in 2010, though its post office serves roughly 2,500 people in the surrounding area beyond the CDP boundary.

Clinton is served by the South Whidbey School District, and the Sno-Isle Regional Library System maintains a library in the community, supported by the Friends of the Clinton Library.