The current Point Wilson Lighthouse is the second to have stood on this site, overlooking Admiralty Inlet, the strategically important gateway to Puget Sound, where some of the most important ports of the Northwestern United States are located. The tower of the original lighthouse was built into the keepers' duplex, but was removed shortly after the current lighthouse was completed in 1914, leaving just the house. This continued to serve lighthouse keepers until the station was automated in 1976.

The lighthouse found at Point Wilson today is an octagonal reinforced concrete structure, designed by prominent lighthouse architect Carl Leick. The tower is topped by a circular lantern room and conical roof. This utilitarian design integrated a diaphone fog signal, the engines, and air tanks in the single-story hip-roofed building on the seaward side of the tower.

In common with many other lighthouses in Washington, the light source is now a VRB-25 rotating beacon, which is mounted on the gallery wall outside the lantern room. In this case, alternating lenses on the beacon are colored red, giving Point Wilson its distinctive red and white flash pattern. An older rotating 4th-order lens still remains in situ within the lantern room.

Across the Puget Sound, Fort Casey and Admiralty Head Lighthouse on Whidbey Island can be seen from here on a clear day.