Best PlacesPort Isabel, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Port Isabel, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Port Isabel ranks 47,787th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Port Isabel
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Port Isabel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Port Isabel ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 185 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Short commute13.9 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
Where Port Isabel ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Port Isabel
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Port Isabel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $44,938, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Port Isabel's effective rate of 1.43%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Port Isabel
Port Isabel runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Port Isabel.
Who works in Port Isabel, and how
Work in Port Isabel centers on hospitality & food and admin & support services. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Port Isabel
Port Isabel has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns. The coast is about 7 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Port Isabel and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Port Isabel, month by month
Port Isabel sees roughly 185 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 53. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 61° | 53° |
| April | 83° | 75° | 69° |
| July | 93° | 85° | 78° |
| October | 86° | 77° | 69° |
Flying in and out of Port Isabel
The nearest airport, Brownsville/South Padre Island International, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 251 miles away.
The best schools in and around Port Isabel
Schools across Port Isabel average a D+, better than 11% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rancho Verde ElB+ · 51% proficient
- Palmer-laakso ElC+ · 37% proficient
- Lopez-riggins ElC+ · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Resaca MiddleB− · 43% proficient
- Los Cuates MiddleC+ · 36% proficient
- Garcia MiddleC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Brownsville Early College H SA · 73% proficient
- Los Fresnos H SB · 50% proficient
- Port Isabel H SC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Port Isabel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Port Isabel measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Port Isabel against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Port Isabel
Is Port Isabel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Port Isabel ranks 47,787th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, the weather, and short commutes, and lowest on air quality and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Port Isabel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $230,568. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $44,938 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Port Isabel safe?
Port Isabel is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $774 per resident a year.
Compare Port Isabel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Port Isabel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Port Isabel represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Port Isabel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Port Isabel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Port Isabel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Port Isabel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Port Isabel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Port Isabel detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.