Best PlacesPort Orchard, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Port Orchard, 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 Orchard ranks 953rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Port Orchard
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 Orchard's strengths and weaknesses
Where Port Orchard ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 96% of cities
- QuietBetter than 95% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 85% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 83% of cities
Where Port Orchard ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of cities
- Short commute33.8 minutes each way, better than only 8% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 11% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Port Orchard
A household needs to earn about $133,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Port Orchard home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $103,744, 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 Orchard's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Orchard
Port Orchard's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Port Orchard.
Who works in Port Orchard, and how
Work in Port Orchard centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Port Orchard
Port Orchard has more parkland per resident than 79% of cities. The coast is about 10 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Port Orchard and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Port Orchard, month by month
Port Orchard sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 40° | 33° |
| April | 61° | 48° | 37° |
| July | 81° | 65° | 50° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Port Orchard
Seattle-Tacoma International sits about 15 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.4 million passengers in 2025, with 172 nonstop destinations.
Port Orchard 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 Orchard against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Port Orchard suits
Families
Schools land around the 42nd percentile and crime safety beats 72%.
Common questions about living in Port Orchard
Is Port Orchard a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Port Orchard ranks 953rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, tree cover, and quiet, and lowest on cell coverage and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Port Orchard expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $513,055. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $103,744 median income, cost of living beats 55% of cities.
Is Port Orchard safe?
Yes, Port Orchard is safer than 72% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $365 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Port Orchard?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 33. That works out to about 104 pleasant days a year, more than 63% of cities.
Is Port Orchard good for families?
Schools beat 42% of cities, crime safety beats 72%, and childcare runs $1,327 a month.
Compare Port Orchard with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Port Orchard. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Port Orchard 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 Orchard detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Port Orchard: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Port Orchard: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Port Orchard: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Port Orchard: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Port Orchard 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.