Best PlacesPorter, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Porter, 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.
Porter ranks 1,509th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and walkability ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Porter
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.
Porter's strengths and weaknesses
Where Porter ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 97% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 92% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 88% of cities
- Cheap childcare$842 a month, better than 76% of cities
Where Porter ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 5% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 7% of cities
- Short commute33.9 minutes each way, better than only 8% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 12% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Porter
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Porter home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,025, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Porter's effective rate of 1.57%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Porter
Porter runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Porter.
Who works in Porter, and how
Work in Porter centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Porter
Porter has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of cities and more parkland per resident than 77% of cities. The coast is about 44 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Porter and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Porter, month by month
Porter sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 54° | 43° |
| April | 82° | 70° | 59° |
| July | 96° | 85° | 76° |
| October | 86° | 72° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Porter
George Bush Intcntl/Houston sits about 10 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 23.3 million passengers in 2025, with 214 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Porter
Schools across Porter average a C+, better than 38% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Snyder ElA · 72% proficient
- Shadow Forest ElB · 48% proficient
- Hidden Hollow ElB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Riverwood MiddleA+ · 73% proficient
- Clark IntA+ · 68% proficient
- Cox IntA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Grand Oaks H SA · 73% proficient
- Guy M Sconzo Early College H SA− · 65% proficient
- Infinity Early College H SA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Porter school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Porter 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 Porter against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Porter suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of cities and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Porter
Is Porter a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Porter ranks 1,509th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, a strong job market, and low taxes, and lowest on walkability and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Porter expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $279,616. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $100,025 median income, cost of living beats 74% of cities.
Is Porter safe?
Porter is safer than 19% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $513 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Porter?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 67 with lows near 43. That works out to about 95 pleasant days a year, more than 57% of cities.
Is Porter good for families?
Schools beat 38% of cities, crime safety beats 19%, and childcare runs $842 a month.
Compare Porter with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Porter. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Porter 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.
Porter detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Porter: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Porter: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Porter: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Porter: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Porter 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.