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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-PORT-ORCHARD-WA · Port Orchard, WA 16,398 pop · income 63rd pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Port Orchard
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Port Orchard on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Brownsville · lowest
38,460
Brownsville · lowest
38,460 median HH income
16.2% of the leader · rank #1
Quinebaug · near
81,458
Quinebaug · near
81,458 median HH income
34.3% of the leader · rank #2
Red Oak · near
81,464
Red Oak · near
81,464 median HH income
34.3% of the leader · rank #3
Port Orchard · this city
81,472
Port Orchard · this city
81,472 median HH income
34.3% of the leader · rank #4
West Homestead · near
81,477
West Homestead · near
81,477 median HH income
34.3% of the leader · rank #5
Manheim · near
81,484
Manheim · near
81,484 median HH income
34.3% of the leader · rank #6
Rye · highest
237,727
Rye · highest
237,727 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Port Orchard on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 16,398.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Port Orchard - the verdict
Port Orchard ranks in the 63rd percentile for household income and the 13th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
63rd
percentile, household income
84th
percentile, home value
70th
percentile, median rent
13th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Port Orchard, WA
Washington's Port Orchard is a small town, with 16,398 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Port Orchard households earn a median of $81,472 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 10.0%. Home values in Port Orchard run a median of $492,000, and the median resident age is 32.9 years. 32.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 52.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 427 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 336% from five years earlier. Port Orchard's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 3286.2 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Washington carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 107.0 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,472 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Washington's average monthly utility costs around $188 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 70.0 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Port Orchard's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to population change to housing and income to reported crime to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Port Orchard, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Port Orchard?
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Sunnyside (16,329 residents, $53,350 income); Lynden (16,025 residents, $94,869 income); Washougal (16,945 residents, $100,916 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Dyer, IN (16,400 residents); Brownsville, FL (16,391 residents); Crawfordsville, IN (16,408 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Is Port Orchard growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +4,224 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +27.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 427 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
How far does income reach against housing in Port Orchard?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 6.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Port Orchard?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3286.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 44% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Port Orchard?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 32.2% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
Matched public schools
2
Bachelor's degree+
32.2%
Poverty estimate
10.0%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Port Orchard?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
7.0%
Work from home
9.2%
Drive alone
70.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 7,255 workers age 16+.
Above median income · poverty 10.0% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.0 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Washington average
D
City profile score · Port Orchard, WA
40/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share C+
32.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C+
$81,472
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
10.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
388 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cost of living F
107.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Port Orchard profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 62/100 (C+) · 32.2%
Household income: 61/100 (C+) · $81,472
Poverty rate: 40/100 (D) · 10.0%
Violent crime: 23/100 (F) · 388 /100k
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
Where Port Orchard sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Port Orchard's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Port Orchard highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Port Orchard, WA (this city): home $492,000, crime 3,286/100k
Dyer, IN : home $288,700, crime 356/100k
Crawfordsville, IN : home $134,100, crime 828/100k
Buffalo, MN : home $281,900, crime 475/100k
Rye, NY : home $1,785,400, crime 267/100k
Sunnyside, WA : home $207,200, crime 2,867/100k
Lynden, WA : home $546,400, crime 1,309/100k
Washougal, WA : home $492,100, crime 1,315/100k
Aberdeen, WA : home $225,100, crime 3,345/100k
West Richland, WA : home $404,300, crime 687/100k
How does Port Orchard compare to other US cities?
Where Port Orchard sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income63% higher than other cities
Home value84% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
Safety13% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Washington, Port Orchard ranks #122 of 156 Washington cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Port Orchard against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Washington only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Washington-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Port Orchard near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Port Orchard ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Port Orchard only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#306 of 565
46th percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#205 of 565
64th percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#159 of 598
73rd percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#209 of 599
65th percentile in Washington
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Washington only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
63rd percentile nationally for median household income · 13th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Port Orchard's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Port Orchard's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Port Orchard's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$492,00016th percentilemore affordable than 16% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Port Orchard's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,123 of 15,516
More affordable than 9% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,972 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 6.0×, Port Orchard sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,123 of 15,516 and #2,972 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$81,472Port Orchard, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Port Orchard, WA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Port Orchard, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)32.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
16,398
Median Income
$81,472
Median Home Value
$492,000
Median Age
32.9
Poverty Rate
10.0%
Labor force participation
52.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
32.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3286.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
388.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2898.0
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Port Orchard's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
15,615 residents
2021
15,885 residents
2022
16,929 residents
2023
18,085 residents
2024
19,041 residents
2025
19,839 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
427
housing units authorized
Single-Family
344
detached homes
Multifamily
83
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
26
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
98
98
0
$31.2M
2020
259
114
145
$51.7M
2021
565
185
380
$98.5M
2022
484
323
161
$128.8M
2023
521
260
261
$135.0M
2024
427
344
83
$157.0M
Permit volume increased 336% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
70.7%
Carpool
10.1%
Public Transit
7.0%
Walk
1.0%
Work from Home
9.2%
Other
2.0%
Based on 7,255 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Washington statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $188
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Washington at $188 (electricity about $85 , water and sewer about $55 ).
These are Washington statewide averages, not a meter reading for Port Orchard. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Washington's BEA cost-of-living index is 107.0 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Port Orchard is $1,472/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Washington statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 70.0 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Washington statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Port Orchard sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Port Orchard compares to similar-size Washington cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.