Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Port Arthur's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Port Arthur?
Your $100,000 in Port Arthur has the same purchasing power as $118,624 in the average US city. You'd need $18,624 less here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Port Arthur's cost index of 84, sorted by closest match.
Port Arthur has a handful of real selling points, and they're not the kind of thing you find in a brochure. Your dollar carries more weight here and texas doesn't tax your paycheck are the headliners, plus 2 more things worth knowing. The rest is below.
The composite cost-of-living index lands at 84, a comfortable 16% under the US norm. It shows up most clearly in housing, which is where the gap to coastal metros usually opens up. Median rent in town runs about $938/mo against a typical household income of $45,357, which is the kind of ratio that leaves room to save.
Living in Port Arthur means no state income tax on your salary — Texas is one of nine states that simply doesn't have one. On a $100k income that's typically thousands of dollars a year that stay in your account instead of going to a state revenue department.
Reported crime in Port Arthur comes in around 2,555 per 100,000 — under the national baseline of about 3,500. Worth digging into specific neighborhoods before settling on one, but the city-level picture is on the safer side.
Average commute time in Port Arthur runs around 23 minutes one-way — short enough that it doesn't restructure your day. Compared to the 45-plus-minute commutes that are normal in major metros, the difference adds up to a real lifestyle gap.
Reasons are pulled from Port Arthur's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
It's rare. Winters in Port Arthur run about 46°F — cold-snap mornings happen, real snowfall doesn't, except maybe once a decade.
Not very. Average winter temperatures of about 46°F mean Port Arthur skips the harsh-winter problem most of the country has. A handful of cold mornings, otherwise sweater weather at worst.
Properly hot. Port Arthur's summer averages around 94°F with daily highs that routinely break 100°F. The trick to summer here is starting the day at sunrise and staying inside through the worst of it.
Port Arthur falls in roughly USDA Zone 10. The zone classification is based on average annual minimum temperatures, so it's the right lookup for whether perennials and trees will overwinter here. Note that this is approximate from our winter-temperature data — check the USDA map for the exact zone before betting an expensive plant on it.
Barely above the water. Port Arthur is at about 7 feet (2 m) elevation, and parts of the city are essentially at sea level. Flood-zone maps are worth checking before buying a house.
Hurricane season covers June through November, with peak activity in late summer and early fall. For Port Arthur, the practical advice is: have a few days of water and supplies on hand from August onward, know your evacuation route, and don't wait for the news to tell you a storm is "probably nothing" — track the cone yourself.
Middle of the pack. Port Arthur comes in around 2,555 per 100,000, basically the national average. The interesting question is usually which neighborhood, not which city — that's where the real variation lives.
Port Arthur is a genuinely affordable city by US standards. The composite index sits at 84 versus the 100 national baseline — about 16% cheaper overall, with housing doing most of the heavy lifting.
Port Arthur's Walk Score is 0/100, firmly in the car-required tier. The layout assumes you'll drive to the grocery store, drive to work, drive everywhere.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $59,010 to live in Port Arthur the way a $70,000 earner lives in a typical US city. The math gets less forgiving the lower you go below that. Median rent in Port Arthur runs about $938/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.