Port Arthur, TX — Momentum Score, Home Values & Best-For

All states·Texas·Port Arthur

Jefferson County · Beaumont-Port Arthur · population 55,799

Affordability
Port Arthur, TX
Image: Wikipedia · Port Arthur, Texas
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57
Stable
Momentum score · 0–100

Where Port Arthur stands

At or near all-time high. rents up 10.5% in the last year.

Median home $127,175
1-year +0.9%
5-yr CAGR +0.4%
vs 5-yr peak -1.5%
Population -0.1%/yr

Home value trajectory · last 10 years

Zillow ZHVI · monthly
peak 2023-06$127k$82k$100k$117k$134k201620182020202220242026

Lifestyle scores

🚶
Walkability
25/100
Very car-dependent
Estimated from population density. Higher = denser, more amenities within walking distance.
🚉
Public transit
22/100
Transit limited
Curated list of major US transit systems + population-based estimate. Higher = real subway/rail/bus options.
💻
Remote work fit
87/100
Excellent for remote work
Composite of city size, housing cost, state tax structure, and region's remote-work track record.

Scores are heuristic estimates from population density, state, and known transit/walkable cities. Not based on a paid Walk Score / Transit Score API — see methodology for the formula.

Rent trajectory · last 5 years

Zillow ZORI · monthly
$1,312/mo$950$1,170$1,391202220242026

Home value vs rent · indexed to 100

Both rebased at first month of ZORI data (~2015)
Home valueRent100130100120202220242026

Rent vs buy

Price-to-rent ratio: 8.1
Buy

At a 8.1 price-to-rent ratio, buying generally beats renting in Port Arthur on a long-enough horizon. The headline math is that one year of mortgage payments approximates 8.1 years of rent — well below the 15+ threshold where ownership starts to dominate.

How the momentum score breaks down

methodology →
Home YoY
54 · w22%
Home 5-yr CAGR
37 · w22%
Distance from peak
81 · w18%
Population growth
43 · w16%
Rent YoY
85 · w12%
Home 10-yr CAGR
52 · w10%
Long thesis

Port Arthur has held up across the cycle: home values at $127,175 with +0.4% 5-year CAGR. The bull case is structural — population, location, employer base — and holds even if next year's print is soft.

Short thesis

Port Arthur's bear case is the boring one: the cycle is real and any market that's run hard can stall. Watch for slowing population growth, rising days-on-market, or builder discounts as the early warning signals.

About Port Arthur

Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County, Texas, with an estimated population of 55,799. It anchors the Beaumont-Port Arthur metro area. The median home value in Port Arthur is $127,175 as of 2026-04, up 0.9% over the last 12 months. Over the last five years, home values have averaged +0.4% annual growth, with prices at or near the 5-year peak. Rents in Port Arthur average $1,312 per month, up 10.5% year-over-year. The composite momentum score is 57 of 100 (Stable). Conditions are neither hot nor cold, so the local fit matters more than market timing.

Bull case

Held the highs: currently -1.5% from the 5-year peak — this market refused to give back gains.
Cheap entry point: $127,175 median home is well below the US median of $355k — room to grow without overpaying.
Hot rental market: rents up 10.5% YoY — landlords have pricing power, supports new investment math.

Bear case

Rental squeeze: rents up 10.5% YoY — tenants face tough renewals. Affordability deteriorating fast.
Local nuance: city-level data smooths over neighborhood differences. School zones, HOA rules, and street-level character matter — visit before deciding.

About Port Arthur (Wikipedia)

Port Arthur is a city in the state of Texas, United States of America, located 90 mi (140 km) east of metro Houston. Part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, the city lies primarily in Jefferson County, with a small extension in Orange County. The second largest oil refinery in the US, the Motiva Refinery, is located in Port Arthur.

Source: Wikipedia · this summary is contributed and licensed under CC-BY-SA.

City facts

MayorMayor
Area144.17 sq mi
Elevation0 ft
Settled1895
Density703.55/sq mi

Extracted from the Wikipedia infobox. Values may be slightly out of date relative to the latest sources.

Playbook

Buyer

Lifestyle fit matters more than market timing in a Stable market. Take your time on the home and neighborhood; the macro trend isn't urgent. Negotiate normally.

Seller

Price competitively from day one or risk a 60+ day listing. Staging, photography, and presentation matter more in Stable markets than in Hot ones.

Investor

Stable cap rates, no big appreciation story to lean on. Underwrite this as a pure cash-flow play — the math has to work on rent alone.

Local safety & alerts

No active National Weather Service alerts for Jefferson County right now.

Public-safety links are official .gov sources, not curated by us. Jefferson County routes NWS alerts; check the state EM portal for non-weather emergencies.

Cities like Port Arthur

Sources: Zillow ZHVI (home values), Zillow ZORI (rents), US Census ACS + place population. Updated when source agencies publish revisions.

Climate & natural-disaster risk

Winter (Jan)
60° / 39°
avg high / low
Summer (Jul)
95° / 73°
avg high / low
Sunny days/yr
232
~64% of year
Annual precip
29″ rain
1″ snow
Disaster risk (1=very low, 5=very high)
Hurricane
High
Tornado
Very high
Wildfire
Moderate
Earthquake
Low
Flood
Very high

State-level averages from NOAA Climate Normals (1991-2020) and FEMA National Risk Index. City-level conditions can vary significantly within a state.

Current weather

Loading current conditions…

7-day forecast on weather.gov →

Find rentals & listings

Open current Port Arthur listings on the major real-estate sites.

Links open the live search on the destination site — results are always current.

Local news & community

Updated 2026-05-21 from Google News + Reddit RSS. Headlines link to original sources.

Local sports teams

Major professional teams the Beaumont-Port Arthur area cheers for. Detailed stats, schedules, and player pages on intherafters.com.

Local economy & environment

Humidity
64%
Moderate climate
Median household income
$73,000
Texas state median
Top industries (state-level)
Energy/Oil & GasTech (Austin)Healthcare

Humidity is annual average relative humidity (NOAA). Income is Census ACS 5-year estimate. Industries are largest employment sectors statewide (BLS); the local mix in a given city may vary.

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