Port Orchard is a medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Washington. With a population of 19,122 people and 13 associated neighborhoods, Port Orchard is the 71st largest community in Washington. Port Orchard has seen a significant amount of newer housing growth in recent years. Quite often, new home construction is the result of new residents moving in who are middle class or wealthier, attracted by jobs, a healthy local economy, or other amenities as they leave nearby or far away areas for greener pastures. This seems to be the case in Port Orchard, where the median household income is $89,795.00.
There are many members of the armed forces living in Port Orchard. You will notice when you visit or live here that some of the people you meet or see around town are employed by the armed services - even if they are not always in uniform.
Also of interest is that Port Orchard has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 13.39% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.
One of the nice things about Port Orchard is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.
One downside of living in Port Orchard, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 30.37 minutes every day commuting to work. However, local public transit is widely used. For those who would prefer to avoid driving entirely and leave their car at home, it may be an option to use the transit instead.
Despite being a small city, Port Orchard has a lot of people using a ferryboat to get to and from work every day. Most of these people on a ferryboat are using it to get to good jobs in other cities.
The education level of Port Orchard citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (21.84%): 34.91% of adults in Port Orchard have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.
The per capita income in Port Orchard in 2022 was $45,489, which is upper middle income relative to Washington and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $181,956 for a family of four. However, Port Orchard contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Port Orchard is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Port Orchard home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Port Orchard residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Port Orchard also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 10.62% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Port Orchard include German, English, European, Irish, and Scottish.
The most common language spoken in Port Orchard is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Polish.