Orange is located 100 miles east of Houston, between Beaumont and the Louisiana state line on I-10 and Hwy 87. The seat of Orange County, it lies at the junction of the Sabine River and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway above Sabine Lake.
As the state's oil-based economy declined in the 1980s, the city's shipyards and oil industry complex experienced major strikes and layoffs. In 1990 the population of Orange numbered 22,525. At that time a total of 431 businesses were reported.
The town's W.H. Stark House, Lutcher Memorial Church Building, and Sims House are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Orange is part of the Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas metro area.