It is a suburban city included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.

In 1883, Aaron M. Richey arrived from St. Joseph, Missouri, and settled near the mouth of the Pithlachascotee River.

The population of Port Richey has remained small, and proposals to abolish the city have gone before the voters several times.

On February 21, 2019, Mayor Dale Massad was taken into custody by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement with assistance from the Pasco County Sheriff's Office and the local SWAT team on charges of practicing medicine without a license.

[8] The next day, Governor Ron DeSantis signed an executive order to remove Massad from office.

[9] Three weeks later, Acting Mayor Terrence Rowe was arrested for several charges, including obstruction of justice and use of a two-way communication device to facilitate the commission of a crime.

[10] DeSantis removed Rowe from office on March 20,[11] which left the city with no one to serve as mayor.

[12] State Senator Ed Hooper and Representative Amber Mariano sought to dissolve the city in response.