diff --git a/notebook/notebookapp.py b/notebook/notebookapp.py
index 68c9e1a402..0c3c3ea347 100755
--- a/notebook/notebookapp.py
+++ b/notebook/notebookapp.py
@@ -789,10 +789,28 @@ def _validate_ip(self, proposal):
         or containerized setups for example).""")
     )
 
-    port = Integer(DEFAULT_NOTEBOOK_PORT, config=True,
-        help=_("The port the notebook server will listen on.")
+    port_env = 'JUPYTER_PORT'
+    port_default_value = DEFAULT_NOTEBOOK_PORT
+    port = Integer(port_default_value, config=True,
+        help=_("The port the notebook server will listen on (env: JUPYTER_PORT).")
+    )
+
+    @default('port')
+    def port_default(self):
+        return int(os.getenv(self.port_env, self.port_default_value))
+
+    port_retries_env = 'JUPYTER_PORT_RETRIES'
+    port_retries_default_value = 50
+    port_retries = Integer(port_retries_default_value, config=True,
+        help=_("The number of additional ports to try if the specified port is not "
+               "available (env: JUPYTER_PORT_RETRIES).")
     )
 
+    @default('port_retries')
+    def port_retries_default(self):
+        return int(os.getenv(self.port_retries_env, self.port_retries_default_value))
+
+
     sock = Unicode(u'', config=True,
         help=_("The UNIX socket the notebook server will listen on.")
     )
@@ -823,9 +841,6 @@ def _validate_sock_mode(self, proposal):
             )
         return value
 
-    port_retries = Integer(50, config=True,
-        help=_("The number of additional ports to try if the specified port is not available.")
-    )
 
     certfile = Unicode(u'', config=True, 
         help=_("""The full path to an SSL/TLS certificate file.""")