Photo: Destin Vacation Boat Rentals · CC BY 2.0Destin draws 10,629 commuters a day, with 2.1 jobs for every working resident
12,250 jobs are based in Destin for 5,911 working residents. Jobs and income earn Destin B+; getting around on foot earns it A−. Working residents average 26 minutes each way, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Destin stands out on work
Destin is where the jobs are
Destin has 12,250 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 20,000 people are in town, 45% more than the 14,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Most Destin residents work close to home
62% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Destin draws workers from far and wide
The 12,250 jobs in Destin are filled from a wide area. Destin’s own residents hold 13% and the ten next-biggest home towns 30%; the other 57% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Destin
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Destin is better than 72% of U.S. towns, #158 of 638 in Florida. Unemployment holds Destin’s grade up (2.1%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 44% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Destin could be anywhere from B to A−.
Destin fills up on a workday
On a workday 4,290 residents head out to work and 1,621 work right here.
About 20,000 people are in Destin on a workday afternoon, 45% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Short hops and long hauls from Destin
About 15% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Who travels to work in Destin, and from where
Where Destin clocks in
10% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
What Destin’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Destin, 2013 → 2023: 10,727 → 12,250. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Destin’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 26 minutes to work from Destin
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Destin workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,284 commuters (the 16% who work from home are left out). Across Florida: 83% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Good to walk, short on transit: Destin
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Destin is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns, #195 of 638 in Florida. Both inputs place Destin near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 7,520 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.0% of Destin households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Destin’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000, Destin ranks 915th of 2,227 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | Pinecrest FL | 18,635 | $206K | 4.3% | 3.0% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 118 | Lake Butler FL | 17,125 | $183K | 3.7% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 179 | Lake Mary FL | 16,789 | $109K | 3.5% | 2.6% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 913 | Elon NC | 11,366 | $85K | 20.0% | 5.1% | 7% | B+ |
| 914 | Oak Park CA | 13,757 | $163K | 4.2% | 7.0% | 6% | B+ |
| 915 | Destin FL | 14,046 | $89K | 7.4% | 2.1% | 27% | B+ |
| 916 | Forest City FL | 15,312 | $86K | 9.5% | 3.9% | 2% | B+ |
| 917 | Channahon IL | 14,530 | $119K | 5.9% | 7.4% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Destin, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Bordering towns draw 10% of Destin’s workers
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Destin workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Destin | – | B+ | A− | 26 min | $89,011 |
| Miramar Beach | 10% | B | B+ | 23 min | $103,250 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Miramar Beach. Darker towns draw more of Destin’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Destin: questions
What is the median household income in Destin?
$89,011 (±$8,065) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Destin?
7.4%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Destin?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Destin work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Miramar Beach (10%, 7 mi), Fort Walton Beach (10%, 9 mi), Wright (3%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Destin walkable?
Destin is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Destin without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Destin, from the people who make the trip.
More of Destin
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.