Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Fort Walton Beach grades C overall, 332nd of 634 graded towns in Florida, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. Its schools outperform 76% of the state's. On the other side, FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 84% of U.S. communities, with hurricanes at the top. 23% of working residents work locally in Fort Walton Beach, above both Florida’s towns (5%) and U.S. towns (8%). Fort Walton Beach has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Camp Pinchot Historic District and Gulfview Hotel Historic District. Fort Walton Beach is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 72% of U.S. towns.
Where Fort Walton Beach beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Liza Jackson Preparatory School | K–8 | 977 |
| Elliott Point Elementary School | PK–5 | 583 |
| Annette P. Edwins Elementary School | PK–5 | 490 |
Where Fort Walton Beach’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Florida), ordered by how far Fort Walton Beach is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,463 in 1950, 20,922 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1957 and 5 maps from 1938 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Fort Walton Beach. Close and well known come first.
2 mi National SeashoreGulf Islands National Seashore7.6M visitors a year
5 mi MuseumAir Force Armament Museum22 mi Zoo & aquariumGulf Breeze Zoo
35 mi MuseumPensacola Museum of History
35 mi MuseumPensacola Museum of Art
26 mi MuseumBaker Block MuseumGulf Islands National Seashore: National Park Service, Public domain · Air Force Armament Museum: Greg Goebel, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Pensacola Museum of History: User:TheCustomOfLife, Public domain · Pensacola Museum of Art: Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Baker Block Museum: Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Fort Walton Beach, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 17, 2025.
Ordered by what stands out in Fort Walton Beach.
Fort Walton Beach draws workers from Wright and beyond, has a longer frost-free season than nearly all U.S. towns and is healthier than towns with similar incomes.
19,737 jobs are based in Fort Walton Beach, 2.4 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
About one in 4 of Fort Walton Beach’s working residents works in town. Fort Walton Beach’s average trip to work is 23 minutes. Since 2013, Fort Walton Beach has added 1,557 jobs, to 19,737 in 2023.
| Fort Walton Beach | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 8.4% | 14% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $69,000 | $73,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Okaloosa school district. Three of its 17 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liza Jackson Preparatory SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 977 | A+ |
| Choctawhatchee Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,720 | B− |
| Northwest Florida Ballet AcademieTop results in townGrades 3–8 | Grades 3–8 | 134 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within FL on state tests and graduation
5.4 miles of trail in 20 parks and preserves. Prestoon Hood Athletic Complex, at 30 acres with 1.3 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. The trail density in Fort Walton Beach is 0.7 miles per square mile.
| Fort Walton Beach | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.7 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.5% | 3% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Prestoon Hood Athletic Complex | 1.3 mi | 30 |
| 2. Fort Walton Landing | 0.9 mi | 6 |
| 3. Liza Jackson Park | 0.7 mi | 13 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
FBI crime data, 2023 · crimes reported to police
545 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 89 properties have flooded more than once.
Since 1978, 545 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Fort Walton Beach.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The Niceville weather station, 11 miles away, records that the frost-free season runs about 253 days, longer than in 96% of U.S. towns. The Niceville weather station, 11 miles away, records that about 52 days a year reach 90°: more than most of the country, but fewer than 95% of Florida places with climate records.
Fort Walton Beach has warm winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 90°, January nights drop to 43° and snow is almost unheard of.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The typical Fort Walton Beach home is worth about $322,000, up 1.3% in a year, 14% below the Florida typical home. 62% of Fort Walton Beach households own their home.
| Fort Walton Beach | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 62% | 72% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,307 a month | $1,647 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
30% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 34% across Florida.
| Fort Walton Beach | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 39.1 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 22% | 20% | 22% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.9 points. Across Florida, 50.9% of residents are women. Median age: women 39.9, men 38.2.
| Fort Walton Beach | FL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.6% | 10.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.5% | 9.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.5% | 8.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 13% | 12.7% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 16.9% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 8.4% | 12.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.4% | 13.4% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.9% | 11.7% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.9% | 9.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 8.1% | 10.1% | 10.4% |
| High school | 27.8% | 27.2% | 26% |
| Some college | 24.5% | 18.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.9% | 10.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 20.5% | 21.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 9.1% | 12.9% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Against the 10,399 U.S. towns with household incomes like Fort Walton Beach’s, it is healthier than 68%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income.
Fort Walton Beach beats the Florida average on 1 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 19% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Fort Walton Beach.
| Fort Walton Beach | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 23% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 17% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 14% | 8.1% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 77% | 79% | 79% |
| What stands out | Fort Walton Beach | FL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 12.8% | 15.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
1 within 15 miles of the center of Fort Walton Beach
About 5 of every 100 Fort Walton Beach residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Florida.
2 places in Fort Walton Beach on the National Register of Historic Places.
17 notable people were born in Fort Walton Beach.
City in Florida, United States
Fort Walton Beach, often referred to by the initialism FWB, is a city in southern Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, Fort Walton Beach had a population of 20,922. It is a principal city of the Crestview−Fort Walton Beach−Destin, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Fort Walton Beach is a year-round fishing and beach resort community. Its busiest time of the year is the summer, causing a boost to the local economy because of tourism.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Fort Walton Beach.
All 4 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its C; Ocean City (C+) is closest.
| Town | FL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Walton Beach | #332 | C | C | C− | A− | B− |
| Wright | #258 | C+ | C | — | A− | C+ |
| Mary Esther | #101 | B | C | — | A− | B+ |
| Ocean City | #260 | C+ | C | — | A− | B |
| Hurlburt Field | #250 | C+ | D− | — | A− | A− |
| Cinco Bayou | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Wright, Mary Esther, Ocean City and Hurlburt Field report no FBI crime data of their own. Cinco Bayou isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Fort Walton Beach with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Fort Walton Beach grades C overall, better than 32% of U.S. towns and #332 of 634 in Florida. It grades B− for health, C− for safety and A− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D.
That is 3.9 years of the area's median household income ($81,993 across the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
17 notable people were born here, including Alexa Guarachi and Aric Almirola.
