Photo: Skye Marthaler · CC BY-SA 4.0Fort Walton Beach draws 17,441 commuters a day, with 2.3 jobs for every working resident
About one in five work in Fort Walton Beach; the top destination outside it is Destin (9%, 9 miles). 19,283 jobs are based in Fort Walton Beach for 8,312 working residents. Fort Walton Beach grades B− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Fort Walton Beach in brief
Fort Walton Beach is where the jobs are
Fort Walton Beach has 19,283 jobs, 2.3 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 32,000 people are in town, 52% more than the 21,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Fort Walton Beach are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 28 across Florida. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Florida worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Income, poverty and work: Fort Walton Beach’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Walton Beach is better than 48% of U.S. towns, #356 of 638 in Florida. Unemployment holds Fort Walton Beach’s grade up (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.3%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Walton Beach could be anywhere from C+ to B.
Who commutes out of Fort Walton Beach, and who commutes in
On a workday 6,470 residents head out to work and 1,842 work right here.
About 32,000 people are in Fort Walton Beach on a workday afternoon, 52% 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 2024, primary jobs.
The trip to work from Fort Walton Beach: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Walton Beach workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,710 commuters (the 8% 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.
The daily trip into Fort Walton Beach
Where Fort Walton Beach clocks in
9% 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 Fort Walton Beach’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Walton Beach, 2014 → 2024: 18,136 → 19,283. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fort Walton Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Fort Walton Beach, by distance
About 18% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The commute in Fort Walton Beach is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Walton Beach is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns, #288 of 638 in Florida. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.6% across Florida.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 10,596 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). 4.2% of Fort Walton Beach households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Fort Walton Beach’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Fort Walton Beach ranks: 1,141st of 1,705 U.S. towns of 15,000 to 28,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Pinecrest FL | 18,635 | $206K | 4.3% | 3.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 82 | Lake Butler FL | 17,125 | $183K | 3.7% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 110 | Palm Valley FL | 19,796 | $117K | 4.2% | 1.2% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,139 | New Port Richey FL | 18,299 | $48K | 10.5% | 3.0% | 6% | B− |
| 1,140 | Imperial Beach CA | 25,206 | $86K | 14.8% | 7.1% | 5% | B− |
| 1,141 | Fort Walton Beach FL | 21,097 | $69K | 13.3% | 3.5% | 22% | B− |
| 1,142 | West Rancho Dominguez CA | 23,300 | $87K | 15.0% | 11.4% | 4% | B− |
| 1,143 | Center Township IN | 25,168 | $68K | 13.8% | 3.5% | 22% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,705 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Fort Walton Beach, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Bordering towns draw 11% of Fort Walton Beach’s workers
The biggest share goes to Wright (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fort Walton Beach workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Walton Beach | – | B− | B+ | 23 min | $68,538 |
| Wright | 8% | C+ | B+ | 25 min | $70,195 |
| Mary Esther | under 2% | B | B | 25 min | $76,890 |
| Ocean City | 3% | B− | B− | 25 min | $59,039 |
| Hurlburt Field | under 2% | B | B− | 15 min | $61,731 |
| Cinco Bayou | under 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Cinco Bayou: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fort Walton Beach’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 2024, 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 Fort Walton Beach: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Walton Beach?
$68,538 (±$5,185) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Walton Beach?
13.3%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Walton Beach?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Walton Beach work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Destin (9%, 9 mi), Wright (8%, 2 mi), Miramar Beach (4%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Fort Walton Beach walkable?
Fort Walton Beach is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Walton Beach 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 Fort Walton Beach, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Walton Beach
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.