Photo: Skye Marthaler · CC BY-SA 4.0Violent crime per resident is higher in Fort Walton Beach than in 88% of U.S. towns
Its police logs show 4.9 violent crimes and 16.0 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the rest of Florida the numbers are 3.4 and 17.2. The overall Safety Grade is C− (#99 of 128 graded towns in Florida), which means more crime per resident than 80% of U.S. towns, judged on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of FL” is every other Florida city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Fort Walton Beach
A job center
Fort Walton Beach has 19,737 jobs based in town for 21,097 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Fort Walton Beach’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are higher than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its property rate (16.0) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Crime in Fort Walton Beach per 1,000 residents
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
And about 5 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Fort Walton Beach | Rest of Florida | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 4.5 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.9 | 3.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 5.3 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Fort Walton Beach’s police reported 311 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.4 in the rest of Florida and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Fort Walton Beach property | Rest of Florida property | Fort Walton Beach violent | Rest of Florida violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 16.4 | 19.3 | 4.5 | 3.6 |
| 2024 | 14.8 | 18.4 | 4.9 | 3.5 |
| 2025 | 16.7 | 14.3 | 5.3 | 3.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2023–2025, against the rest of Florida.
468 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total. 2025 figures come from FBI Crime Data Explorer, which publishes violent crime, homicides, robberies and property crime only.
113 violent and 355 property, as reported to the FBI by Fort Walton Beach’s police.
10 people died in crashes on Fort Walton Beach’s roads in 2019–2023
Fort Walton Beach had 10 fatal crashes in five years, in which 10 people died; 5 were pedestrians.
That is 9.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for Florida towns of 5,000–25,000 people (11.0, 308 towns).
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Fort Walton Beach and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Walton Beach | C− | 4.9 | 16.0 |
| Wright | — | — | — |
| Mary Esther | — | — | — |
| Ocean City | — | — | — |
| Hurlburt Field | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Wright, Ocean City and Hurlburt Field are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own. Mary Esther has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Florida towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Walton Beach | C− | 4.9 | 16.0 |
| Punta Gorda | A− | 0.5 | 6.2 |
| Lynn Haven | B+ | 1.1 | 7.0 |
| Sunny Isles Beach | B | 1.2 | 10.8 |
| Auburndale | C | 2.0 | 19.3 |
| Cocoa | D | 8.8 | 26.9 |
The five graded Florida towns closest to Fort Walton Beach’s population (21,097), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Fort Walton Beach. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Fort Walton Beach’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (21,253 in 2025); our figure for Fort Walton Beach is 21,097 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Fort Walton Beach
Is Fort Walton Beach, FL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Fort Walton Beach reports more crime per resident than 80% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #99 of 128 in Florida. Its police reported 4.9 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.4 in the rest of Florida and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Fort Walton Beach?
4.9 violent and 16.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Florida reports 3.4 and 17.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Fort Walton Beach?
Fort Walton Beach’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Fort Walton Beach Police Department”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Fort Walton Beach.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.