Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Mary Esther grades B overall, ranked 101st of 634 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 82% of U.S. communities, with hurricanes at the top. Mary Esther's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 92% of U.S. towns. Mary Esther’s January low is 43°F, where Florida’s towns sit at 51°F and U.S. towns at 22°F. The biggest park or preserve is Oak Tree Nature Park, at 25 acres.
Where Mary Esther beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Florida), ordered by how far Mary Esther is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 332 in 1950, 3,982 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 2020 and 5 maps from 1938 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Mary Esther. Close and well known come first.
in town National SeashoreGulf Islands National Seashore7.6M visitors a year
38 mi LandmarkFort Pickens
7 mi MuseumAir Force Armament Museum
40 mi Ancient siteUSS Massachusetts
39 mi MuseumNational Naval Aviation Museum
38 mi LandmarkFort BarrancasGulf Islands National Seashore: National Park Service, Public domain · Fort Pickens: Notneb82, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Air Force Armament Museum: Greg Goebel, CC BY-SA 2.0 · USS Massachusetts: Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, Public domain · National Naval Aviation Museum: Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort Barrancas: National Park Service, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Mary Esther, 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 Mary Esther.
Mary Esther has a longer frost-free season than nearly all U.S. towns, but it has a long record of flood insurance claims and has lost a quarter or more of its jobs in ten years.
81 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 15 properties have flooded more than once.
Since 1979, 81 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Mary Esther.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its public schools are run by the Okaloosa school district. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mary Esther Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 438 | B |
| Advanced Sacred Hope Academy PrivateLargest high schoolGrades K–9 | Grades K–9 | 29 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within FL on state tests and graduation
Mary Esther beats the Florida average on 9 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 30% of Mary Esther adults have obesity.
| Mary Esther | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 23% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 15% | 16% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 77% | 79% | 79% |
| What stands out | Mary Esther | FL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 11.2% | 15.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 11.9% | 16.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The Niceville weather station, 13 miles away, records that the frost-free season runs about 253 days, longer than in 96% of U.S. towns. The Niceville weather station, 13 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.
Mary Esther has warm winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in Mary Esther is 90°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Jobs based here fell from 2,578 in 2013 to 1,291.
Most working residents leave Mary Esther for work: only 2% work in town. Since 2013, Mary Esther has lost 1,287 jobs, to 1,291 in 2023. 6.3% of residents live below the poverty line in Mary Esther.
| Mary Esther | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 7.4% | 14% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 6.3% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.3% | 5% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 25 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The typical Mary Esther home is worth about $324,000, about the same as a year ago, 14% below the Florida typical home. Mary Esther’s median rent is $1,699 a month.
| Mary Esther | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,699 a month | $1,647 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 70% | 72% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Florida average. Mary Esther has grown 2.7% since 2020, to 4,093 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 31% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 34% across Florida.
| Mary Esther | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 17% | 20% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 22% | 20% | 18% |
| Median age | 39.8 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.7 points. Across Florida, 50.9% of residents are women.
| Mary Esther | FL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.3% | 10.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.9% | 9.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.2% | 8.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 18.8% | 12.7% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.9% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 9.2% | 12.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.1% | 13.4% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.8% | 11.7% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 11.7% | 9.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.5% | 10.1% | 10.4% |
| High school | 37.2% | 27.2% | 26% |
| Some college | 17.1% | 18.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.8% | 10.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19.5% | 21.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11% | 12.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 4,100, single groups can be off by several points
| Mary Esther | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.7% | 3% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Oak Tree Nature Park | 0.7 mi | 25 |
| 2. Springdale Park | — | 3 |
| 3. Bryn Mawr Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Mary Esther
About 3 of every 100 Mary Esther residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Florida.
City in Florida, United States
Mary Esther is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Crestview–Fort Walton Beach–Destin, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,982 at the 2020 US census, up from 3,851 at the 2010 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Mary Esther.
| Town | FL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mary Esther | #101 | B | C | — | A− | B+ |
| Fort Walton Beach | #332 | C | C | C− | A− | B− |
| Hurlburt Field | #250 | C+ | D− | — | A− | A− |
Mary Esther and Hurlburt Field report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Mary Esther with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Mary Esther grades B overall, better than 57% of U.S. towns and #101 of 634 in Florida. It grades B+ for health and A− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D.
That is 4 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.
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