Pretty BayouFL
A town of 2,906.
Is Pretty Bayou a good place to live?
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 94% of U.S. communities, with hurricanes at the top. Overall it grades B−, 158th among Florida's 634 graded towns. It is healthier than 85% of U.S. towns. Its weakest subject is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $299K, 4.2 years of the Panama City metro’s $72K median household income. Pretty Bayou’s median age is 52.3 years, where Florida’s towns sit at 42.4 years and U.S. towns at 40.5 years. Only 76 of Florida’s 779 towns score lower on the outdoors.
What makes Pretty Bayou stand out
Where Pretty Bayou beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
98% of working residents leave Pretty Bayou for work
Where Pretty Bayou’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Pretty Bayou grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Florida), ordered by how far Pretty Bayou is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Pretty Bayou: who provides what
Pretty Bayou is unincorporated, so Bay County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 17, 2025.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Pretty Bayou.
Pretty Bayou has a longer frost-free season than nearly all U.S. towns and has less no health insurance than most of Florida, but it has little public open land.
Very high risk in Pretty Bayou, with hurricanes at the top
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Pretty Bayou’s grade for health is an A
Its widest gap with Florida is no health insurance: 8.6% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 15.9% statewide.
14% of adults report frequent mental distress in Pretty Bayou. Pretty Bayou beats the Florida average on 13 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 20% of adults get no exercise outside work in Pretty Bayou.
| Pretty Bayou | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 25% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 20% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Pretty Bayou | FL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 8.6% | 15.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.2% | 16.8% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.5% | 9.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
About two in five of Pretty Bayou’s working residents commute to Panama City
Jobs based here fell from 970 in 2013 to 667.
Most working residents leave Pretty Bayou for work: only 2% work in town. Jobs based in Pretty Bayou fell to 667 in 2023, 303 fewer than in 2013. Pretty Bayou’s average trip to work is 22 minutes.
| Pretty Bayou | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 5.8% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.5% | 5% | 8% |
| Median household income | $85,000 | $73,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In Pretty Bayou, expect mild winters and hot summers
The Panama City 5n weather station records that the frost-free season runs about 301 days, longer than in 96% of U.S. towns. The Panama City 5n weather station records that about 67 days a year reach 90°: more than most of the country, but fewer than 84% of Florida places with climate records.
Pretty Bayou has warm winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in Pretty Bayou is 90°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
0.1% of Pretty Bayou is conserved land
Just 1 of its 1,088 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Pretty Bayou itself; its outdoors grade is D.
0.0 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Frank Nelson Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
A home in Pretty Bayou sells for about $348K at the median
76.9% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 60.1% across Florida.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Pretty Bayou
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Pretty Bayou
About 2 of every 100 Pretty Bayou residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Florida.
About Pretty Bayou
Census-designated place in Florida, United States
Pretty Bayou is a census-designated place (CDP) in Bay County, Florida, United States. The population was 2,911 at the 2020 census, down from 3,206 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Panama City–Panama City Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2018, Hurricane Michael caused significant damage to the city.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 1.8 sq mi
- Elevation
- 13 ft
- Area code
- 850
Pretty Bayou’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Pretty Bayou.
| Town | FL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pretty Bayou | #158 | B− | C− | — | B | A |
| Panama City | #555 | D | C | D | B | C− |
Pretty Bayou reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Pretty Bayou with a neighbor →
Questions about Pretty Bayou
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Pretty Bayou, FL a good place to live?
Pretty Bayou grades B− overall, better than 51% of U.S. towns and #158 of 634 in Florida. It grades A for health and B for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
Is Pretty Bayou, FL expensive?
Yes. The typical home is worth about $299,000, 20% below the Florida typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.