Pretty BayouFL
The town has 2,906 residents and lies in Florida.
Is Pretty Bayou a good place to live?
Pretty Bayou’s strongest subject is health: it is healthier than 85% of U.S. towns. With a B− overall, Pretty Bayou is better than just over half of U.S. towns and ranks 158th of 634 in Florida. Incomes are a strength too (B+) — the median household earns $85K. Where it falls short is cost of living (C−): the typical home is worth about $299K, 4.2 years of the Panama City metro’s $72K median household income. It lags on hazard risk as well: FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 94% of U.S. communities, with hurricanes at the top. Only 76 of Florida’s 779 towns score lower on the outdoors. The town’s midpoint age is 52.3 years, where Florida’s towns sit at 42.4 years and U.S. towns at 40.5 years. 49% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in the town, above both Florida’s towns (31%) and U.S. towns (29%).
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · home values, Zillow · FEMA National Risk Index · USGS PAD-US.
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
Households in Pretty Bayou have drawn federal disaster aid once, in 2018. FEMA puts 70% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to hurricanes, and 13% to inland flooding.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · 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.
In Pretty Bayou, 20% of adults get no exercise outside work. This Florida town does better than the Florida average on 13 of 31 CDC measures and worse on 2.
| 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.
The share of working residents in Pretty Bayou who work locally: 1.5%. Jobs based here fell to 667 in 2023, 303 fewer than in 2013. The typical journey to work for Pretty Bayou comes to 22 minutes. The top destinations are Panama City (42%), Lynn Haven (7%) and Panama City Beach (6%).
| 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
Expect mild winters and hot summers in Pretty Bayou
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.
The town’s peak summer temperature is 90°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Conservation land takes up 0.1% of Pretty Bayou
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.
One park or preserve covers 1 acres in Pretty Bayou.
| 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 $390K at the median
76.9% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 60.1% across Florida.
Homes sold in Pretty Bayou spent a median 106 days on the market. For Pretty Bayou, the midpoint rent is $1,749 a month. In Pretty Bayou, the typical sale closed at 96.6% of the list price.
| Pretty Bayou | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,749 a month | $1,647 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 71% | 72% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · 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−.