Destin vs Fort Walton Beach

A side-by-side comparison of Destin and Fort Walton Beach: population, income, housing, and more.

Destin and Fort Walton Beach are places in Florida. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Fort Walton Beach has the higher population (20,956 vs 14,018 in Destin). Destin has the higher median household income ($89,141 vs $66,556 in Fort Walton Beach). Destin has the higher median home value ($455,100 vs $296,000 in Fort Walton Beach).

Population, income & housing

	Destin	Fort Walton Beach
Population	14,018	20,956
Median age	41.5 yrs	39.2 yrs
Median household income	$89,141	$66,556
Median home value	$455,100	$296,000
Median gross rent	$1,913	$1,268
Housing units	13,656	9,888
Homeownership rate	69.8%	59.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	46.0%	27.8%
Unemployment rate	1.6%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Destin	Fort Walton Beach
Population	13,702 → 14,018 (+2.3%)	22,084 → 20,956 (-5.1%)
Median household income	$79,000 → $89,141 (+12.8%)	$54,330 → $66,556 (+22.5%)
Median home value	$332,000 → $455,100 (+37.1%)	$185,900 → $296,000 (+59.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,440 → $1,913 (+32.8%)	$988 → $1,268 (+28.3%)

Destin

Population

13,70214,018

Median household income

$79,000$89,141

Median home value

$332,000$455,100

Median gross rent

$1,440$1,913

Fort Walton Beach

Population

22,08420,956

Median household income

$54,330$66,556

Median home value

$185,900$296,000

Median gross rent

$988$1,268

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Destin	Fort Walton Beach
Under 5	5.2%	5.6%
5 to 17	14.1%	16.7%
18 to 24	4.8%	7.8%
25 to 34	13.1%	12.7%
35 to 44	16.9%	15.6%
45 to 54	11.8%	10.3%
55 to 64	16.1%	12.5%
65 to 74	12.0%	10.6%
75 and over	6.0%	8.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Destin	Fort Walton Beach
White (non-Hispanic)	80.4%	64.8%
Black or African American	3.3%	12.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.7%	5.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.4%
Some other race	0.9%	0.6%
Two or more races	6.0%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	8.6%	11.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Destin	Fort Walton Beach
No high school diploma	4.9%	8.3%
High school graduate	15.7%	29.4%
Some college or associate's	33.4%	34.5%
Bachelor's degree	31.3%	18.5%
Graduate or professional degree	14.7%	9.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Destin	Fort Walton Beach
Drove alone	73.7%	78.0%
Carpooled	6.7%	7.4%
Public transit	0.6%	0.4%
Walked	2.2%	1.8%
Bicycle	0.4%	1.9%
Worked from home	15.3%	7.8%
Other means	1.1%	2.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Destin	Fort Walton Beach
1-unit, detached	36.4%	66.1%
1-unit, attached	5.4%	6.6%
2 to 4 units	6.3%	6.0%
5 to 19 units	10.1%	11.5%
20 or more units	41.3%	9.5%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Destin	Fort Walton Beach
Poverty rate	7.6%	13.8%
Average household size	2.24	2.35
Mean commute (minutes)	25	22
Median year structure built	1992	1972