Destin vs Ocean City

A side-by-side comparison of Destin and Ocean City: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Destin has the higher population (14,018 vs 6,480 in Ocean City). Destin has the higher median household income ($89,141 vs $56,160 in Ocean City). Destin has the higher median home value ($455,100 vs $325,600 in Ocean City).

Population, income & housing

	Destin	Ocean City
Population	14,018	6,480
Median age	41.5 yrs	34.4 yrs
Median household income	$89,141	$56,160
Median home value	$455,100	$325,600
Median gross rent	$1,913	$1,340
Housing units	13,656	3,165
Homeownership rate	69.8%	57.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	46.0%	27.6%
Unemployment rate	1.6%	2.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Destin	Ocean City
Population	13,702 → 14,018 (+2.3%)	6,249 → 6,480 (+3.7%)
Median household income	$79,000 → $89,141 (+12.8%)	$47,310 → $56,160 (+18.7%)
Median home value	$332,000 → $455,100 (+37.1%)	$174,800 → $325,600 (+86.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,440 → $1,913 (+32.8%)	$947 → $1,340 (+41.5%)

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

Ocean City

Population

6,2496,480

Median household income

$47,310$56,160

Median home value

$174,800$325,600

Median gross rent

$947$1,340

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Destin	Ocean City
Under 5	5.2%	5.4%
5 to 17	14.1%	15.4%
18 to 24	4.8%	9.0%
25 to 34	13.1%	21.5%
35 to 44	16.9%	12.0%
45 to 54	11.8%	13.0%
55 to 64	16.1%	12.0%
65 to 74	12.0%	6.0%
75 and over	6.0%	5.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Destin	Ocean City
White (non-Hispanic)	80.4%	63.0%
Black or African American	3.3%	6.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.3%
Asian	0.7%	2.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.9%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.0%	6.1%
Hispanic or Latino	8.6%	21.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Destin	Ocean City
No high school diploma	4.9%	13.0%
High school graduate	15.7%	21.2%
Some college or associate's	33.4%	38.1%
Bachelor's degree	31.3%	21.7%
Graduate or professional degree	14.7%	6.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Destin	Ocean City
Drove alone	73.7%	80.2%
Carpooled	6.7%	14.9%
Public transit	0.6%	0.0%
Walked	2.2%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.7%
Worked from home	15.3%	4.2%
Other means	1.1%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Destin	Ocean City
1-unit, detached	36.4%	64.8%
1-unit, attached	5.4%	6.4%
2 to 4 units	6.3%	5.6%
5 to 19 units	10.1%	16.0%
20 or more units	41.3%	3.9%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	3.4%

Poverty & households

	Destin	Ocean City
Poverty rate	7.6%	7.4%
Average household size	2.24	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	25	26
Median year structure built	1992	1976