Fort Walton Beach vs Niceville

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

Fort Walton Beach and Niceville 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 16,043 in Niceville). Niceville has the higher median household income ($96,611 vs $66,556 in Fort Walton Beach). Niceville has the higher median home value ($381,700 vs $296,000 in Fort Walton Beach).

Population, income & housing

	Fort Walton Beach	Niceville
Population	20,956	16,043
Median age	39.2 yrs	39.2 yrs
Median household income	$66,556	$96,611
Median home value	$296,000	$381,700
Median gross rent	$1,268	$1,579
Housing units	9,888	6,476
Homeownership rate	59.7%	72.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.8%	37.8%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	1.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fort Walton Beach	Niceville
Population	22,084 → 20,956 (-5.1%)	15,386 → 16,043 (+4.3%)
Median household income	$54,330 → $66,556 (+22.5%)	$76,823 → $96,611 (+25.8%)
Median home value	$185,900 → $296,000 (+59.2%)	$238,800 → $381,700 (+59.8%)
Median gross rent	$988 → $1,268 (+28.3%)	$1,117 → $1,579 (+41.4%)

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

Niceville

Population

15,38616,043

Median household income

$76,823$96,611

Median home value

$238,800$381,700

Median gross rent

$1,117$1,579

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fort Walton Beach	Niceville
Under 5	5.6%	7.6%
5 to 17	16.7%	15.4%
18 to 24	7.8%	10.0%
25 to 34	12.7%	10.7%
35 to 44	15.6%	14.0%
45 to 54	10.3%	11.2%
55 to 64	12.5%	12.8%
65 to 74	10.6%	11.8%
75 and over	8.3%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fort Walton Beach	Niceville
White (non-Hispanic)	64.8%	78.3%
Black or African American	12.5%	5.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	5.2%	3.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	1.1%
Two or more races	4.9%	4.8%
Hispanic or Latino	11.5%	6.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fort Walton Beach	Niceville
No high school diploma	8.3%	4.6%
High school graduate	29.4%	24.0%
Some college or associate's	34.5%	33.6%
Bachelor's degree	18.5%	19.5%
Graduate or professional degree	9.2%	18.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fort Walton Beach	Niceville
Drove alone	78.0%	76.5%
Carpooled	7.4%	10.1%
Public transit	0.4%	0.6%
Walked	1.8%	2.0%
Bicycle	1.9%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.8%	8.9%
Other means	2.6%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fort Walton Beach	Niceville
1-unit, detached	66.1%	80.5%
1-unit, attached	6.6%	4.1%
2 to 4 units	6.0%	6.0%
5 to 19 units	11.5%	3.1%
20 or more units	9.5%	2.9%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	3.4%

Poverty & households

	Fort Walton Beach	Niceville
Poverty rate	13.8%	8.7%
Average household size	2.35	2.70
Mean commute (minutes)	22	26
Median year structure built	1972	1987