Mary Esther vs Ocean City

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

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

Ocean City has the higher population (6,480 vs 4,034 in Mary Esther). Mary Esther has the higher median household income ($76,510 vs $56,160 in Ocean City). Ocean City has the higher median home value ($325,600 vs $255,300 in Mary Esther).

Population, income & housing

	Mary Esther	Ocean City
Population	4,034	6,480
Median age	40.0 yrs	34.4 yrs
Median household income	$76,510	$56,160
Median home value	$255,300	$325,600
Median gross rent	$1,517	$1,340
Housing units	1,842	3,165
Homeownership rate	69.7%	57.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.9%	27.6%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	2.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mary Esther	Ocean City
Population	4,309 → 4,034 (-6.4%)	6,249 → 6,480 (+3.7%)
Median household income	$64,237 → $76,510 (+19.1%)	$47,310 → $56,160 (+18.7%)
Median home value	$186,800 → $255,300 (+36.7%)	$174,800 → $325,600 (+86.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,105 → $1,517 (+37.3%)	$947 → $1,340 (+41.5%)

Mary Esther

Population

4,3094,034

Median household income

$64,237$76,510

Median home value

$186,800$255,300

Median gross rent

$1,105$1,517

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)

	Mary Esther	Ocean City
Under 5	4.0%	5.4%
5 to 17	13.0%	15.4%
18 to 24	6.7%	9.0%
25 to 34	18.8%	21.5%
35 to 44	12.3%	12.0%
45 to 54	8.9%	13.0%
55 to 64	16.1%	12.0%
65 to 74	11.0%	6.0%
75 and over	9.1%	5.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mary Esther	Ocean City
White (non-Hispanic)	70.9%	63.0%
Black or African American	6.0%	6.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.3%
Asian	3.8%	2.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.0%
Two or more races	10.9%	6.1%
Hispanic or Latino	7.8%	21.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mary Esther	Ocean City
No high school diploma	2.4%	13.0%
High school graduate	38.6%	21.2%
Some college or associate's	28.1%	38.1%
Bachelor's degree	17.4%	21.7%
Graduate or professional degree	13.5%	6.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mary Esther	Ocean City
Drove alone	76.4%	80.2%
Carpooled	16.6%	14.9%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.7%
Worked from home	5.9%	4.2%
Other means	0.6%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mary Esther	Ocean City
1-unit, detached	85.3%	64.8%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	6.4%
2 to 4 units	0.5%	5.6%
5 to 19 units	1.5%	16.0%
20 or more units	10.9%	3.9%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	3.4%

Poverty & households

	Mary Esther	Ocean City
Poverty rate	5.3%	7.4%
Average household size	2.48	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	25	26
Median year structure built	1973	1976