Bay County vs Okaloosa County

A side-by-side comparison of Bay County and Okaloosa County: population, income, housing, and more.

Bay County and Okaloosa County are counties in Florida. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Okaloosa County has the higher population (214,281 vs 181,368 in Bay County). Okaloosa County has the higher median household income ($79,097 vs $70,188 in Bay County). Okaloosa County has the higher median home value ($324,800 vs $276,900 in Bay County).

Population, income & housing

	Bay County	Okaloosa County
Population	181,368	214,281
Median age	41.4 yrs	37.3 yrs
Median household income	$70,188	$79,097
Median home value	$276,900	$324,800
Median gross rent	$1,424	$1,475
Housing units	106,209	102,475
Homeownership rate	68.3%	67.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.0%	34.2%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bay County	Okaloosa County
Population	182,161 → 181,368 (-0.4%)	203,794 → 214,281 (+5.1%)
Median household income	$54,316 → $70,188 (+29.2%)	$63,412 → $79,097 (+24.7%)
Median home value	$178,400 → $276,900 (+55.2%)	$219,100 → $324,800 (+48.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,049 → $1,424 (+35.7%)	$1,127 → $1,475 (+30.9%)

Bay County

Population

182,161181,368

Median household income

$54,316$70,188

Median home value

$178,400$276,900

Median gross rent

$1,049$1,424

Okaloosa County

Population

203,794214,281

Median household income

$63,412$79,097

Median home value

$219,100$324,800

Median gross rent

$1,127$1,475

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bay County	Okaloosa County
Under 5	5.6%	6.3%
5 to 17	15.5%	16.4%
18 to 24	7.4%	8.5%
25 to 34	13.3%	15.4%
35 to 44	12.7%	13.2%
45 to 54	12.5%	10.7%
55 to 64	14.8%	13.2%
65 to 74	11.1%	9.9%
75 and over	7.1%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bay County	Okaloosa County
White (non-Hispanic)	73.7%	70.1%
Black or African American	9.8%	9.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	1.9%	3.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.7%	0.5%
Two or more races	5.2%	6.0%
Hispanic or Latino	8.4%	10.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bay County	Okaloosa County
No high school diploma	9.2%	6.6%
High school graduate	27.9%	24.2%
Some college or associate's	34.9%	35.0%
Bachelor's degree	17.8%	21.2%
Graduate or professional degree	10.2%	13.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bay County	Okaloosa County
Drove alone	76.4%	76.4%
Carpooled	11.6%	10.5%
Public transit	0.6%	0.3%
Walked	1.1%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.6%
Worked from home	8.8%	9.2%
Other means	1.2%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bay County	Okaloosa County
1-unit, detached	50.8%	63.4%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	6.3%
2 to 4 units	6.5%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	8.4%	7.5%
20 or more units	17.8%	13.7%
Mobile home & other	11.7%	4.5%

Poverty & households

	Bay County	Okaloosa County
Poverty rate	11.7%	9.3%
Average household size	2.35	2.49
Mean commute (minutes)	25	26
Median year structure built	1992	1990