Bay County vs Santa Rosa County

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

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

Santa Rosa County has the higher population (193,719 vs 181,368 in Bay County). Santa Rosa County has the higher median household income ($88,968 vs $70,188 in Bay County). Santa Rosa County has the higher median home value ($302,100 vs $276,900 in Bay County).

Population, income & housing

	Bay County	Santa Rosa County
Population	181,368	193,719
Median age	41.4 yrs	40.0 yrs
Median household income	$70,188	$88,968
Median home value	$276,900	$302,100
Median gross rent	$1,424	$1,445
Housing units	106,209	78,275
Homeownership rate	68.3%	80.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.0%	31.0%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bay County	Santa Rosa County
Population	182,161 → 181,368 (-0.4%)	174,755 → 193,719 (+10.9%)
Median household income	$54,316 → $70,188 (+29.2%)	$67,949 → $88,968 (+30.9%)
Median home value	$178,400 → $276,900 (+55.2%)	$199,200 → $302,100 (+51.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,049 → $1,424 (+35.7%)	$1,129 → $1,445 (+28.0%)

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

Santa Rosa County

Population

174,755193,719

Median household income

$67,949$88,968

Median home value

$199,200$302,100

Median gross rent

$1,129$1,445

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bay County	Santa Rosa County
Under 5	5.6%	5.4%
5 to 17	15.5%	16.6%
18 to 24	7.4%	7.5%
25 to 34	13.3%	13.2%
35 to 44	12.7%	14.0%
45 to 54	12.5%	12.9%
55 to 64	14.8%	14.0%
65 to 74	11.1%	10.4%
75 and over	7.1%	6.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bay County	Santa Rosa County
White (non-Hispanic)	73.7%	79.1%
Black or African American	9.8%	5.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	1.9%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.2%
Some other race	0.7%	0.7%
Two or more races	5.2%	5.8%
Hispanic or Latino	8.4%	6.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bay County	Santa Rosa County
No high school diploma	9.2%	7.4%
High school graduate	27.9%	26.3%
Some college or associate's	34.9%	35.3%
Bachelor's degree	17.8%	19.8%
Graduate or professional degree	10.2%	11.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bay County	Santa Rosa County
Drove alone	76.4%	77.0%
Carpooled	11.6%	8.4%
Public transit	0.6%	0.0%
Walked	1.1%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.2%
Worked from home	8.8%	11.6%
Other means	1.2%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bay County	Santa Rosa County
1-unit, detached	50.8%	80.2%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	6.5%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	8.4%	2.7%
20 or more units	17.8%	3.5%
Mobile home & other	11.7%	8.5%

Poverty & households

	Bay County	Santa Rosa County
Poverty rate	11.7%	8.4%
Average household size	2.35	2.65
Mean commute (minutes)	25	30
Median year structure built	1992	1997