Okaloosa County vs Santa Rosa County

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

Okaloosa 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.

Okaloosa County has the higher population (214,281 vs 193,719 in Santa Rosa County). Santa Rosa County has the higher median household income ($88,968 vs $79,097 in Okaloosa County). Okaloosa County has the higher median home value ($324,800 vs $302,100 in Santa Rosa County).

Population, income & housing

	Okaloosa County	Santa Rosa County
Population	214,281	193,719
Median age	37.3 yrs	40.0 yrs
Median household income	$79,097	$88,968
Median home value	$324,800	$302,100
Median gross rent	$1,475	$1,445
Housing units	102,475	78,275
Homeownership rate	67.8%	80.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.2%	31.0%
Unemployment rate	3.1%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Okaloosa County	Santa Rosa County
Population	203,794 → 214,281 (+5.1%)	174,755 → 193,719 (+10.9%)
Median household income	$63,412 → $79,097 (+24.7%)	$67,949 → $88,968 (+30.9%)
Median home value	$219,100 → $324,800 (+48.2%)	$199,200 → $302,100 (+51.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,127 → $1,475 (+30.9%)	$1,129 → $1,445 (+28.0%)

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

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)

	Okaloosa County	Santa Rosa County
Under 5	6.3%	5.4%
5 to 17	16.4%	16.6%
18 to 24	8.5%	7.5%
25 to 34	15.4%	13.2%
35 to 44	13.2%	14.0%
45 to 54	10.7%	12.9%
55 to 64	13.2%	14.0%
65 to 74	9.9%	10.4%
75 and over	6.5%	6.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Okaloosa County	Santa Rosa County
White (non-Hispanic)	70.1%	79.1%
Black or African American	9.2%	5.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	3.2%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.2%
Some other race	0.5%	0.7%
Two or more races	6.0%	5.8%
Hispanic or Latino	10.8%	6.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Okaloosa County	Santa Rosa County
No high school diploma	6.6%	7.4%
High school graduate	24.2%	26.3%
Some college or associate's	35.0%	35.3%
Bachelor's degree	21.2%	19.8%
Graduate or professional degree	13.0%	11.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Okaloosa County	Santa Rosa County
Drove alone	76.4%	77.0%
Carpooled	10.5%	8.4%
Public transit	0.3%	0.0%
Walked	1.7%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.2%
Worked from home	9.2%	11.6%
Other means	1.2%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Okaloosa County	Santa Rosa County
1-unit, detached	63.4%	80.2%
1-unit, attached	6.3%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	4.6%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	7.5%	2.7%
20 or more units	13.7%	3.5%
Mobile home & other	4.5%	8.5%

Poverty & households

	Okaloosa County	Santa Rosa County
Poverty rate	9.3%	8.4%
Average household size	2.49	2.65
Mean commute (minutes)	26	30
Median year structure built	1990	1997