Best PlacesFort Walton Beach, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fort Walton Beach, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Fort Walton Beach ranks 21,954th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fort Walton Beach
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Fort Walton Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fort Walton Beach ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
Where Fort Walton Beach ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 20% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Walton Beach
A household needs to earn about $89,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Walton Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $78,518, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Fort Walton Beach's effective rate of 0.61%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Fort Walton Beach
Fort Walton Beach's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fort Walton Beach.
Who works in Fort Walton Beach, and how
Work in Fort Walton Beach centers on hospitality & food and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Fort Walton Beach
Fort Walton Beach has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of towns and more parkland per resident than 93% of towns. The coast is about 5 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Fort Walton Beach and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fort Walton Beach, month by month
Fort Walton Beach sees roughly 105 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 53° | 44° |
| April | 76° | 68° | 58° |
| July | 90° | 83° | 75° |
| October | 81° | 71° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Fort Walton Beach
The nearest airport, Eglin AFB/Destin-Ft Walton Beach, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 219 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fort Walton Beach
Schools across Fort Walton Beach average a B+, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Liza Jackson Preparatory SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Kenwood Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
- Wright Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clifford Meigs Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- W. C. Pryor Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Max Bruner Junior Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Fort Walton Beach High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Choctawhatchee Senior High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Okaloosa Technical CollegeF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fort Walton Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Walton Beach measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Fort Walton Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Fort Walton Beach suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Fort Walton Beach
Is Fort Walton Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Walton Beach ranks 21,954th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, walkability, and biking, and lowest on disaster risk and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fort Walton Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $347,566. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $78,518 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Fort Walton Beach safe?
Fort Walton Beach is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $240 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fort Walton Beach?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 44. That works out to about 105 pleasant days a year, more than 72% of towns.
Is Fort Walton Beach good for families?
Schools beat 73% of towns, crime safety beats 36%, and childcare runs $924 a month.
Compare Fort Walton Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Walton Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Walton Beach represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Fort Walton Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Walton Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Walton Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Walton Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Walton Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Walton Beach detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.