Census-designated place · Okaloosa County, Florida

Ocean City, Florida

Ocean City is a census-designated place in Okaloosa County, Florida, part of the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL metro area. It has 5,941 residents. Ocean City, Florida has a quality-of-life score of 49 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #7,996 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Florida it ranks #337 of 780 cities and towns. It ranks best on math scores (high), reading scores (high) and restaurants and bars (high). It ranks worst on rent-burdened households (high), uninsured residents (under 65) (high) and flu vaccinations (low).

49Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #7,996 of 15,651 cities and towns
Florida: #337 of 780 in FL
Population: 5,941 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 3,823.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 1250925

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety64#5,612/15,637
Economy52#7,465/15,631
Housing7#13,929/14,977
Health43#8,879/15,609
Healthcare46#8,473/15,650
Environment60#6,185/15,453
Education65#5,463/15,649
Infrastructure45#8,610/15,650
Community39#9,588/15,651
Leisure & amenities83#2,622/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Ocean City, Florida ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Okaloosa County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Math scores · high3.49
96/100Florida 3.28United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteOkaloosa County value
Reading scores · high3.39
94/100Florida 3.17United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteOkaloosa County value
Restaurants and bars · high14.3 /10k
94/100Florida 9.6 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsOkaloosa County value
Property crime rate · low473 /100k
91/100Florida 1,176 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2023Federal Bureau of InvestigationOkaloosa County value
Violent crime rate · low84 /100k
90/100Florida 261 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2023Federal Bureau of InvestigationOkaloosa County value
Time spent in the emergency room · low116 min
90/100Florida 158 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesOkaloosa County value

Weaknesses

Rent-burdened households · high54.9%
5/100Florida 60.1%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high18.9%
9/100Florida 13.7%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Flu vaccinations · low31.0%
10/100Florida 40.0%United States 44.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteOkaloosa County value
Students per teacher · high19.0×
10/100Florida 18.3×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsOkaloosa County value
Rent as share of income · high31.5%
11/100Florida 35.2%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Distance to an Amtrak station · high89 mi
12/100Florida 27 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauOkaloosa County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Broadband subscriptionsImproving
76.4% (2015-2019) → 93.2% (2020-2024)
+17 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateImproving
27.1% (2015-2019) → 12.1% (2020-2024)
−15 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Poverty rateImproving
17.4% (2015-2019) → 9.2% (2020-2024)
−8.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
3.7× (2015-2019) → 5.1× (2020-2024)
+39%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
61.6% (2015-2019) → 54.9% (2020-2024)
−6.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
24.7% (2015-2019) → 18.9% (2020-2024)
−5.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Ocean City, Florida improved on 4 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 8 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved4

Inequality−0.1460.511 → 0.365
Poverty−8.2 points17.4% → 9.2%
Broadband+17 points76.4% → 93.2%
Household income+25%$47,310 → $59,039

Declined1

Price / income+1.5×3.7× → 5.1×

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Ocean City, Florida between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	22.2 min2015-2019	25.0 min2020-2024	+2.8 min	Within the margin of error	21%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.0%2015-2019	26.5%2020-2024	−0.6 points	Within the margin of error	24%
Broadband subscriptions	76.4%2015-2019	93.2%2020-2024	+17 points	Improved	84%
Effective property tax rate	0.70%2015-2019	0.62%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	30%
High school diploma or higher	87.3%2015-2019	87.5%2020-2024	+0.2 points	Within the margin of error	35%
Home price to income ratio	3.7×2015-2019	5.1×2020-2024	+1.5×	Declined	10%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5112015-2019	0.3652020-2024	−0.146	Improved	99%
Median household income	$47,3102015-2019	$59,0392020-2024	+25%	Improved	44%
Poverty rate	17.4%2015-2019	9.2%2020-2024	−8.2 points	Improved	90%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	33.0%2015-2019	31.5%2020-2024	−1.5 points	Within the margin of error	66%
Rent-burdened households	61.6%2015-2019	54.9%2020-2024	−6.7 points	Within the margin of error	76%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	24.7%2015-2019	18.9%2020-2024	−5.8 points	Within the margin of error	89%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Ocean City, Florida five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Ocean City, Florida in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Ocean City, Florida itself moved +9.5 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

5,941 residents (±745)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

2,631 households (±338)

Ocean City, Florida
Florida share

Under $25k10.0%†263
$25k–50k26%†695
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

2,631 households (±338)

Ocean City, Florida
Florida share

Own58%1,517
Rent42%1,114

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

3,385 workers (±508)

Ocean City, Florida
Florida share

Drive alone78%2,642
Carpool18%†611
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Okaloosa County, the county holding most of Ocean City's residents.

Okaloosa County has 6,011 employer establishments, 274 for every 10,000 residents (1.10× the US rate of 248; 0.97× Florida's), with 64,766 paid employees at an average annual pay of $49,784. The Census Bureau also counts 21,815 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 6,011; 21,815 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 274; US 248 · Florida 282
Paid employees: 64,766
Average annual pay: $49,784; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Okaloosa County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	586	26.7	1.28×More than typical	5,720	$61,127	889
Restaurants and other eating places	492	22.4	1.22×About typical	10,226	$25,977	124
Lessors of real estate	486	22.1	1.80×More than typical	1,515	$44,782	2,667
Specialty trade contractors	402	18.3	1.18×About typical	2,568	$47,569	1,479
Real estate agents and brokers	244	11.1	2.28×More than typical	393	$50,858	931
Offices of physicians	239	10.9	1.68×More than typical	2,269	$73,344	185
Services to buildings and dwellings	235	10.7	1.59×More than typical	1,243	$37,245	2,253
Full-service restaurants	228	10.4	1.35×More than typical	5,539	$29,785	52
Construction of buildings	221	10.1	1.33×More than typical	691	$57,467	812
Limited-service restaurants	204	9.3	1.16×About typical	4,070	$21,338	44
Offices of other health practitioners	199	9.1	1.49×More than typical	1,029	$46,040	447
Management, scientific and technical consulting	153	7	1.04×About typical	750	$111,215	685

Rank places for an industry Open Okaloosa County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 219,674 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $795.8K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Ocean City, Florida: $134 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $795.8K; +65% vs FY2025
Per resident: $134; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.9%; US 30%
Single offer: 1.0%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

U.S. Marshals Service$444.7K56%
Department of the Air Force$247.6K31%
Federal Bureau of Investigation$58.8K7.4%
Department of the Navy$42.1K5.3%
Department of the Army$1,7360.2%
Federal Acquisition Service$8030.1%

Top recipients

WILLIAMS ELECTRIC CO INC$444.7K56%
ANYAR INC.$95.6K12%
NWF CONTRACTORS INC$87.5K11%
ACADEMY OF APPLIED TECHNOLOGY, LLC$58.8K7.4%
CSA GLOBAL LLC$42.1K5.3%

Spending by fiscal year

3.6MFY2017
2.1MFY2018
749.2KFY2019
594.4KFY2020
776.7KFY2021
709.8KFY2022
473.2KFY2023
-7.7KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Building equipment contractors · 2382$357.9K45%
Scientific research and development services · 5417$95.6K12%
Foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors · 2381$87.5K11%
Other transportation equipment manufacturing · 3369$86.8K11%
Business schools and computer and management training · 6114$58.8K7.4%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Ocean City, Florida, so they do not add up across cities.

Ocean City, Florida's figures are part of those of Okaloosa County, FL ($1.3B in FY2026), never added to them: 0.1% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Ocean City is mostly in Okaloosa County.

See federal money in Okaloosa County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Ocean City, Florida is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Jimmy PatronisR-FL-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 97%Missed 0.2%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Okaloosa County77100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL70

Other cities and towns in Okaloosa County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/1250925

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends