Fort Walton Beach is a medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Florida. With a population of 20,925 people and 15 associated neighborhoods, Fort Walton Beach is the 140th largest community in Florida.

There are quite a few people in the armed forces living in Fort Walton Beach, and when you visit or drive around town, you will see military people in and out of uniform, shopping, enjoying life, and being part of the community.

Also of interest is that Fort Walton Beach has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

A relatively large number of people in Fort Walton Beach telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 7.80% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

Fort Walton Beach is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.

In terms of college education, Fort Walton Beach is somewhat better educated than the 21.84% who have a 4-year degree or higher in the typical US community: 27.76% of adults 25 and older in the city have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Fort Walton Beach in 2022 was $37,973, which is middle income relative to Florida, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $151,892 for a family of four. However, Fort Walton Beach contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Fort Walton Beach is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Fort Walton Beach home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Fort Walton Beach residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Fort Walton Beach also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 11.47% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Fort Walton Beach include German, English, Irish, Scottish, and Italian.

The most common language spoken in Fort Walton Beach is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Thai.