When you think about Florida, the beach comes to mind. Relocating to Fort Walton Beach is all about living on the beach, but without the large city congestion.

Fort Walton Beach is a small city in Okaloosa County, Florida. Located on what is often called Florida's panhandle, this city of 19,973 is also part of what is called the “Emerald Coast” of Florida, and borders on the Gulf of Mexico. Directly on the sea shore (with an elevation of just 18 feet above sea level), Fort Walton Beach takes up just 7.4 square miles of land, and has shown a marked decrease in population over the last 15 years or so (a loss of 6.5%).

Some other information on relocating to Fort Walton Beach, Florida can be found in the city's population statistics. The median age of the residents in this city is 38.7 years. 76.5% of Fort Walton Beach's population designated itself as white/non-Hispanic in the recent census, and 13.3% stated they were Black. 4% of the population claimed Hispanic heritage and the rest of the population is of mixed race or other races. 21.3% of the adult population of Fort Walton Beach holds a Bachelor's Degree or higher, and 52.5% of the adults here were married at the time of census.

The median yearly household income in Fort Walton Beach, Florida is $40,153, with the average price of purchasing a house in this city being $87,300. Rentals are also available in the city – the average cost of a month's rent for housing here is $497. Most of the residents in Fort Walton Beach choose to purchase homes, however, with the length of stay before relocating in this city being higher than elsewhere in Florida. Crime here is on a par with the average rate of crime throughout the United States – on a crime rate index scale, the average score for the US is 325.2, and the rate for Fort Walton Beach is 336.3.

Other information on relocating to Fort Walton Beach, Florida that is important to note is the climate of the area. This part of Florida (on the Gulf of Mexico) has widely varying temperatures, from highs reaching to over 95ºF in the summer months, and lows reaching to around 35ºF in the winter. Precipitation here is also above the United States' average, with amounts in July and August reaching nine inches per month. The amount of sunshine in Fort Walton Beach is, on average, higher than in the rest of the US.

Fort Walton Beach, Florida is about 40 miles away from the nearest medium sized city – Pensacola, Florida. The nearest universities and colleges to Fort Walton Beach are Pensacola Junior College (about 40 miles away) and The University of West Florida (43 miles away in Pensacola). Fort Walton Beach is also a location of a lot of tornado activity – 40% more tornadoes are found here than in the rest of the nation.

Lou Ross is with MovingCompaniesforYou.com - find moving companies.