Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL Metro Area

The Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL metro area is made up of 2 counties in Florida: Okaloosa and Walton. About 315,098 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 9.8% more than in April 2020.

Okaloosa County, centralWalton County, centralCrestviewFort Walton Beach
2 counties in Florida
Population, July 2025
315,098 9.8% more than in April 2020
Type
Metropolitan statistical area
Counties
2, both central
Land area
1,968 sq mi (5,098 km²)
Time zone
Central TimeUTC-06:00 in January; UTC-05:00 in July
State
Florida
CBSA code
18880

Counties in the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL metro area, largest first

CountyRolePopulation, July 2025Share of the area
Okaloosa CountyCentral221,81070.4%
Walton CountyCentral93,28829.6%

A central county holds the area’s core, an urban area of at least 50,000 people. This area has no outlying counties: no neighboring county sends enough commuters to join it. A county belongs to one metro or micro area at most, and it counts whole, countryside included.

Principal cities, largest first

  1. Crestview28,773 people
  2. Fort Walton Beach21,025 people
  3. Destin14,077 people

OMB names the area after its largest principal cities. A principal city is the area’s largest city, plus any other city that is very large or a big job center, and smaller ones with at least as many jobs as working residents (2020 Census and commuting figures). People counts are American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates.

Bordering metro and micro areas, nearest first

Areas with a county on this area’s edge. Distances are straight lines between the areas’ largest cities.

  1. Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL Metro Area42 mi southwest
  2. Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL Metro Area72 mi southeast
  3. Dothan, AL Metro Area77 mi northeast

Before using this answer on a form

A metro or micro area is a statistical area that OMB draws for federal statistics. It is not a city, a local government or a mailing address, and it is not a measure of urban and rural: whole counties count, rural parts included. Programs that use metro areas, such as housing income limits or wage rates, can use their own version of these lists; check the program’s own list for an address.

Find the metro area where you are now, find your county, or see every metro and micro area by population.

See this area on Census.gov ↗