ZIP 32547 vs ZIP 32578

This side-by-side compares ZIP 32547 (Fort Walton Beach, FL) and ZIP 32578 (Niceville, FL) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 32547 has a population of 32,485 at 359 people per square mile, while ZIP 32578 has 30,108 at 483 per square mile. That difference in population size and density alone reshapes how every other metric should be interpreted — a higher-income ZIP with 1,200 residents behaves very differently from one with 45,000.

On income and education, ZIP 32547 reports a median household income of $70,711 against $108,972 in ZIP 32578, with per-capita income of $37,655 vs $53,107. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 27.5% in 32547 and 45.5% in 32578. Poverty rate reads 13.3% vs 8.1%, and unemployment 3.0% vs 3.4% — these four fields alone drive most of the difference in the scorecard grades you will see for each ZIP.

Housing separates these two ZIPs further: median home value sits at $321,300 in 32547 versus $447,700 in 32578, with median rent of $1,611 and $1,863 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 56.9% vs 78.9%. When reading the comparison table below, focus on paired metrics rather than single winners — a ZIP with lower home values and lower income is not strictly "worse" if rent-to-income ratios and commute times land in the same zone. Every value is pulled from the exact same ACS table so the two columns are genuinely comparable.