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Place dossier plate
SheetFL-PANAMA-CITY-BEACH-FL · Panama City Beach, FL 18,493 pop · income 60th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Panama City Beach
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Panama City Beach on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Zephyrhills · lowest
49,295
Zephyrhills · lowest
49,295 median HH income
23.5% of the leader · rank #1
Clinton · near
78,909
Clinton · near
78,909 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #2
Greendale · near
78,912
Greendale · near
78,912 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #3
Morgan's Poin… · near
78,913
Morgan's Poin… · near
78,913 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #4
Panama City B… · this city
78,921
Panama City B… · this city
78,921 median HH income
37.6% of the leader · rank #5
Ocean Springs · near
78,929
Ocean Springs · near
78,929 median HH income
37.6% of the leader · rank #6
Franklin Farm · highest
210,169
Franklin Farm · highest
210,169 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Panama City Beach on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 18,493.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Panama City Beach places in the 60th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
60th
percentile, household income
79th
percentile, home value
73rd
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Panama City Beach, FL
Florida's Panama City Beach is a small town, with 18,493 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Panama City Beach households earn a median of $78,921 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 5.3%. Panama City Beach's housing stock carries a median value of $417,800, and the median resident age is 45.2 years. Educational attainment runs 36.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 62.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 418 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 87% from five years earlier.
Florida carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Florida at 103.4 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,526 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Florida's average monthly utility costs around $225 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 75.7 out of 100 (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Panama City Beach's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from population change to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Panama City Beach, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Panama City Beach growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +2,389 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +13.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 418 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Which cities make useful reference points for Panama City Beach?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Within Florida, the closest population matches are Glenvar Heights (18,488 residents, $71,067 income); Zephyrhills (18,471 residents, $49,295 income); Bayshore Gardens (18,324 residents, $50,896 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Oxon Hill, MD (18,491 residents); Seabrook, MD (18,495 residents); Ammon, ID (18,496 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
What does the journey to work look like in Panama City Beach?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 75.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
How far does income reach against housing in Panama City Beach?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 5.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Panama City Beach?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 6 public schools within the city match. 36.8% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
5.3%
Bachelor's degree+
36.8%
Matched public schools
6
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Above median income · poverty 5.3% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
103.4 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Florida average
C-
City profile score · Panama City Beach, FL
53/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share B
36.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate C+
5.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C
$78,921
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Cost of living F
103.4 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Panama City Beach profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 70/100 (B) · 36.8%
Poverty rate: 63/100 (C+) · 5.3%
Household income: 58/100 (C) · $78,921
Cost of living: 25/100 (F) · 103.4 index
How does Panama City Beach compare to other US cities?
Where Panama City Beach sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income60% higher than other cities
Home value79% pricier than other cities
Median rent73% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Panama City Beach against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Florida only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Florida-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Panama City Beach near the bottom of Florida's cities
Among the 930 Florida cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Panama City Beach ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Panama City Beach only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#330 of 903
63rd percentile in Florida
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 930
0th percentile in Florida
Median Home Value
#215 of 894
76th percentile in Florida
Poverty Rate
#605 of 930
34th percentile in Florida
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#295 of 930
68th percentile in Florida
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Florida only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
60th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Panama City Beach's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$417,80021st percentilemore affordable than 21% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Panama City Beach's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,310 of 15,516
More affordable than 14% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,737 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.3×, Panama City Beach sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,310 of 15,516 and #2,737 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$78,921Panama City Beach, FL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Panama City Beach, FL median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Panama City Beach, FL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)36.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)5.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
18,493
Median Income
$78,921
Median Home Value
$417,800
Median Age
45.2
Poverty Rate
5.3%
Labor force participation
62.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
36.8%
Schools
Total Schools
6
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Panama City Beach's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
17,986 residents
2021
18,331 residents
2022
19,099 residents
2023
19,570 residents
2024
19,979 residents
2025
20,375 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
418
housing units authorized
Single-Family
110
detached homes
Multifamily
308
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
22.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
223
223
0
$69.1M
2020
381
78
303
$52.2M
2021
604
64
540
$80.1M
2022
188
141
47
$83.1M
2023
116
114
2
$52.6M
2024
418
110
308
$96.6M
Permit volume increased 87% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
75.8%
Carpool
9.0%
Public Transit
0.1%
Walk
2.6%
Work from Home
10.7%
Other
1.8%
Based on 9,999 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Florida statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $225
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Florida at $225 (electricity about $145 , water and sewer about $55 ).
These are Florida statewide averages, not a meter reading for Panama City Beach. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Florida's BEA cost-of-living index is 103.4 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Panama City Beach is $1,526/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Florida statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 75.7 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Florida statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Panama City Beach sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Panama City Beach compares to similar-size Florida cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.