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Okaloosa County, FL — Grocery stores Saturation

How many grocery stores exist per person present — residents plus daytime workers — by ZIP code, compared with the U.S. average. Establishment data: Census ZBP 2023. Population: ACS 2024 5-year. 17 ZIP codes analyzed.

Includes: Supermarkets · Grocery stores · Neighborhood food markets. Counted together because official statistics use one 445110 code.

Measured density: Range spans bands — 0.66× the U.S. rate (between 0.66× and 1.12× once withheld ZIP cells are counted)

Why a range: Census does not publish a ZIP-by-industry count when that ZIP has 0–2 businesses. 12 ZIP cells in this county are withheld, 9 of them with residents. Each could hold 0, 1, or 2 businesses: counting them all as 0 gives the low end, counting them all as 2 gives the high end — the data cannot say where the truth sits. The density range uses only the populated cells, since ZIPs without residents are excluded from per-person rates. How ranges work

Range spans the U.S. rate   Okaloosa County grocery stores — 66–112% of the U.S. rate

26 grocery stores are counted in Okaloosa County — 1.0 per 10,000 people present (residents + daytime workers), 66% of the U.S. rate of 1.6.

On the comparable ZIP set (ZIPs with a published count in every year), the total has risen 30% between 2015 and 2023 (20 → 26). That set is smaller than today's county total. 2020–2021 were pandemic-distorted, and Census rounds counts, so small moves are within noise.

Measured supply density is highest in 32536 (Crestview), 32541 (Destin), 32548 (Fort Walton Beach) — well above the national rate. On measured density alone, the lowest-density residential ZIPs with a published count are 32578 (Niceville), 32547 (Fort Walton Beach), 32548 (Fort Walton Beach).

BLS QCEW puts the latest county-wide count (2026 Q1) at 29 establishments, the freshest available signal.

Measured density: Okaloosa County sits at 66% of the U.S. rate for grocery stores. 9 ZIPs with population have no published count (each 0–2 businesses), so the true per-capita rate is between 66% and 112% of the U.S. rate. Why. The highest measured density is in 32536 and 32541; the lowest measured density is in 32578 and 32547.

This is a supply-side read: it counts existing grocery stores and the people present, not foot traffic, income, rent, or whether locals want more. Treat low density as a question to check, not an answer.

Grocery stores
26–50
published count; upper bound counts each withheld ZIP cell as 2 (12 cells) (2023)
Per 10,000 present
1.0
residents + daytime workers
U.S. average
1.6
per 10,000 present
County index
0.66×
vs. U.S.
Latest quarter (QCEW)
29
2026 Q1 — county total
Residents
219,979
14 ZIPs with data
Workers
65,772
jobs located in county

Is the area growing?

Population
220,483
Census PEP, July 1 2024
Change since 2020
+4.0%
+8,386 people
Net migration 2024
+333
international +2,180, domestic −1,847
Jobs located here
89,366
LODES 2022, +6.4% since 2019

Okaloosa County had an estimated 220,483 residents on July 1, 2024 — 4.0% more than in 2020 (+8,386). In the latest year it gained 859 people: births minus deaths +529, international migration +2,180, domestic migration −1,847. Components are published separately and may not sum exactly.

89,366 jobs were located in the county in 2022 (+6.4% since 2019), and 81,005 employed residents lived there (+3.2% since 2019). LODES counts wage and salary jobs covered by unemployment insurance plus federal jobs; it excludes the self-employed and military, and counts jobs rather than unique people. 2019→2022 spans the pandemic, so read it as one change, not a trend.

Population and migration say whether the customer base is growing. They do not say whether people want another business of this type. Definitions and limits →  ·  Full county detail →

ZIP gaining residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
32567 Laurel Hill
+81.0%
32531 Baker
+32.4%
ZIP losing residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change

No ZIP had a statistically significant decrease.

ACS 5-year estimates for 2015–2019 and 2020–2024. Only ZIPs with at least 2,000 residents in both windows and a change larger than the survey margin of error (90%) are listed — small ZIPs move a lot on paper without a real signal.

Nonemployer businesses

Not shown. Census publishes grocery stores only combined with convenience stores in this dataset, so a grocery-only nonemployer count is not published.

Census Nonemployer Statistics 2024 (NAICS 2022). We do not approximate this figure.

Saturation map

Each ZIP area is shaded by its density of this business type per person present (residents + workers) vs. the U.S. average. Click any ZIP to zoom to its boundary, see its numbers, and switch to aerial imagery. Individual mapped shops appear as dots at street level — Show locations zooms you in to them (scroll or double-click to zoom).

Basemap:
Under 50% 50–100% 100–150% 150–250% 250%+ 0–2 (not published) / no data ZIP total (dot size) Mapped shop (OpenStreetMap, street level)

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, tiles by OpenFreeMap.

White dots are ZIP totals from the official Census count — the bigger the dot, the more grocery stores in that ZIP. They are aggregated, not individual shops. Turquoise dots are individual locations mapped in OpenStreetMap, shown only at street level; they are crowd-sourced and indicative, may be incomplete, and do not equal the official counts. Only the official ZIP totals feed the saturation index.

Market trend — up 30% since 2015

Number of grocery stores in Okaloosa County across 2015–2023, on a consistent set of ZIP codes present in every year — so changes are real, not ZIP-boundary artifacts. 2015/2018 are pre-pandemic baselines; 2020/2021 are COVID-distorted.

20
2015
22
2018
22
2020
22
2021
25
2022
26
2023

Highest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
32536 Crestview
153%
32541 Destin
125%
32548 Fort Walton Beach
105%
32547 Fort Walton Beach
79%
32578 Niceville
67%

Lowest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
32578 Niceville
67%
32547 Fort Walton Beach
79%
32548 Fort Walton Beach
105%
32541 Destin
125%
32536 Crestview
153%
Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A ZIP with few grocery stores may simply lack foot traffic, retail space, or demand. We rank only residential and mixed ZIPs here; employment hubs and visitor destinations are listed separately below. ZIPs where Census did not publish a count (0–2 businesses) are not ranked: they may be the least served of all, but the data cannot tell 0 from 1 or 2. Verify those locally.

All ZIP codes

Click a column header to sort. Index = grocery stores per 10,000 people present (residents + 0.5×workers) ÷ the U.S. average. 100% = exactly average.

ZIPNeighborhood ResidentsWorkersGrocery stores Per 10kIndexStatus
32536Crestview 25,5997,763 7 2.4 153% High density
32541Destin 18,85513,823 5 1.9 125% Above average
32548Fort Walton Beach 23,77413,599 5 1.6 105% Above average
32547Fort Walton Beach 35,52710,208 5 1.2 79% Below average
32578Niceville 34,7387,441 4 1.0 67% Below average
32531Baker 7,314316 0–2 — — Not published
32539Crestview 33,2903,910 0–2 — — Not published
32540Destin —244 0–2 — — Not published
32542Eglin Afb 3,5783,215 0–2 — — Not published
32544Hurlburt Field 2,256820 0–2 — — Not published
32549Fort Walton Beach —198 0–2 — — Not published
32564Holt 2,676142 0–2 — — Not published
32567Laurel Hill 5,609151 0–2 — — Not published
32569Mary Esther 12,0631,788 0–2 — — Not published
32579Shalimar 10,5061,541 0–2 — — Not published
32580Valparaiso 4,1941,055 0–2 — — Not published
32588Niceville —63 0–2 — — Not published

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Find an actual space in Destin

The numbers above tell you how the market looks. To find a specific storefront, these marketplaces list available retail space for lease.

LoopNet
Largest commercial marketplace
Browse Destin retail space →
Crexi
Free listings + market data
Browse Destin retail space →
CityFeet
Retail space for lease
Browse Destin retail space →

Open vacancy data (actual empty units) is only published by some cities; where it exists we show it directly. Listings above are third-party.

Census withholds some ZIP-by-industry cells to protect small businesses. 0–2 means the cell was not published (Census publishes industry counts only at 3+ per ZIP), so the ZIP is left unranked rather than counted as zero. ~ means the count is estimated from the broader industry group and can be off by a business or two.

Follow Okaloosa County and grocery stores

When a data vintage changes or a section of this report is revised, we post it to a public update feed. No email address, no account, no tracking — and nothing is sent unless something actually changed.

Subscribe to updates (RSS) How these numbers are built →

Methodology & sources

Establishments. U.S. Census ZIP Code Business Patterns (ZBP 2023), NAICS 445110 — supermarkets & other grocery stores. Counts establishments with paid employees. ZBP is published annually with a ~2-year lag.

Fresh county signal. BLS QCEW (quarterly) is newer than ZBP — 2026 Q1 shows 29 establishments county-wide for this industry. It cannot be broken down by ZIP.

Population. U.S. Census American Community Survey 2024 5-year ZCTA population (table B01003). Workers are the ZIP's total employment from the same 2023 ZBP file.

Demand ("people present"). Demand comes from residents and daytime workers: residents + 0.5 × workers. This is the single documented assumption in the model and can be tuned.

Index. index = (ZIP establishments ÷ ZIP demand × 10,000) ÷ the U.S. average for this industry (1.55 per 10,000 present). It is a supply-side density measure; it does not capture income, rent, tourism, or whether locals actually want more.

Read the full methodology →  ·  Data sources & vintages →

BizGapMap — free, no-login small-business saturation reports for major U.S. counties. Built entirely from public U.S. Census, BLS, and IRS data (ZBP 2023, ACS 2024 5-year, PEP 2024, LODES, QCEW, IRS SOI). No forecasts, no revenue guesses — withheld cells are marked, and the few derived counts are labelled as estimates.