akashic
1876–2024
Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL·Florida

For seventy-six years, Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL voted Democratic. Then it stopped.

A military-anchored Florida Panhandle corridor where Eglin Air Force Base shapes the electorate

1876 — 2024·38 elections
FL
Latest
R+47
in 2024
Archetype
Realigner
since the recent cycles
Population
299,547
2024 ACS

Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL, Florida: Realigner metro. In 2024, voted R+47%. Democratic peak: D+79 in 1932.

Key facts

2024 presidential margin
R+47MIT Election Lab
Political archetype
RealignerAkashic typology
Population
299,5472024 5-year
Median household income
$81,9952024 5-year
White (non-Hispanic)
75.1%2024 5-year
Black
7.9%2024 5-year
Hispanic / Latino
10.6%2024 5-year
Peak Democratic margin
D+79 in 1932MIT Election Lab
Peak Republican margin
R+77 in 1972MIT Election Lab
2024 results by constituent county
2 counties · 0 D · 2 R
R+60
D+60
One cell per constituent county. Ordered by 2024 D-vs-R margin (bluest first). Hover for county-level numbers.
38 presidential elections
Source · MIT Election Lab · ICPSR · VEST (precinct-level 2024).
YearWonMarginDemocraticRepublicanTotal
R
−47.2%
42,315119,244163,151
R
−42.6%
44,586112,745160,084
R
−49.8%
30,65697,649134,492
R
−49.9%
30,09291,658123,292
R
−45.1%
33,04688,350122,575
R
−54.2%
25,58187,248113,732
R
−46.8%
22,63264,37289,142
R
−33.8%
21,80448,39278,562
R
−30.0%
15,92638,54475,323
R
−56.9%
12,98847,87961,270
R
−63.7%
9,80744,17053,986
R
−35.4%
15,20532,76649,659
R
−5.1%
19,40621,52541,574
R
−76.6%
3,83129,52033,525
O
−8.5%
4,1236,48827,983
R
−14.0%
10,33913,71424,053
D
+31.7%
11,9056,16918,074
D
+34.3%
8,9734,39413,367
D
+39.9%
8,9683,85712,825
D
+48.0%
4,8851,1387,806
D
+61.1%
5,4461,3156,761
D
+63.6%
6,2201,3847,604
D
+68.7%
5,2119676,178
D
+79.1%
4,6145375,151
R
−33.6%
1,4112,8604,309
D
+50.1%
1,4674032,125
D
+27.6%
1,8651,0303,022
D
+20.7%
1,3568522,429
D
+50.9%
612741,056
D
+13.9%
504369972
D
+4.2%
354322755
—
No data
———
—
No data
———
—
No data
———
—
No data
———
D
+22.8%
484304788
—
No data
———
—
No data
———

Demographics

Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
13.7%
German
12.0%
Irish
11.3%
American
7.2%
Italian
4.8%
Scottish
2.5%
French
2.2%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity that overlaps the race categories, so these shares can total more than 100%. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 39.2 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
0.6%
85+
1.0%
2.4%
75–84
2.8%
5.3%
65–74
5.6%
6.8%
55–64
6.9%
5.6%
45–54
5.6%
6.9%
35–44
6.4%
7.7%
25–34
6.6%
4.3%
18–24
3.5%
8.2%
5–17
7.9%
3.1%
<5
2.9%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Median household income
2024 inflation-adjusted dollars
$81,995
Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL ranks near the middle of US counties.
Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL$81,995
Florida$74,568
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
10.2%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1815.2%
Working age (18–64)8.9%
Seniors (65+)7.5%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
88.6%
speak English only
Spanish6.8%
Other Indo-European2.4%
Asian & Pacific Islander1.9%
Other languages0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Other Christian
15.4%
Baptist
10.7%
Catholic & Orthodox
8.9%
Methodist
8.8%
Pentecostal & Holiness
2.5%
Mainline Protestant
1.3%
Non-Christian
0.7%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 51.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Home to Eglin AFB and Hurlburt Field, this northwest Florida metro carries one of the state's highest concentrations of active-duty and veteran households, a demographic profile that has consistently produced double-digit Republican presidential margins.

The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin in Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL peaked at seventy-nine points in 1932; it narrowed steadily over the late twentieth century. The 1964 election delivered the metro to the Republican party for the first time in many years, by a margin of fourteen points. By 2024, the margin had widened further.

The economic and demographic context is severe. The median household income of $81,995 is among the lowest at this geographic scale; 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line.

Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL, Florida — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/18880/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0

Frequently asked questions

How did Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL, Florida vote in 2024?
In 2024, Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL, Florida voted Republican by 47.2 points (R+47), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 163,151 votes cast, 42,315 went Democratic and 119,244 went Republican.
What is Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL, Florida's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL, Florida as a "Realigner" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 15 times, Republican 16 times, and other 1 times.
When did Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL, Florida last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL, Florida voted Democratic was 1960.
How many people live in Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL, Florida?
Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL, Florida has a population of 299,547 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL, Florida?
Median household income in Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL, Florida is $81,995 — above the national median of $80,734. The Florida state median is $74,568.
What is the political history of Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL, Florida?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL, Florida from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 15 went Democratic and 16 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Realigner" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.