Average Rent in Wakulla County, FL: The Number and the Context

What is the average rent in Wakulla County, FL? Zillow’s Observed Rent Index puts the typical Wakulla County rent at about $1,649 a month, and rents are up 2.3% over the past year. Below: the trend, how renting compares with owning here right now, and what the ratio between prices and rents says about this market.

Wakulla County rent at a glance

Renting versus owning in Wakulla County right now

Right now the modeled all-in monthly cost of OWNING the typical Wakulla County home (principal and interest at today’s rate with 20% down, plus tax and insurance) runs about $1,706 — roughly $57 a month more than typical rent. That gap is the price of fixing your housing cost and building equity; whether it is worth paying depends on your hold period, your down payment’s opportunity cost, and where rents go next. The rent vs buy calculator runs the break-even for Wakulla County with your own numbers.

What the price-to-rent ratio says

Wakulla County’s typical home value ($289,715) divided by a year of typical rent works out to a price-to-rent ratio of about 14.6. As a rule of thumb, ratios under ~15 favor buying, 15–20 is a judgment call, and above ~20 favors renting on pure monthly math — before Florida specifics like the homestead exemption, the Save Our Homes cap, and insurance costs move the answer for any specific household. Investors read the same ratio in reverse: our county model puts the gross cap rate near 6.8%.

For renters weighing a first purchase

Renting is not “throwing money away” — it buys flexibility and shields you from maintenance, insurance and rate risk. Buying wins when you stay long enough for equity and fixed costs to overtake that flexibility premium. Three Florida-specific facts tilt the math: your property tax is set by YOUR purchase price (not the seller’s bill — model it with the property tax calculator), homestead then caps assessment growth at 3%% a year while rents float with the market, and insurance varies enough by home that a quote belongs in your budget before you shop. The buyer closing costs calculator shows the real cash needed to make the switch.

Demand and supply in Wakulla County right now

In the most recent IRS migration data (2022-2023), Wakulla County gained a net 872 people to relocation. Households moving IN reported average incomes of $70,437 versus $55,826 for those leaving — the income mix of demand, straight from tax filings. Population is up about 8.6% over the recent multi-year window. On the supply side, builders pulled 518 residential permits in Wakulla County in 2025 (518 single-family), up 10.7% year over year — against 534 at the 2023 peak. Permits are tomorrow’s inventory: a shrinking pipeline supports prices, a swelling one hands buyers leverage. Our valuation model reads the county as undervalued by about 20.6% versus its income-and-rent fundamentals.

The Wakulla County market, in context

Wakulla County is Crawfordville and the wild Big Bend coast — a fast-growing but still-rural county just south of Tallahassee, home to the spectacular Wakulla Springs, the St. Marks coast, and the Apalachicola National Forest. It blends a capital-commuter bedroom community with genuine old-Florida nature.

The economy behind the market: {'drivers': 'government (Tallahassee commute), healthcare, forestry, and nature tourism', 'summary': "Wakulla's economy is increasingly tied to Tallahassee — a large and growing share of residents commute north to state-government and university jobs — alongside forestry in the national forest, a small local healthcare-and-services base, and nature tourism around Wakulla Springs and the St. Marks coast. It is one of the faster-growing rural counties as the capital expands south.", 'employers': ['Wakulla County School District', 'Wakulla County government', 'state government (Tallahassee commute)', 'forestry (Apalachicola National Forest)', 'nature tourism (Wakulla Springs, St. Marks)', 'regional healthcare'], 'jobNote': "A large and growing share of Wakulla residents commute to Tallahassee's state-government and university jobs."}

What could change it: Wakulla's risks are coastal-and-rural: the low-lying St. Marks and Panacea coast carries hurricane-and-surge exposure (recent Big Bend storms like Helene hit the coast hard), forestry-and-government economic concentration, and the growing pains of fast commuter growth. Inland Crawfordville carries lower surge risk, and insurance rises toward the coast.

Near-term outlook: Expect Wakulla to keep growing as a Tallahassee bedroom county over the next 12 months, with affordability and nature pulling steady demand to Crawfordville and the coast working through storm-and-insurance considerations.

Run the numbers in Wakulla County

• Find the best agent in Wakulla County
• Get a cash offer in Wakulla County
• Wakulla County housing scorecard
• What would selling net you
• Buyer closing costs calculator

Common questions

Rent figures: Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), a smoothed measure of typical asking rents; ownership costs are Momentum model estimates. As of 2026-06-16; figures change monthly and are deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Not financial advice. Equal Housing Opportunity.