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Moving to
Pace.
Pace is an unincorporated community in Santa Rosa County, FL. It has no city government: the county runs it, and the Census counts it as its own place.
What it's like to live in Pace
Pace is an unincorporated community in Florida with rent below the national average, home prices that remain within reach, and a population that has grown fast since 2020. Those factors carry real weight for anyone weighing where to move next.
The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. Pace deals with commute times longer than most cities, larger class sizes than the national average, hot summers, and very rainy.
The good
- Rent below the national average
- Affordable home prices
- Fast-growing population
The not so good
- Above-average commute times
- High student-teacher ratio
- Hot summers
- Very rainy — 68" of rain per year
- Smaller place — fewer dining and entertainment options
- Car-dependent — few commuters use transit
How Pace compares
Median household income
Median rent (per month)
Median home value
What it takes to move to Pace
Based on Pace's median rent, home value and household income
To rent
$2,564
up front: first month plus a typical one-month deposit
- Income to keep rent under 30%: $51,280 a year
- 40% of Pace renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent
To buy
$58,760
a 20% down payment on the median home
- With 10% down: $29,380
- Homes cost 3.6× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)
Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.
The details
Cost of livingNear US average
$1,282/mo median rent
Cost of living works in this city's favor. Median rent sits around $1,282 a month, nothing that raises eyebrows. Solid value overall. Home prices are reasonable, with a median around $293,800. Not a steal, but not intimidating either.
Median home value $293,800 · 40% of renters cost-burdened
Job market
4.1% county unemployment
Unemployment in Santa Rosa County is 4.1%, close to the national average of 4.3%. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.
Santa Rosa County (county-wide)
Safety
141 violent crimes per 100k, whole jurisdiction
Pace doesn't have its own police department, so there's no crime rate for it alone. The figures shown are for the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction as a whole, which runs below the national average for violent crime and covers many communities. Individual neighborhoods can differ a lot from that overall rate.
Property crime 487/100k · Policed by Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office (county-wide rate) · 2025 data
Getting around▲ 11% above US
29 min average commute
Commutes run about average, at 28.8 minutes. Fine day to day, but it adds up over a year, and where someone lives relative to where they work starts to matter. 9 in 10 workers drive to work; 13% work from home.
How workers get to work
Climate
Summers are hot and humid, with highs regularly hitting 90°F, and winters are mild, with lows rarely dropping below 45°F. It's a wet climate overall.
Average month
30-year averages, 1991–2020
Education & workforce▼ 13% below US
31% bachelor's degree or higher
Education levels run about average, with 31% college-educated. It's a mix of white-collar and blue-collar work, which can be an asset or a limitation depending on the field.
Schools
4 public schools inside the boundary
There are 4 public schools inside the boundary. The student-to-teacher ratio is 21:1, above the national average of 16:1.
Parks & recreation
The nearest national park or historic site is Gulf Islands National Seashore (19 miles away).
Bottom line
Pace's strongest points are rent below the national average and home prices that remain within reach; the main tradeoffs are commute times longer than most cities and hot summers. A year of median rent ($1,282/mo) equals 19% of the median household income here, about the same as the 21% typical nationwide. Whether it fits comes down to the specifics: the neighborhood, the job, and what matters most in the move.
Other places near Pace
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