Walton County Health Profile

Walton County Health Profile

Walton County Health Profile
State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota
June 16, 2014

Assessment
County Description
The Florida Community Health Assessment Resource Tool Set (CHARTS) is published by the Florida Department of Health (FDOH, 2014) to provide updated demographic and health status data of county and state populations. Unless otherwise cited, the source of all demographic, economic and health indicator data included in this report is the Florida Community Health Assessment Resource Tool Set (CHARTS) website (Florida Department of Health [FDOH], 2014). Walton County is located in the “panhandle” of northwestern Florida. The county is bordered by Okaloosa County on the west, and Bay, Holmes, and Washington Counties on the east, Alabama to the north, and the southern jurisdiction is divided by the prominent water feature Choctawhatchee Bay or River which leads to the Gulf of Mexico (Walton County Florida, 2014). First inhabited by the Euchees Indians, Walton County was formed in 1824 and named for Colonel George Walton, son of Georgia Governor George Walton; signer of the Declaration of Independence (Walton County Florida, 2014). The County consists of 1,038 square miles of land; Eglin Air Force Base occupies more than 20 percent, and 180 square miles of water which includes 26 miles of Gulf Coast shoreline (FDOH, 2014). Ten historical markers are located in Walton County (Walton County Florida, 2014).
According to the U.S. Census 2010, an average population density in Walton County in 2010 was 53 people per square mile, which is substantially lower than Florida State’s average of 350.6 people per square mile. There are only 3 incorporated areas in Walton County; the northern Town of Paxton, The City of Freeport to the south, and The City of DeFuniak Springs in the middle, which is also the county seat (Walton County Florida, 2014). According to the Florida Department of Health (FDOH), Walton County is one of the fastest...

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