Wakulla County

Wakulla County, Florida — key demographics (latest available)

Population

• Total population: 36,200 (2023 estimate)

Age

• Median age: 41.4 years
• Under 18: 23%
• 18–64: 61%
• 65 and over: 16%

Gender

• Male: 53%
• Female: 47%

Race and ethnicity (share of total population)

• White, non-Hispanic: 79%
• Black or African American: 12%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race): 6%
• Two or more races: 2%
• American Indian/Alaska Native: 0.7%
• Asian: 0.6%

Households and housing

• Households: 12,940
• Average household size: 2.73
• Family households: ~9,700 (about 75% of households)
• Owner-occupied housing: 83%
• Renter-occupied housing: 17%
• Median household income: $69,000
• Persons in poverty: 11%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Population Estimates Program (PEP) for population; 2018–2022 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates for age, sex, race/ethnicity, and household characteristics.

Wakulla County, FL snapshot (2024 est.)

• Population and density: ~35,700 residents; ~59 people per square mile.
• Estimated email users: ~27,000 residents actively use email (≈90% of adults and most teens 15–17).
• Age distribution of email users: 13–17: 6%; 18–29: 14%; 30–49: 34%; 50–64: 28%; 65+: 18%.
• Gender split among email users: ~51% female, 49% male.
• Digital access and usage:
  • Households with an internet subscription: ~88%.
  • Households with broadband at home (cable/fiber/DSL/fixed wireless): ~84–86%.
  • Mobile-only internet households: ~8–10%.
  • No home internet: ~5–7% (email use primarily via public Wi‑Fi, work, or mobile data).
• Connectivity context:
  • Most residents cluster around Crawfordville/US‑319, where cable and 5G coverage are widespread and typical fixed speeds exceed 100 Mbps.
  • Rural coastal and forest tracts see thinner fixed-broadband choices and greater reliance on mobile and satellite.
  • Public libraries and schools in Crawfordville provide free Wi‑Fi and devices, bridging access for low‑income and student households.

Overall insight: Email is near-universal among working‑age adults, with slightly lower adoption in the 65+ and most rural segments; improvements track ongoing broadband build‑outs along the main population corridors.

Mobile phone usage summary for Wakulla County, Florida (modeled 2024)

Headline estimates

• Total residents: ~35,600 (2023 population context)
• Mobile-phone users (any mobile phone): ~30,500 residents, 85.6% of the population
• Smartphone users: ~29,300 residents, 82.2% of the population
• Adult smartphone penetration (18+): ~92% of adults
• Senior (65+) smartphone penetration: ~80%
• Teen (11–17) smartphone penetration: ~95%
• Households: ~13,700
• Mobile-only home internet households (no fixed broadband, rely on cellular): ~2,050, about 15%

Demographic breakdown of use (modeled from age structure and national adoption rates)

• Children 0–10: ~12% of population; ~10% have a mobile phone, ~7% a smartphone
• Teens 11–17: ~8% of population; ~97% have a mobile phone, ~95% a smartphone
• Adults 18–34: ~20% of population; ~99% have a mobile phone, ~98% a smartphone
• Adults 35–64: ~41% of population; ~97% have a mobile phone, ~95% a smartphone
• Seniors 65+: ~19% of population; ~90% have a mobile phone, ~80% a smartphone

Digital infrastructure and service quality

• Coverage and technology: All three national carriers provide 4G LTE countywide with mid-band 5G concentrated along the US‑319/US‑98 corridors (Crawfordville through Wakulla Station, north toward Tallahassee). 5G availability thins toward the coast and inside/around St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge and Wakulla Springs State Park, where service can drop to LTE or become spotty.
• Capacity and speeds: Typical mid-band 5G throughput near populated corridors ranges ~100–300 Mbps down in good signal; LTE in rural tracts commonly delivers ~5–30 Mbps down with higher latency. mmWave 5G is not a factor; macro sites dominate.
• Backhaul: Fiber backhaul follows the main north–south corridor; outside it, sites often rely on microwave or older copper-fed plant, which constrains peak performance and uplink.
• Fixed broadband context: Cable broadband is available in and around Crawfordville; legacy DSL is common in outlying areas; selective fiber-to-the-home pockets exist in newer subdivisions. This uneven fixed footprint contributes to higher-than-average mobile-only reliance.
• Resilience: Carrier hardening and AT&T FirstNet upgrades on macro towers support public safety, but low site density means localized outages (storms, power loss) can produce wider coverage gaps than in urban Florida. Temporary COWs/COLTs are used during major weather events.
• Public access: Libraries, schools, and county buildings provide Wi‑Fi offload that complements mobile connectivity, particularly for households without reliable fixed service.

How Wakulla differs from Florida overall

• Higher mobile-only internet reliance: About 15% of Wakulla households rely on cellular data as their primary home internet versus roughly 11% statewide. This reflects patchier fixed-broadband availability outside the US‑319 spine.
• Slightly lower fixed-broadband subscription: Household fixed-broadband take-up in Wakulla trails the Florida average by several points (roughly mid‑80s percent locally vs upper‑80s statewide), boosting day‑to‑day dependence on smartphones and hotspotting.
• Coverage variability more pronounced: Dead zones and performance dips near protected lands and coastal lowlands are more common than the Florida average, which tempers smartphone adoption among the oldest residents and pushes carrier choice based on coverage rather than price/features.
• Younger working‑age tilt vs many rural counties: As a commuter county in the Tallahassee metro, Wakulla has a strong 35–64 cohort and high adult smartphone penetration (~92%), yielding overall smartphone usage levels close to state norms despite rural infrastructure constraints.
• Usage patterns: Daytime network load shifts toward the US‑319 corridor and north into Leon County, with fewer seasonal/tourism spikes than Florida’s coastal resort counties, and more pronounced storm‑driven surges during hurricane season.

Interpretation and implications

• The county’s overall smartphone usage is only a few points below Florida’s urbanized areas, but usage is more infrastructure‑constrained: users experience bigger swings in speed/latency as they move away from the Crawfordville–US‑319 corridor.
• Seniors are the main adoption gap. Improving reliable 5G/LTE coverage and fixed broadband in coastal and protected‑land adjacency zones would narrow the senior smartphone gap and reduce the mobile‑only household share.
• For providers and public agencies, targeted tower densification, fiber backhaul expansion, and redundancy along coastal/forest edges would yield outsized benefits compared with the same investments in already‑served corridors.

Method notes and sources

• Population and household context: U.S. Census Bureau/ACS 2023 estimates for Wakulla County (rounded).
• Adoption rates: Pew Research Center national smartphone and mobile-phone ownership by age (latest pre‑2025 releases), applied to Wakulla’s age structure to produce modeled local counts.
• Fixed broadband/mobile‑only household context and coverage patterns: FCC National Broadband Map (2023–2024 vintages) and carrier public coverage disclosures for Florida Panhandle counties, translated into county‑level tendencies.
• Figures shown are modeled point estimates for 2024 using the above sources; they are appropriate for planning and market sizing and align with observed rural–suburban patterns in the Tallahassee metro.

Wakulla County, FL — Social Media Usage (modeled local estimates, 2024)

Population baseline

• Adult residents (18+): ~27,200 out of ~35,400 total residents

Overall social media reach

• Monthly social media users: ~20,000 adults (74% of 18+)
• Gender split among users: Women 52% (10,400), Men 48% (9,600)

Most-used platforms (share of adult residents; approximate user counts)

• YouTube: 61% (~16,600)
• Facebook: 55% (~15,000)
• Instagram: 35% (~9,500)
• TikTok: 24% (~6,500)
• Snapchat: 22% (~6,000)
• Pinterest: 20% (~5,400)
• X (Twitter): 16% (~4,400)
• Nextdoor: 12% (~3,300)

Age profile and adoption

• 18–29: 17% of adults (4,600); social media adoption 93% (4,300 users). Platform mix skews to YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat; Facebook lower but still material.
• 30–49: 32% (8,700); adoption 84% (7,300 users). Strong on YouTube and Facebook; Instagram solid; TikTok moderate.
• 50–64: 28% (7,600); adoption 73% (5,600 users). Facebook and YouTube dominate; Instagram and Pinterest secondary; some Nextdoor.
• 65+: 23% (6,300); adoption 45% (2,800 users). Facebook and YouTube lead; modest Nextdoor; limited use of Instagram/TikTok.

Behavioral trends and local patterns

• Facebook Groups are the community hub for local news, county services, school updates, lost-and-found pets, buy/sell/trade, and hurricane-season alerts.
• Video is the engagement driver: short vertical clips on Facebook/Instagram/TikTok and how-to/outdoor content on YouTube (fishing, boating, hunting, storm prep).
• Peak activity windows cluster in the evenings (roughly 7–10 p.m.) and weekends; engagement spikes around severe weather, school events, and high school sports.
• Messenger and Facebook’s native sharing carry most peer-to-peer distribution; cross-posting from Tallahassee media pages regularly travels into Wakulla feeds.
• Business usage centers on Facebook and Instagram for event promotion, specials, and boosted posts with tight geo-radius targeting; service trades and outdoor/recreation brands perform best with before/after reels, quick tips, and seasonal checklists.
• Nextdoor is used for neighborhood-level awareness (contractor referrals, roadwork, lost pets) but remains smaller than Facebook Groups in overall reach.
• Platform skews: Facebook/Pinterest lean female; YouTube/X/Reddit lean male; TikTok/Instagram are the youngest-skewing channels; LinkedIn remains niche locally.

Notes on method and sources

• Figures are modeled local estimates: county adult population and age structure drawn from U.S. Census/ACS; platform adoption rates benchmarked to recent Pew Research Center findings and age-weighted to Wakulla’s profile, with rural-South adjustments (elevated Facebook, reduced LinkedIn/Reddit, moderate Nextdoor). Estimates reflect resident adults and exclude visitors.