SEASIDE, Fla. — Looking out the window of his family’s old grocery store, Charlie Modica sees few signs of the quiet beach town he moved to decades ago.
Visitors with shopping bags now hurry across a busy square built on land that used to be filled with nothing but scrub oak. Cars playing country music pack streets that were once sandy and unpaved.
A wave of newcomers moving to the beach towns across is transforming the region from an undeveloped outpost into one of the fastest-growing areas along the Gulf Coast.
Some fear the population explosion is creating congestion that threatens their paradise. But Modica views it as a gift.
“Look at all these people,” he said as he glanced out at the bustling sidewalk. “They’re happy. How could that be wrong?”
The story unfolding across this gleaming stretch of coastline is remarkable: The U.S. Census Bureau estimates more than 17,000 new residents have arrived since 2020, growing the region’s population by 24%.
The shift, along with the county’s thriving tourism industry, is generating an economic boom and luring more businesses to meet the needs of families who have long dreamed of laid-back lives near the beach.
Modica Market, a gourmet grocery store, has served customers in Seaside, Florida, for decades and witnessed the county’s transformational growth.
Staff photo by Martha Sanchez
It is also forcing county leaders to scramble as they confront tough new questions about surging traffic and increasingly crowded shores.
How growth plays out in 30A — and whether county leaders can keep pace with it — could hold lessons for communities across the , where many vacation spots beloved by Louisiana visitors are getting more popular and expensive than ever.
And in this part of the Florida Panhandle, where the population is expected to surge from 93,000 to more than 100,000 people by 2030, striking a balance between growth and preservation is becoming a race against time.
“It’s tough,” said Dan Curry, a county commissioner who worries projects like road repairs must be done now before the population rises further. “Pushing it off is not the answer.”
30A appeal grows
The land between once was wild and isolated, home to only a handful of residents who lived in wooden cottages along the windswept dunes.
Then, beginning in the 1950s, developers started selling lots and luring affluent Southerners with promises of utopia. Soon, the state built the beach road that became the region’s namesake. And the draw to 30A has only grown since.
“They just keep coming,” Russ Barley, the mayor of Freeport, just north of 30A, said this week. The added tax revenues have grown the city’s annual budget to nearly $100 million, up from around $20 million about a decade ago.
Barley names dozens of developments — including a grocery store, more apartment buildings and a Walmart — arriving with the rising population. Some longtime residents in the area are selling their land and cashing in. And the newcomers snatching up properties say life here brings them peace.
Heather O’Connor and her daughter, Kinley, moved to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, from Jonesboro, Arkansas, in May. They plan to start an interior design business in Walton County called Rooted and Refined Restorations.
Photo courtesy Heather O’Connor
“You run into people that have a lot of joy and good vibes because they’re here on vacation,” said Heather O’Connor, who moved with her daughter to an apartment in the Santa Rosa Beach community from Jonesboro, Arkansas, last month. They plan to start an interior design business and are still in awe over the coastal scenery.
“Even just going to church or the gas station or the grocery store, you’re surrounded by beauty,” O’Connor said.
Another newcomer, Selah Hirsch, moved in nearby with her husband and four children last August. They arrived from Oklahoma City seeking a beach lifestyle that would let them slow down amid busy weeks. Hirsch runs a branding agency and, like many professionals moving here, works remotely.
“It just instantly felt like the place we were supposed to bring our family to,” she said.
Michael and Selah Hirsch and their four children moved to Walton County, Florida, from Oklahoma City in 2025.
Photo courtesy Selah Hirsch
Crowds and traffic
But the region’s beauty is so great that it is growing increasingly crowded.
So many sunbathers are now lounging across the white sand shoreline that many waterfront property owners are hiring security guards to enforce trespassing rules on more strictly than ever. Traffic, once confined to holidays like the Fourth of July, is now a year-round dilemma.
Home prices are also soaring — the county’s median has jumped from around $650,000 in 2020 to nearly $850,000 today. Even old streets still lined with cottages are feeling the pressure.
“Some people look at the early Seaside neighborhoods and say, ‘Why are all these small shacks not being replaced by big monster houses?’” said Robert Davis, the developer who designed and founded the popular community four decades ago. “It’s something that concerns me.”
Leaders around the region are raising several ideas to solve the challenges of crowds. The county is considering adding more sand to re-nourish and expand the beaches. Davis suggested Seaside’s bike path should become wider and smoother to lure more residents off the roads.
Some say expanding highways could threaten the quaint feel that defines 30A’s communities. But others argue the region must add more passing lanes and stoplights.
Charlie Modica and his sister run Modica Market, a gourmet grocery store in Seaside, Florida. Modica, 64, arrived in Seaside as a young adult and has seen the region transform as more newcomers and tourists arrive.
Staff photo by Hannah Levitan
Despite some tensions, many here say the soul of 30A is intact — at least for now. Tanned teenagers still ride bikes through the streets, ignoring their cellphones for a few precious moments. Families still chase beach sunsets together.
Modica, 64, walks to work every day at his family grocery store, same as always. But some signs of change are inescapable.
As he looked across the town square, the store’s phone kept ringing behind him.
“Modica Market,” a cashier with a singsong voice answered over and over, fielding questions from more new customers.