The composite-versus-wood debate reads differently within reach of salt air. Here's the version that's true on the Emerald Coast.
Pressure-treated wood
The traditional choice, and still a legitimate one. It costs the least up front, feels solid underfoot, and repairs one board at a time. The coastal reality: our sun and humidity cycle wood hard — boards want cleaning and re-sealing on a real schedule, and skipped years show up as graying, checking, and splinters. A wood deck here is a relationship, not a purchase.
Composite
Modern composite has earned its reputation: no sealing, no splinters, no gray-out, and salt air is irrelevant to it. Washing is the maintenance. The trade-offs are honest too — a higher up-front cost, more surface heat under bare summer feet in darker colors, and a solid frame requirement since composite spans less stiffly than wood. It flatly wins on total effort over the deck's life.
The part that decides more than the boards: hardware
Whichever surface you pick, the deck stands on steel — joist hangers, screws, post connectors — and salt air attacks all of it. A beautiful composite deck on rusting connectors is a failing deck. Near the coast, hot-dip galvanized connectors and stainless or coated screws rated for the material aren't upgrades; they're the baseline, installed per the manufacturer's published instructions. It's the first thing we look at under any deck we're asked to repair, and the first thing we spec on any deck we build.
Our short answer
Keeping the home for years and near the water: composite, with coastal hardware. Tighter budget and willing to maintain: pressure-treated wood, same hardware standard. More: deck fasteners in salt air, coastal deck maintenance, and the decks service page.