Palm Bay, Florida

Area Profile

130,132 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Palm Bay, in Brevard County.

55out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 31% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2714th of 3,904 published cities47
Schools1625th of 2,668 published cities43
GrowthTop 15% of 2,973 published cities72
Housing affordability2762nd of 4,223 published cities70
ClimateTop 10% of 4,223 published cities83
Physical resilience3682nd of 4,182 published cities19
AccessTop 14% of 4,226 published cities99
Economic stability2910th of 4,226 published cities50
The quick read

Residential permitting has slowed: 2,451 units authorized over the past twelve months, 16% below the prior year.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by hurricane, wildfire and lightning.

A major airport is 10 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
130,132
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$72,614
Top 42% nationally
Density
1,501/sq mi
86.7 sq mi of land
Median age
41.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Brevard County
Florida
Metro area
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL
Nearest major airport
MLB
10 mi · Melbourne Orlando Intl
Median home value
$283,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.1% is lower than 22% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.7% over the past year, to 63,814 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,753$72,614Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,490$34,813Top 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate11.7%Top 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute29.9 minTop 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher24.0%Top 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment63,814Top 45%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.0%Top 34%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.7%Top 49%June 2026
Labor force67,223Top 45%June 2026
Labor force participation60.2%Bottom 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$67,210Bottom 45%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,030Bottom 34%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.7%Top 20%June 2026
Unemployment rate5.1%Top 22%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.22.7
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.1% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202473k56k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $72,614 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons7,670$33,430
Fast Food and Counter Workers7,630$28,660
Registered Nurses5,440$80,900
General and Operations Managers5,090$101,830
Waiters and Waitresses5,080$36,670
Cashiers5,070$30,390

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

52% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 53% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.9 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
20
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
51.6%
Bottom 46% in Florida
Reading proficiency
52.8%
Bottom 45% in Florida
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
BAYSIDE HIGH SCHOOLBREVARD2,12222.3
HERITAGE HIGH SCHOOLBREVARD1,96022.5
ODYSSEY CHARTER SCHOOL · charterBREVARD1,91720.677%68%
PINEAPPLE COVE CLASSICAL ACADEMY · charterBREVARD1,06515.471%74%
SOUTHWEST MIDDLE SCHOOLBREVARD99719.239%37%
WESTSIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBREVARD98415.149%54%
SUNRISE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBREVARD90715.943%54%
JUPITER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBREVARD85614.838%42%
PINEAPPLE COVE CLASSICAL ACADEMY AT LOCKMAR · charterBREVARD72416.8
RIVIERA ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBREVARD71816.352%46%
CHRISTA MCAULIFFE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBREVARD68713.757%58%
DISCOVERY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBREVARD67913.945%47%

51.9% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Florida’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,601 takes 26% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.9 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
26.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,601
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$283,200
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.90Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate79.7%Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±95550,147Top 1%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$71$1,601Top 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$6,762$283,200Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income26.5%Top 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.6%Bottom 45%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
72/ 100
Top 15% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 18% since 2020, reaching 142,023 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 12% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 18.8 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
2,451
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
18.8
Top 4% nationally
Year over year
−16%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
12.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
20202021202220232024142k120k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
202020222023202420253k1k
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+92%).

Weather & climate

8 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 90°F and January a low of 52°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 50.8 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 40, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station MELBOURNE INTL AP, 10.2 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND7.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index53.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation50.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low52°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months81991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index40.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing20°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
40
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
53
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

19 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, wildfire and lightning.

HurricaneHigh
LightningModerate
WildfireModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, tornado, inland flooding, heat wave, coastal flooding, landslide, drought, earthquake, hail.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Brevard County records 2.8 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 14.4 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 27.3 per 100,000 residents in Brevard County.

Homicide
2.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
27.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
20.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Brevard County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Palm Bay rather than Palm Bay itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 10 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Melbourne Orlando IntlMLB10 mi10,181 ft
Orlando IntlMCO51 mi10,000 ft
Orlando Sanford IntlSFB67 mi11,002 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
55
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Other cities in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
MelbourneBrevard County86,57653vs Palm Bay
TitusvilleBrevard County49,38549vs Palm Bay
Merritt IslandBrevard County34,992vs Palm Bay
RockledgeBrevard County29,13359vs Palm Bay
West MelbourneBrevard County28,79561vs Palm Bay
Port St. JohnBrevard County25,120vs Palm Bay
CocoaBrevard County19,55451vs Palm Bay
Viera WestBrevard County17,984vs Palm Bay
Viera EastBrevard County12,570vs Palm Bay
Cocoa BeachBrevard County11,37758vs Palm Bay
Satellite BeachBrevard County11,31363vs Palm Bay
Cape CanaveralBrevard County10,00649vs Palm Bay

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Compare

Put Palm Bay side by side with a similar place.

Palm Bay vs MedullaPalm Bay vs MelbournePalm Bay vs Spring HillPalm Bay vs DeLand

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Palm Bay

4 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
3290749,080$75,31156
3290941,804$79,97758
3290524,792$56,41150
3290816,535$79,59655