City · Brevard County, Florida

Palm Bay, Florida

Palm Bay is a city in Brevard County, Florida, part of the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL metro area. It has 130,132 residents. Palm Bay, Florida has a quality-of-life score of 41 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #9,296 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Florida it ranks #440 of 780 cities and towns. It ranks best on comfortable days (high), new homes permitted (high) and reading scores (high). It ranks worst on rent-burdened households (high), natural hazard risk (high) and rent as share of income (high).

41Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #9,296 of 15,651 cities and towns
Florida: #440 of 780 in FL
Population: 130,132 (2020-2024)
Land area: 87 mi²
Density: 1,501.4 /mi²
FIPS code: 1254000

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 75 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety42#9,060/15,637
Economy52#7,548/15,631
Housing23#11,540/14,977
Health31#10,705/15,609
Healthcare34#10,327/15,650
Environment73#4,157/15,453
Education62#5,986/15,649
Infrastructure43#8,864/15,650
Community34#10,265/15,651
Leisure & amenities57#6,654/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Palm Bay, Florida ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Brevard County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Comfortable days · high39.8%
97/100Florida 32.4%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationBrevard County value
New homes permitted · high18.9 /1k
95/100Florida 7.0 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Reading scores · high3.30
88/100Florida 3.17United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBrevard County value
Days with unhealthy air · low0.0%
84/100Florida 0.2%2025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyBrevard County value
Depression · low20.1%
83/100Florida 18.0%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Child care cost burden · low23.5%
82/100Florida 25.9%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBrevard County value

Weaknesses

Rent-burdened households · high59.5%
4/100Florida 60.1%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Natural hazard risk · high95.6
5/100Florida 75.92025Federal Emergency Management AgencyBrevard County value
Rent as share of income · high37.6%
6/100Florida 35.2%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Drug overdose deaths · high27.8 /100k
12/100Florida 15.5 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataBrevard County value
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high15.5%
14/100Florida 13.7%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Injury deaths · high121 /100k
14/100Florida 97 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBrevard County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
111,997 (2015-2019) → 130,132 (2020-2024)
+16%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Median household incomeImproving
$51,408 (2015-2019) → $72,614 (2020-2024)
+41%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Home price to income ratioWorsening
3.0× (2015-2019) → 3.9× (2020-2024)
+29%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
53.7% (2015-2019) → 59.5% (2020-2024)
+5.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
87.0% (2015-2019) → 92.8% (2020-2024)
+5.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
32.6% (2015-2019) → 37.6% (2020-2024)
+5 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Palm Bay, Florida improved on 3 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 10 moved within the margin of error and 1 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved3

Household income+41%$51,408 → $72,614
Bachelor's++4.7 points19.3% → 24.0%
Broadband+5.8 points87.0% → 92.8%

Declined1

Price / income+0.9×3.0× → 3.9×

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Palm Bay, Florida between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	26.6 min2015-2019	27.8 min2020-2024	+1.2 min	Within the margin of error	34%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.3%2015-2019	24.0%2020-2024	+4.7 points	Improved	65%
Broadband subscriptions	87.0%2015-2019	92.8%2020-2024	+5.8 points	Improved	37%
Child poverty rate	18.0%2015-2019	15.2%2020-2024	−2.7 points	Within the margin of error	59%
Effective property tax rate	0.86%2015-2019	0.69%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Little change	50%
High school diploma or higher	89.7%2015-2019	91.0%2020-2024	+1.3 points	Within the margin of error	50%
Home price to income ratio	3.0×2015-2019	3.9×2020-2024	+0.9×	Declined	27%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3992015-2019	0.4482020-2024	+0.049	Within the margin of error	17%
Median household income	$51,4082015-2019	$72,6142020-2024	+41%	Improved	76%
Poverty rate	13.0%2015-2019	11.7%2020-2024	−1.3 points	Within the margin of error	56%
Public transit commuters	0.3%2015-2019	0.5%2020-2024	+0.2 points	Within the margin of error	97%
Rent as share of income	32.6%2015-2019	37.6%2020-2024	+5 points	Within the margin of error	22%
Rent-burdened households	53.7%2015-2019	59.5%2020-2024	+5.8 points	Within the margin of error	35%
Unemployment rate	6.2%2015-2019	6.1%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	52%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	14.4%2015-2019	15.5%2020-2024	+1.1 points	Within the margin of error	33%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Palm Bay, Florida five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Palm Bay, Florida in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Palm Bay, Florida itself moved −6 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

130,132 residents (±54)

Men
Women

80 and over
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

45,850 households (±1,108)

Palm Bay, Florida
Florida share

Under $25k13%5,985
$25k–50k20%9,169
$50k–75k18%8,398

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

45,850 households (±1,108)

Palm Bay, Florida
Florida share

Own80%36,555
Rent20%9,295

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+5.2 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

58,264 workers (±1,450)

Palm Bay, Florida
Florida share

Drive alone74%43,402
Carpool11%6,431
Public transit0.5%†306

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Brevard County, the county holding most of Palm Bay's residents.

Brevard County has 15,510 employer establishments, 240 for every 10,000 residents (0.97× the US rate of 248; 0.85× Florida's), with 205,503 paid employees at an average annual pay of $57,834. The Census Bureau also counts 60,649 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 15,510; 60,649 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 240; US 248 · Florida 282
Paid employees: 205,503
Average annual pay: $57,834; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Brevard County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	1,464	22.7	1.09×About typical	14,574	$66,883	3,716
Specialty trade contractors	1,217	18.8	1.22×About typical	9,127	$54,867	3,304
Restaurants and other eating places	1,068	16.5	0.90×About typical	22,830	$22,198	254
Lessors of real estate	912	14.1	1.15×About typical	2,437	$47,077	6,796
Services to buildings and dwellings	704	10.9	1.62×More than typical	3,759	$35,668	4,476
Full-service restaurants	527	8.2	1.06×About typical	12,915	$25,099	105
Offices of physicians	511	7.9	1.22×About typical	5,778	$87,430	589
Management, scientific and technical consulting	477	7.4	1.10×About typical	1,801	$85,579	2,477
Construction of buildings	453	7	0.93×About typical	2,256	$69,442	1,751
Offices of other health practitioners	453	7	1.15×About typical	1,916	$44,528	1,454
Building equipment contractors	445	6.9	1.14×About typical	4,549	$57,227	555
Real estate agents and brokers	444	6.9	1.41×More than typical	688	$45,235	2,677

Rank places for an industry Open Brevard County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 646,015 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $102.1M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Palm Bay, Florida: $784 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $102.1M; −39% vs FY2025
Per resident: $784; US $1,994
Sole-source: 35%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.8%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Department of the Army$55.3M54%
Department of the Navy$27.8M27%
Federal Aviation Administration$5.3M5.2%
Department of the Air Force$5.1M5.0%
U.S. Special Operations Command$4.8M4.7%
Defense Logistics Agency$2.6M2.6%
Departmental Offices$1M1.0%
Forest Service$201.9K0.2%

Top recipients

L3HARRIS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.$80.4M79%
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION$16.5M16%
HARRIS CORPORATION$4.4M4.3%
ISO GROUP INC$1.5M1.5%
NDN OTIE JV, LLC$1M1.0%

Spending by fiscal year

334.5MFY2017
478.8MFY2018
262.4MFY2019
205.1MFY2020
260.4MFY2021
415.6MFY2022
241.1MFY2023
258.4M

Top industries (NAICS)

Satellite telecommunications · 5174$23M23%
Communications equipment manufacturing · 3342$22M22%
Architectural, engineering, and related services · 5413$19.6M19%
Aerospace product and parts manufacturing · 3364$14M14%
Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing · 3345$7.4M7.3%
Scientific research and development services · 5417

Part of this section could not be loaded in time.

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Palm Bay, Florida, so they do not add up across cities.

Palm Bay, Florida's figures are part of those of Brevard County, FL ($6.7B in FY2026), never added to them: 1.5% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Palm Bay is mostly in Brevard County.

See federal money in Brevard County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Palm Bay, Florida is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Mike HaridopolosR-FL-8 · 100% of residentsWith party 97%Missed 1.5%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Brevard County69100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL74

Other cities and towns in Brevard County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/1254000

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends