Demographics of Melbourne, Florida

The U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2023 estimates Melbourne's population at 85,718, establishing it as the principal city of the Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville Metropolitan Statistical Area and the largest service hub in south Brevard County. The city's median age of 42.3 places it close to the Florida state median, reflecting a resident base that spans working-age aerospace and defense professionals, Florida Institute of Technology students and faculty, and established long-term households. Median household income stood at $64,504, while the median home value was $272,900 — figures that together situate Melbourne at a modest distance below Florida's statewide medians for both measures.

A poverty rate of 14.9% — above the national average — signals economic stratification consistent with a city whose employment base mixes high-wage technical occupations in aerospace with lower-wage service and retail positions. The unemployment rate of 4.4% and a labor force participation rate of 68.2% round out a labor picture characteristic of a mid-sized Sun Belt city with a significant anchoring industry.

At 85,718 residents, Melbourne ranks among the larger incorporated cities in Brevard County and serves as the administrative and commercial center of the county's southern half. The city's current form reflects a 1969 merger with the formerly independent city of Eau Gallie to the north, an event that Florida Today reported approximately doubled Melbourne's geographic area. That consolidation integrated the Eau Gallie residential and commercial stock into a single municipal structure, contributing to the population base that the Census Bureau now measures as a unified city.

The median age of 42.3 reflects a broad adult population without the strongly elevated median ages typical of Florida's retirement-oriented coastal communities. Melbourne's age profile is shaped in part by the presence of Florida Institute of Technology, founded in 1958 as Brevard Engineering College, which enrolls undergraduate and graduate students and introduces a younger cohort to the city's population. At the same time, the aerospace and defense workforce — centered on employers at Melbourne Orlando International Airport and nearby campuses — draws working-age professionals in their thirties and forties, moderating the median toward middle adulthood rather than retirement age.

Compared to Florida's statewide median age and the national median, Melbourne's 42.3 sits in a middle position: older than many urban cores driven by younger workforce migration, but meaningfully younger than the retirement-destination communities common along Florida's Gulf and Atlantic coasts.

The ACS 2023 records Melbourne's median household income at $64,504. That figure falls below the Florida statewide median and below the U.S. national median, a gap that reflects the city's dual-track economy. High-wage technical and engineering positions at firms such as L3Harris Technologies, Northrop Grumman, Collins Aerospace, and Thales — all of which maintain operations at Melbourne Orlando International Airport — coexist with a substantial base of service, retail, and hospitality employment that serves the region's residential population and tourism activity.

The poverty rate of 14.9% — measured as the share of individuals whose income falls below the federal poverty threshold — sits above the national average of roughly 12.5% and above the Florida statewide rate. This elevated poverty share is consistent with the income distribution in cities that anchor regional service economies: a portion of the workforce concentrated in lower-wage sectors depresses median figures and increases poverty incidence even when a separate stratum of well-compensated technical workers is present. The Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast has documented that projected aerospace positions at the Dassault Falcon Jet MRO facility carry an average annual wage of $86,120, illustrating the wage premium associated with the aerospace sector relative to the citywide median.

Household income in Melbourne is also conditioned by the city's housing tenure structure: with 39.7% of occupied units renter-occupied, a significant share of households carries monthly rent obligations that limit net income accumulation, a factor relevant to interpreting median household income as a welfare measure.

Melbourne's housing stock comprised 40,709 total units as of the ACS 2023, supporting 35,954 occupied households. The gap between total units and occupied households — approximately 4,755 units — reflects a combination of seasonal vacancies, second homes, and units temporarily off the market, a pattern common to Florida cities with Atlantic-coast beach access and a significant retiree-adjacent population. Among occupied units, 60.3% were owner-occupied and 39.7% were renter-occupied, a tenure distribution that places Melbourne at a higher rental share than Florida's overall owner-occupancy rate, consistent with a city whose resident population includes university students, younger aerospace-sector workers, and service-industry households for whom homeownership remains financially out of reach.

The median home value of $272,900 situates Melbourne's ownership market below the Florida statewide median, though the city's position on the Atlantic coast and its proximity to the Indian River Lagoon support sustained demand for residential property. Construction Equipment Guide reported that Brevard County, including Melbourne, was experiencing a broad building boom expected to continue through 2025, with the Midtown Melbourne residential development accompanied by more than $7 million in stormwater and infrastructure upgrades — activity that reflects continued market demand for new residential supply.

The median gross rent of $1,411 per month represents the cost burden facing the city's renter population. At that median rent level, a household earning the citywide median income of $64,504 would commit approximately 26% of gross income to rent — near the conventional 30% cost-burden threshold — while lower-income renter households face proportionally greater strain. The rental market's pressure is one element underlying the city's 14.9% poverty rate, as housing costs consume a disproportionate share of earnings among the service-sector workforce.

The ACS 2023 records a labor force participation rate of 68.2% for Melbourne, meaning roughly two in three residents of working age were either employed or actively seeking work at the time of measurement. That rate is broadly consistent with Florida and national benchmarks, though Melbourne's specific industrial mix lends the figure particular character. The city functions as the employment core of south Brevard County, drawing workers from surrounding unincorporated areas and neighboring Palm Bay into jobs concentrated in aerospace, defense manufacturing, health care, retail, and hospitality.

Aerospace and defense constitute the most institutionally prominent sector. Melbourne Orlando International Airport supports a daily campus population exceeding 20,000 individuals and generates an annual economic impact of more than $3 billion, according to the airport authority. Anchor tenants include L3Harris Technologies — described by Florida Today as the largest aerospace and defense company based in Florida — alongside Northrop Grumman, Embraer Executive Jets, Collins Aerospace, and Thales. The Dassault Falcon Jet MRO facility, which held its grand opening on October 14, 2025, added approximately 400 projected positions at a projected average annual wage of $86,120, according to the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast.

The unemployment rate of 4.4% reflects a labor market that, while not at its tightest, is not experiencing significant slack. Florida Institute of Technology, founded in 1958 to train engineers for the U.S. space program, continues to supply technical graduates to the regional workforce, maintaining a pipeline between higher education and the aerospace sector that has characterized the city's economy for more than six decades. Health care and retail employment, tied to Melbourne's role as the principal service center for south Brevard County's broader residential population, constitute additional employment pillars that diversify the labor market beyond aerospace concentration.

The ACS 2023 records that 21.2% of Melbourne residents aged 25 and older hold a bachelor's degree or higher. That share falls below both the Florida statewide rate and the U.S. national rate, a gap that reflects the composition of the city's broader workforce. While the aerospace and defense sector employs a stratum of engineers, scientists, and technical professionals with advanced degrees — many of them graduates of Florida Institute of Technology or recruited from outside the region — the majority of Melbourne's employment base is concentrated in service, retail, health care support, and trade occupations that do not require four-year degrees.

The contrast between the city's high-profile technical economy and its below-average degree attainment rate is characteristic of aerospace-anchored communities where a relatively small, highly credentialed workforce operates alongside a much larger population of workers in supporting industries. Florida Institute of Technology, which enrolled its first 154 students in 1958 under the name Brevard Engineering College, was established explicitly to serve the engineering and scientific workforce needs of the Kennedy Space Center program. The institution's continued presence in Melbourne contributes a share of degree-holding residents to the city's population, but the university's enrollment also includes students who reside in Melbourne temporarily and may not remain after graduation, affecting the snapshot the Census captures at any given moment.

The 21.2% bachelor's-or-higher rate also has implications for household income distribution: educational attainment is one of the strongest predictors of earnings at the individual level, and the city's below-average degree share is consistent with a median household income of $64,504 that falls short of state and national benchmarks.

All headline demographic figures cited on this page — population, median age, median household income, median home value, poverty rate, unemployment rate, labor force participation rate, housing tenure percentages, median gross rent, total housing units, and educational attainment — are drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates for the reference year 2023 (ACS 2023), accessed April 30, 2026. The ACS is a continuous survey conducted by the Census Bureau; 5-year estimates pool five years of survey responses to produce statistically reliable figures for geographies of all sizes, including individual cities. All ACS figures carry margins of error not reflected in the point estimates presented here; readers requiring precision intervals should consult the Census Bureau's published data tables directly.

Contextual and historical information is sourced from the organizations and publications identified in the inline citations throughout each section, including the City of Melbourne's official website, the Downtown Melbourne organization, the Eau Gallie Arts District, the Melbourne Orlando International Airport authority, the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast, and the Florida Historical Society. State and national comparator values for median age, median household income, and educational attainment are approximate figures drawn from general knowledge of ACS 2023 state and national estimates and are marked with a tilde (~) to indicate rounding. No figures have been invented or extrapolated beyond what the cited sources document. This page is updated as new ACS releases become available; the current edition reflects data as of the 2023 survey year.