Cost of Living in Melbourne, FL

In the Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 survey, the median Melbourne household earned $66,991 a year, the median home was valued at $306,400 and the median gross rent was $1,525 a month (ACS DP03, Melbourne city; ACS DP04, Melbourne city).

The Melbourne columns come from DP03 and DP04 for Melbourne city; the Brevard County column from the county versions of DP03 and DP04, and the pay row from the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages for Brevard County. Every figure is shown as the agency publishes it. This page does not combine them into a household budget.

Melbourne's median household income is $66,991 and its median family income $80,376 in the ACS 2020-2024 estimates (ACS DP03, Melbourne city).

Other income lines from the same Melbourne table: per capita income is $38,249, median earnings for all workers are $39,482, median earnings for men working full time year round are $61,498, and for women $45,014. Households receiving Social Security report a mean of $22,234 from it, and households with retirement income a mean of $28,286 (ACS DP03, Melbourne city). The county figures sit in the Brevard County DP03 table: median household income $78,476 and per capita income $44,108.

Payroll data for the county comes from a different source. The BLS QCEW file for Brevard County reports 243,568 average jobs across all ownerships in 2025, an average weekly wage of $1,362 and average annual pay of $70,833.

The median Melbourne homeowner with a mortgage spends $1,689 a month on selected owner costs, and one without a mortgage spends $569 (ACS DP04, Melbourne city).

The median value of owner-occupied homes is $306,400, and 26.4 percent of Melbourne owners with a mortgage spend 35 percent or more of household income on those costs (ACS DP04, Melbourne city). In Brevard County the medians are $339,600 for value, $1,805 with a mortgage and $608 without (ACS DP04, Brevard County).

Flood insurance is another housing cost tied to the city's federal flood record. In the FEMA community status book, Melbourne is NFIP community 120025 with a Community Rating System class of 7 since April 1, 2026, an SFHA discount of 15% and a non-SFHA discount of 05%, and an effective map date of 01/29/21 (FEMA NFIP Community Status Book, Melbourne). The Melbourne guide to flood risk zones covers the maps themselves.

Melbourne's median gross rent is $1,525 a month in the ACS 2020-2024 estimates, and the Brevard County median is $1,556 (ACS DP04, Melbourne city; ACS DP04, Brevard County).

Rent gets its own guide on this site. The Melbourne renting guide covers the rent bands, the share of renters carrying a heavy rent burden and HUD's ZIP-level fair market rents for voucher holders, so those figures are not repeated here.

Inside city limits, Melbourne's residential rate table sets water at $12.02 a month in base charges with $6.87 for each 1,000 gallons, and sewer at $16.68 with $9.65 for each 1,000 gallons (City of Melbourne utility rate table).

New construction adds one-time charges: the Melbourne table lists a $2,755 water impact fee with a $250 connect fee, and a $4,165 sewer impact fee with a $100 connect fee (City of Melbourne utility rate table). The same table carries separate sewer rows by service area, such as West Melbourne at $15.90 base and $6.25 per 1,000 gallons and Cocoa Beach at $51.22 and $14.33 (City of Melbourne utility rate table).

Melbourne's stormwater program, which treats runoff headed for the Indian River Lagoon through baffle boxes, wetlands and retention, is paid for by the stormwater utility fee and by grants (City of Melbourne Stormwater Utility). Electric service matters too: 81.7 percent of occupied Melbourne housing units heat with electricity and 13.5 percent with utility gas (ACS DP04, Melbourne city).

Florida's county price index for school funding, the Florida Price Level Index, put Brevard County at 99.53 in 2025, 99.74 in 2024 and 99.85 in 2023, on a scale where the population-weighted state average is 100 (2025 Florida Price Level Index, FDOE).

The index needs a caution before it is read as a cost of living score for Melbourne. The report, hosted by the Florida Department of Education, calls it the basis for adjusting for labor cost differences in the Florida Education Finance Program: a fixed weight price level index for the labor school districts buy, built from Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data for hundreds of occupations in all 67 counties (2025 Florida Price Level Index). By that description it tracks the cost of labor that school districts buy.

For orientation, the same report places the median Floridian in Orange County, at an index of 100.56, and lists Indian River County at 98.41 for 2025 (2025 Florida Price Level Index). The report explains that denser counties tend to show higher values, since workers there face higher housing costs, longer commutes or both, which pushes wages up.

Most Melbourne workers drive: 72.0 percent drove alone to work, the mean commute was 22.8 minutes and 14.1 percent worked from home in the ACS 2020-2024 estimates (ACS DP03, Melbourne city).

Only 1.1 percent of Melbourne workers rode public transportation, 7.4 percent carpooled and 3.0 percent walked. In the Brevard County table the mean commute is 25.4 minutes (ACS DP03, Brevard County). On the housing side, 8.7 percent of occupied Melbourne homes have no vehicle available and 43.5 percent have one (ACS DP04, Melbourne city).

Last verified: October 21, 2026, by pulling the Melbourne city and Brevard County DP03 and DP04 tables, the 2025 Florida Price Level Index, the Melbourne utility rate table and stormwater page, the FEMA NFIP record and the 2025 BLS QCEW file.