Age and retirement income in Micco — Micco, Florida

Micco's population is concentrated in the late sixties and seventies: residents aged 65 to 79 make up 47.5 percent of the Micco CDP in the Census Bureau's ACS 2020-2024 estimates, against 18.4 percent of Brevard County.

The Micco CDP age and sex table (S0101) splits that group into three five-year bands of almost equal weight: 16.8 percent of Micco residents are 65 to 69, 16.7 percent are 70 to 74 and 14.0 percent are 75 to 79 (the 47.5 percent total is their sum). The band just below, 60 to 64, holds 11.4 percent, and residents 85 and over are 7.5 percent, two and a half times the county's 3.0 percent in the Brevard County S0101 table. Below age 55 the Micco shares fall to between 0.3 and 3.3 percent per five-year band.

Unusually, Micco men are slightly older than Micco women at the median: 68.9 years for men and 67.5 for women. Across Brevard County the order is reversed, at 45.1 for men and 48.5 for women, and in the Florida S0101 table it is 41.3 and 43.9.

Nearly three Micco residents in four are 60 or older, 72.8 percent in the ACS 2020-2024 S0101 table, and 27.9 percent are 75 or older.

Those shares compare with 32.8 percent aged 60 and over and 10.7 percent aged 75 and over across Brevard County, and 28.2 and 9.6 percent statewide. Residents 62 and over are 68.4 percent of Micco CDP, which works out to 6,087 people in the S0101 count.

The Census Bureau's dependency ratios show how lopsided the Micco age structure is. The old-age dependency ratio, which the ACS subject definitions derive by dividing the population 65 and over by the 18-to-64 population and multiplying by 100, is 181.2 in Micco, compared with 42.6 in Brevard County and 36.1 in Florida. In plain terms, Micco has nearly two residents of retirement age for every working-age resident. The child dependency ratio runs the other way, at 14.0 in Micco against 31.4 countywide.

In head counts, the Micco S0101 table puts 6,478 residents at 60 or older, 5,460 at 65 or older and 2,483 at 75 or older, out of a total of 8,896. The oldest group is not small: 670 Micco residents are 85 or over, about as many as the 677 residents aged 55 to 59. Counting the 569 residents aged 80 to 84 as well, Micco has 1,239 residents 80 or older, nearly twice the number aged 55 to 59.

Three Micco households in four receive Social Security income: 74.0 percent of the CDP's 5,156 households, or 3,816 households, in the ACS 2020-2024 DP03 table.

In the Micco DP03 economic profile, the mean Social Security income of those Micco households is $26,150 a year, in 2024 dollars. That amount is close to the Brevard County DP03 profile mean of $25,474 and the Florida DP03 profile mean of $24,828, so what sets Micco apart is how many households draw Social Security, not how much each one receives. Countywide only 42.0 percent of households have Social Security income, and statewide 36.6 percent.

Pensions and other retirement income reach 43.5 percent of Micco households, 2,245 of 5,156, a larger share than in Brevard County (33.3 percent) but with a smaller average payment.

The Census Bureau's detailed retirement income table B19059 for Micco CDP counts 2,245 Micco households with retirement income in the past 12 months and 2,911 without it. The ACS subject definitions count as retirement income regular payments from company, union, military and government pensions and from retirement accounts or annuities such as an IRA, 401(k) or 403(b), plus survivor income and disability pensions; Social Security is reported separately. The mean amount for Micco households that receive it is $27,133 a year, about $10,400 below the Brevard County mean of $37,525 (37,525 minus 27,133 is 10,392).

Put together, the two Micco figures describe a community where Social Security is the near-universal base and a pension or account withdrawal is a supplement for a minority. That pattern helps explain the Micco median household income of $45,794 in the same DP03 table, far below the county median, even though the mean Micco household Social Security income is in line with the county's.

Social Security Administration records for ZIP 32976, the Barefoot Bay postal code, show 5,670 beneficiaries in December 2024, including 4,765 retired workers.

The SSA table of beneficiaries by ZIP Code for Florida, December 2024 lists ZIP 32976 with 5,670 people in current-payment status: 4,765 retired workers, 465 disabled workers, 270 widow(er)s and parents, 70 spouses and 100 children. Of those beneficiaries, 4,865 are aged 65 or older. Total monthly benefits paid into ZIP 32976 come to $10,454,000 (the table reports 10,454 in thousands of dollars), of which retired workers receive $8,993,000. Dividing the retired-worker total by the 4,765 retired workers gives an average of about $1,887 a month (8,993,000 divided by 4,765).

ZIP 32976 and Micco CDP are not identical areas, so the SSA counts and the ACS household figures cannot be divided into each other. The Barefoot Bay Recreation District office at 625 Barefoot Blvd. uses ZIP 32976, so the SSA count takes in Barefoot Bay. For a closer match, the ACS DP03 profile for ZCTA 32976 shows 72.4 percent of households in the ZIP code area receiving Social Security, against 74.0 percent in the Micco CDP. In the SSA table, ZIP 32976 is grouped under the Melbourne field office, which serves 155,470 beneficiaries across its ZIP codes.

Paid work plays a small part in Micco household budgets: 70.3 percent of Micco residents 16 and over are outside the labor force, and only 36.4 percent of households report any earnings in the ACS 2020-2024 estimates.

In Brevard County 43.3 percent of residents 16 and over are outside the labor force, and 69.9 percent of households have earnings. The Micco households that do have earnings average $66,048 a year from work, against $104,375 countywide. Supplemental Security Income, which the Census Bureau describes as a Social Security Administration program that guarantees a minimum level of income for needy aged, blind, or disabled individuals, reaches 10.6 percent of Micco households, double the county and state rate of 4.9 percent.

Among Micco residents 65 and over, 10.6 percent have income below the federal poverty level in the DP03 table, compared with 8.1 percent of Brevard County seniors and 11.8 percent of Florida seniors. Food Stamp and SNAP benefits reach 7.8 percent of Micco households, lower than the county's 9.4 percent. Every Micco figure here is a five-year sample estimate, and the DP03 margins of error on these Micco percentages run from 2.3 to 5.3 points.