Demographics — Palm Bay, Florida

Palm Bay had 119,760 residents in the April 1, 2020 census, and every later official estimate is higher: 142,023 for July 1, 2024 from the Census Bureau and 146,929 for April 1, 2025 from the state of Florida.

The Palm Bay figures measure different things. The 2020 Census is a full count of residents on April 1, 2020. The Census Bureau Vintage 2024 city estimates start from an estimates base of 119,751 and add a figure for each July 1, rising from 122,994 in 2021 to 142,023 in 2024. The American Community Survey figure of 130,132 is a survey average across 2020 to 2024 (ACS DP05, Palm Bay), so it trails the latest single-year estimate. The breakdowns on this page come from that survey.

Florida's own estimate runs ahead of the federal one. The Office of Economic and Demographic Research table of Florida Estimates of Population 2025 lists Palm Bay at 146,929 on April 1, 2025, a gain of 27,169 over the 2020 census, against 88,499 for Melbourne and 667,900 for Brevard County as a whole. On those state numbers Palm Bay holds about 22 percent of the county's residents (146,929 divided by 667,900).

The City of Palm Bay quotes two more figures on its Discover Palm Bay page: a population approaching 150,000 in a city of about 88 square miles, and a community profile count of 136,059 derived from FPL active residential meter counts in October 2023. Those are city figures, not Census counts, and they are attributed here to the city.

Palm Bay is younger than Brevard County: its median age is 41.0 years against 46.7 for the county, and 22.1 percent of Palm Bay residents are under 18 (ACS 2020-2024).

The age gap shows at both ends. Palm Bay children under 18 make up 22.1 percent of residents, compared with 18.1 percent in Brevard County (ACS DP05, Brevard County) and 19.5 percent statewide (ACS DP05, Florida). Residents 65 and over make up 19.0 percent in Palm Bay, against 24.5 percent in Brevard County and 21.3 percent in Florida. The Florida median age is 42.6, so Palm Bay sits below the state as well as the county.

Working-age adults are the largest Palm Bay groups. The ACS counts 17,030 Palm Bay residents aged 25 to 34 and 17,742 aged 35 to 44, more than any other ten-year band, and 2,986 aged 85 and over (ACS DP05, Palm Bay). Women outnumber men, with a sex ratio of 92.8 males per 100 females.

The city's Discover Palm Bay profile, using ESRI data from November 2023, lists a median age of 41.3, close to the Census survey figure.

Palm Bay is more Hispanic and more Black than Brevard County: 20.6 percent of residents are Hispanic or Latino and 18.5 percent are non-Hispanic Black, against 12.2 percent and 9.4 percent countywide (ACS 2020-2024).

Puerto Ricans are the largest Hispanic group in Palm Bay, at 10,502 people or 8.1 percent of the population, nearly double the Brevard County share of 4.3 percent and above the Florida share of 5.6 percent (ACS DP05, Palm Bay; Brevard County; Florida). The same Palm Bay table counts 4,925 Cuban residents. Non-Hispanic white residents make up 50.8 percent of Palm Bay, compared with 70.2 percent of Brevard County, and 2.2 percent of Palm Bay residents are non-Hispanic Asian.

Caribbean ancestry is visible in the Palm Bay race detail. Among residents who report Black or African American as their one race, the ACS lists 6,233 Jamaican and 3,867 Haitian residents (ACS DP05, Palm Bay). 16.2 percent of Palm Bay residents report two or more races, against 10.5 percent in Brevard County.

Language follows the same pattern. 18.7 percent of Palm Bay residents aged 5 and over speak a language other than English at home and 12.9 percent speak Spanish (ACS DP02, Palm Bay), against 12.2 percent and 7.6 percent in Brevard County (ACS DP02, Brevard County). Florida as a whole is far higher, at 30.6 percent (ACS DP02, Florida).

Palm Bay has 45,850 households averaging 2.82 people, larger than the Brevard County average of 2.42 and the Florida average of 2.51, and 49.1 percent of Palm Bay households are married couples (ACS 2020-2024).

Palm Bay families are larger too: the average Palm Bay family holds 3.34 people, compared with 3.02 in Brevard County (ACS DP02, Palm Bay; Brevard County). The married-couple share of 49.1 percent is close to the county's 48.3 percent.

Schooling levels in Palm Bay are below the county at the college end. 91.0 percent of Palm Bay adults 25 and over finished high school, and 24.0 percent hold a bachelor's degree or higher, compared with 93.3 percent and 34.2 percent in Brevard County and 89.9 percent and 34.1 percent in Florida (ACS DP02, Florida).

Palm Bay has 9,975 civilian veterans, 9.9 percent of the civilian population 18 and over, a lower share than Brevard County's 12.6 percent but well above the Florida share of 7.4 percent (ACS DP02, Palm Bay). Some residents are recent arrivals: 3.1 percent of Palm Bay residents aged 1 and over lived in a different state one year earlier.

The median Palm Bay household earns $72,614 a year, below the Brevard County median of $78,476 and the Florida median of $74,568, in ACS 2020-2024 estimates (2024 dollars).

The Palm Bay column comes from ACS DP03 for Palm Bay, with the Brevard County and Florida columns from the same table. Per capita income shows a wider gap: Palm Bay income per person is $34,813, about $9,300 below the county figure of $44,108.

More Palm Bay residents 16 and over are in the labor force than in the county as a whole, 60.2 percent against 56.7 percent, and Palm Bay also has a smaller share of residents 65 and over (19.0 percent against 24.5 percent). The Palm Bay unemployment rate in the survey period was 6.1 percent, and 11.7 percent of Palm Bay residents lived below the poverty level.

Home ownership is the norm in Palm Bay. 79.7 percent of occupied Palm Bay homes are owner occupied, with a median owner-reported value of $283,200 across 50,147 housing units (ACS DP04, Palm Bay). Separate Palm Bay pages in this section go deeper on income and poverty, education, households and other single topics.