Educational Attainment — Palm Bay, Florida

Palm Bay adults are well covered at the high school level but thinner at the college level: 91.0 percent of residents aged 25 and over hold a high school diploma or equivalent and 24.0 percent hold a bachelor's degree or higher (ACS 2020-2024).

The Palm Bay column comes from Census Bureau table S1501 for Palm Bay city, with comparisons from the Melbourne city table, the Brevard County table and the Florida table. Palm Bay counts 92,033 adults aged 25 and over, 83,732 of them high school graduates and 22,106 with at least a bachelor's degree. The high school rate sits above the Florida average of 89.9 percent, while the bachelor's rate is about 10 points below Brevard County, Melbourne and the state, which all fall between 34.1 and 34.7 percent.

The gap with Melbourne next door is the sharpest local contrast. Melbourne, with 62,973 adults aged 25 and over, has 34.7 percent with a bachelor's degree or higher against 24.0 percent in Palm Bay and its 12.9 percent graduate degree share is also above the Palm Bay figure. Brevard County as a whole holds 162,224 bachelor's degree holders aged 25 and over, so Palm Bay's 22,106 make up about 13.6 percent of the county total (22,106 divided by 162,224), while Palm Bay holds 19.4 percent of the county's adults aged 25 and over (92,033 divided by 474,168).

A high school diploma is the most common top credential among Palm Bay adults, held as the highest level by 31.9 percent of residents aged 25 and over, followed by some college with no degree at 22.6 percent.

Palm Bay leans toward two-year and partial college credentials. The city's 12.5 percent associate's degree share is above both Brevard County at 12.2 percent and Florida at 10.1 percent, and its 22.6 percent with some college but no degree is above the state's 18.5 percent (ACS S1501, Palm Bay). Adding the two, 35.1 percent of Palm Bay adults have attended college without finishing a four-year degree, more than the 24.0 percent who did finish one.

At the other end, 8,301 Palm Bay adults (3,129 plus 5,172) did not finish high school, 9.0 percent of the 25-and-over population. That share is higher than Brevard County's 6.7 percent (2.3 plus 4.4) and below Florida's 10.0 percent (4.2 plus 5.8). The Palm Bay graduate and professional degree share of 9.3 percent is the lowest of the four places in the table above, below Melbourne at 12.9 percent.

Palm Bay adults under 65 are more likely than older residents to hold a bachelor's degree: 27.9 percent of residents aged 35 to 44 do, against 18.7 percent of residents 65 and older, in ACS 2020-2024 estimates.

The county gap is widest among Palm Bay residents 65 and over. Only 4,613 of the 24,719 Palm Bay residents aged 65 and over hold a bachelor's degree, 18.7 percent, while 30.7 percent of Brevard County residents in the same age group do (ACS S1501, Brevard County). High school completion also dips for the oldest Palm Bay group, to 87.4 percent, against 92.0 percent countywide. The youngest adults show a different picture: of 9,293 Palm Bay residents aged 18 to 24, 39.7 percent have some college or an associate's degree and 16.9 percent have not finished high school.

Palm Bay women edge out men on both measures. Among Palm Bay women aged 25 and over, 24.8 percent hold a bachelor's degree or higher and 91.1 percent finished high school, compared with 23.2 percent and 90.8 percent for Palm Bay men. Across Brevard County the order flips at the college level, where men lead with 35.0 percent against 33.4 percent for women.

Each step up in schooling raises typical pay in Palm Bay: median earnings run from $28,779 for adults without a high school diploma to $55,306 with a bachelor's degree and $62,218 with a graduate or professional degree (ACS 2020-2024, 2024 dollars).

Palm Bay high school graduates out-earn their county peers slightly, at $36,305 against $35,993, but the advantage reverses higher up. A Palm Bay bachelor's degree holder's median of $55,306 is $8,217 below the Brevard County figure of $63,523, and the Palm Bay graduate degree median of $62,218 is $28,959 below the county's $91,177 (ACS S1501, Brevard County). Among Palm Bay men with a graduate or professional degree the median reaches $98,627, against $56,329 for Palm Bay women with the same credential (ACS S1501, Palm Bay).

Poverty falls as schooling rises. In Palm Bay, 23.8 percent of adults 25 and over without a high school diploma live below the poverty level, against 12.3 percent of high school graduates, 8.5 percent of those with some college or an associate's degree and 6.3 percent of bachelor's degree holders. The Palm Bay rate for bachelor's holders is above the Brevard County rate of 4.8 percent, and the Palm Bay rate for high school graduates is between the county's 11.8 percent and Florida's 14.3 percent.

Eastern Florida State College runs the Eastern Florida State College Palm Bay Campus at 250 Community College Parkway, off Malabar Road by Lake Titan, and adult high school and GED classes run through Brevard Public Schools Adult Education.

Eastern Florida State College describes the Palm Bay Campus as offering associate degrees that transfer to bachelor's programs, plus hands-on programs in engineering technology, robotics, firefighting and medical assisting. The Fire Academy sits on the southern end of the Palm Bay Campus with a burn tower, and the campus is home to the Center for Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics; the college and the center are designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency. The campus phone is 321-632-1111. Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the Eastern Florida State College Palm Bay Campus page.

Cost matters for the 20,764 Palm Bay adults with some college and no degree. Eastern Florida State College tuition for 2026-2027 is $104.00 per credit hour for Florida residents in lower level courses (associate degrees and developmental education), $128.51 per credit hour in upper level bachelor's courses, and $2.56 per clock hour in career and technical certificate programs. Non-residents pay $405.76 per credit hour at the lower level. The college notes that the rates include general per-hour fees where applicable, so 15 lower level credits at the Florida resident rate come to $1,560 (15 times $104.00).

For the 8,301 Palm Bay adults without a diploma, Brevard Public Schools Adult Education offers an adult high school program that lets students finish starting where they left off with their credits, and GED classes where students study, take the official practice test and review results with a teacher toward a State of Florida High School Diploma. The program office listed on that page is at 1225 Clearlake Rd. in Cocoa, phone 321-633-3660, and the same Brevard Public Schools program runs ESOL classes for adults learning English.