Race and Ethnicity — Palm Bay, Florida

The 2020 Census counted Palm Bay as 56.6 percent non-Hispanic white, 17.9 percent Hispanic or Latino and 17.1 percent non-Hispanic Black, a far more mixed city than Brevard County around it.

Those shares rest on full counts, not a survey. Of 119,760 Palm Bay residents on April 1, 2020, the Census Bureau recorded 21,436 Hispanic or Latino residents of any race, 67,826 non-Hispanic white residents and 20,426 non-Hispanic Black residents (2020 Census table P9, Palm Bay). Each percentage on this page is a published count divided by the 119,760 total.

The Brevard County column divides the county counts in 2020 Census table P9, Brevard County by 606,612 residents, and the Florida column divides the state counts in 2020 Census table P9, Florida by 21,538,187. Palm Bay sits between the two: its Hispanic share is well above the county figure but below the statewide 26.5 percent, while its Black share is higher than both. Smaller Palm Bay groups include 286 non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native residents and 84 non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander residents.

Hispanic residents made up 41.4 percent of Palm Bay growth between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, rising from 14,572 to 21,436, a gain of 47.1 percent in ten years.

The 2010 column comes from 2010 Census table P9, Palm Bay and the 2020 column from the 2020 Census table for Palm Bay. The Palm Bay Hispanic gain of 6,864 divided by the total gain of 16,570 gives the 41.4 percent share. The non-Hispanic white share of Palm Bay fell from 63.9 percent in 2010 (65,967 of 103,190) to 56.6 percent in 2020, even though that group still grew by 1,859 people.

Palm Bay Hispanic growth ran about twice the national pace. The Census Bureau reports that the Hispanic or Latino population of the United States grew 23 percent between 2010 and 2020 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census race and ethnicity), against 47.1 percent in Palm Bay.

The jump in the Palm Bay multiracial count needs care. The Census Bureau says comparisons between 2020 and 2010 race data should be made with caution because it improved the Hispanic origin and race questions and the way answers are coded, and it measured the national Multiracial population at 9 million in 2010 and 33.8 million in 2020 (Census Bureau). That caution applies to the Palm Bay rise from 2,542 to 6,527 non-Hispanic residents of two or more races, so the gain is not read here as a count of new arrivals.

Palm Bay held 19.7 percent of Brevard County residents in 2020 but 31.6 percent of its Hispanic residents and 36.2 percent of its non-Hispanic Black residents.

The arithmetic uses the two 2020 Census tables: 21,436 Hispanic residents in Palm Bay out of 67,907 in Brevard County, and 20,426 non-Hispanic Black residents out of 56,498 (2020 Census P9, Brevard County). By contrast, the 67,826 non-Hispanic white residents of Palm Bay are 15.7 percent of the 430,936 in the county, a smaller share than the city holds of the county population as a whole.

Palm Bay also drew most of the county growth in its Black population. Brevard County counted 52,677 non-Hispanic Black residents in 2010 and 56,498 in 2020, a gain of 3,821 (2010 Census P9, Brevard County), and the Palm Bay gain of 2,836 was 74.2 percent of it. For Hispanic residents the county grew from 43,943 to 67,907, and Palm Bay supplied 6,864 of the 23,964 added, or 28.6 percent.

Melbourne, also in Brevard County, looks closer to the county than to Palm Bay. The 2020 Census counted 84,678 Melbourne residents, of whom 10,654 were Hispanic (12.6 percent) and 8,070 non-Hispanic Black (9.5 percent), with a non-Hispanic white share of 68.2 percent (2020 Census P9, Melbourne). Palm Bay had roughly twice the Hispanic count and two and a half times the Black count of its neighbor.

Puerto Rican residents are the largest Hispanic origin group in Palm Bay, followed by Cuban, Dominican and Mexican residents, in ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates.

The Palm Bay column comes from ACS table B03001, Palm Bay and the county column from ACS table B03001, Brevard County; the last column divides one by the other. Within the South American group, Palm Bay has 1,463 Colombian and 457 Venezuelan residents, and within the Central American group 571 Panamanian, 429 Honduran and 427 Guatemalan residents.

The Palm Bay mix is the reverse of the state pattern. Statewide the ACS puts Cuban residents at 7.3 percent of Florida and Puerto Rican residents at 5.6 percent (ACS DP05, Florida), while in Palm Bay Puerto Rican residents are 8.1 percent and Cuban residents 3.8 percent (ACS DP05, Palm Bay). Mexican residents, 2.0 percent of Palm Bay, are a smaller share than in Florida as a whole (3.3 percent).

The ACS Hispanic total for Palm Bay, 26,779 or 20.6 percent, is higher than the 2020 Census count of 21,436. The survey figure is an average over 2020 to 2024 for a Palm Bay population it puts at 130,132, so it captures growth after the census day; the two figures answer different questions and both are shown with their source.

Palm Bay is home to most of the Jamaican and Haitian residents of Brevard County: 6,233 of 7,980 Jamaican residents and 3,867 of 4,559 Haitian residents, in ACS 2020-2024 estimates.

These detailed groups come from the race table, where residents who report Black or African American as their only race also name an origin. The ACS counts 26,595 Palm Bay residents who are Black alone (20.4 percent), including 7,599 who report African American, 6,233 Jamaican and 3,867 Haitian (ACS DP05, Palm Bay). In Brevard County the same table lists 7,980 Jamaican and 4,559 Haitian residents (ACS DP05, Brevard County), so Palm Bay holds 78.1 percent and 84.8 percent of them.

The Jamaican share stands out even against Florida. Jamaican residents make up 4.8 percent of Palm Bay against 1.1 percent statewide, and Haitian residents 3.0 percent against 2.2 percent (ACS DP05, Florida). Melbourne lists 808 Jamaican and 266 Haitian residents (ACS DP05, Melbourne). Add the 2,785 Dominican and 10,502 Puerto Rican residents, and Caribbean origins account for a large part of what makes Palm Bay different from the rest of the county.

Asian residents are a smaller Palm Bay group. Non-Hispanic Asian residents are 2.2 percent of Palm Bay in the ACS, below 2.4 percent in Brevard County, and the largest Asian origins in Palm Bay are Filipino (948), Chinese (691) and Asian Indian (525).

The City of Palm Bay held its first annual Palm Bay Multicultural Festival on January 29, 2022, at Fred Poppe Regional Park, planned with the Greater Palm Bay Chamber of Commerce.

The March 2022 message from Mayor Rob Medina says the festival showcased many of the cultures represented in Palm Bay with performances, shopping and dining, and the same message marks Black History Month each February (City of Palm Bay, March 2022 Mayor message). The city lists its contact address as 120 Malabar Road in Palm Bay.

For figures, the 2020 Census tables give the firmest Palm Bay counts, and the ACS 2020-2024 tables give the origin detail with margins of error that widen for the smaller groups. Last verified: October 13, 2026, on data.census.gov and the City of Palm Bay website.