Veterans — Palm Bay, Florida

Palm Bay has about 9,975 civilian veterans, or 9.9 percent of the city's 100,682 civilian residents aged 18 and over, according to the ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Palm Bay city (Census table S2101, Palm Bay city).

The Palm Bay estimate carries a margin of error of 909, so the true count sits roughly between 9,066 and 10,884 (9,975 minus or plus 909), and the 9.9 percent share has a margin of 0.9 points (S2101, Palm Bay city). Countywide, Brevard County has 65,035 veterans, 12.6 percent of its civilian adults (S2101, Brevard County), and Florida has 1,327,071, or 7.4 percent (S2101, Florida).

Even with a below-county rate, Palm Bay holds a large slice of those veterans. Dividing the two published counts, 9,975 Palm Bay veterans out of 65,035 in Brevard County is about 15.3 percent of the county total. The city's adults also skew younger: adding the S2101 veteran and nonveteran counts aged 75 and over (2,045 plus 8,405) gives 10,450, about 10.4 percent of Palm Bay's 100,682 civilian adults, while the same sum for Brevard County (16,841 plus 51,132, or 67,973) is about 13.2 percent of 515,859.

The count covers people who served on active duty. The Census Bureau changed the veteran question in 1980 to count only veterans who had served on active duty, and it excludes people whose only service was in the National Guard or Reserves (U.S. Census Bureau, About Veterans). Anyone in Palm Bay who served only in the Guard or Reserves falls outside the 9,975 for that reason. Since Census 2010 the decennial count no longer asks about veteran status, which is why every Palm Bay figure on this page comes from the American Community Survey and carries its vintage.

The Vietnam War era is the largest single service group in Palm Bay, at 3,481 veterans or 34.9 percent, but the two Gulf War periods together hold more: 5,668 veterans, or 56.8 percent of the city total.

The Gulf War total is simple addition from the Palm Bay column: 2,755 who served from September 2001 on plus 2,913 who served from August 1990 to August 2001 makes 5,668 (S2101, Palm Bay city). The shares add the same way, 27.6 plus 29.2 percent. In Brevard County the two Gulf War groups are 26.1 and 29.7 percent of veterans (S2101, Brevard County), so the post-2001 slice is a little larger in Palm Bay than in the county as a whole.

Older wars have thinned out in Palm Bay. The survey counts 300 Korean War veterans and 67 World War II veterans living in the city, and their margins of error are 149 and 65, so those two rows are rough. Statewide, Korean War veterans are 5.1 percent of the total and World War II veterans 1.2 percent, both above the Palm Bay shares of 3.0 and 0.7 percent.

The five rows in the Palm Bay table add to 9,516 (2,755 + 2,913 + 3,481 + 300 + 67), which is 459 short of the 9,975 total. Table S2101 breaks out only these five wartime periods, so 459 Palm Bay veterans counted in the total are not placed in any of its period rows (S2101, Palm Bay city).

Palm Bay veterans are younger than the county norm: 44.8 percent are 65 or older (2,428 aged 65 to 74 plus 2,045 aged 75 and over), against 51.4 percent of veterans across Brevard County.

The working-age groups are larger in Palm Bay. The survey counts 802 Palm Bay veterans aged 18 to 34, 2,191 aged 35 to 54 and 2,509 aged 55 to 64, so 5,502 of the 9,975 are under 65 (S2101, Palm Bay city). In Brevard County the 65 to 74 and 75 and over groups are 25.5 and 25.9 percent of veterans, which add to the 51.4 percent above (S2101, Brevard County).

Palm Bay has a higher proportion of women among its veterans than Brevard County or Florida does. The ACS counts 1,479 women veterans in Palm Bay, 14.8 percent of the total, beside 8,496 men. Women make up 12.1 percent of Brevard County veterans and 10.9 percent of Florida veterans in the same release.

Palm Bay veterans are also more diverse than Brevard County veterans overall. Black or African American veterans number 1,352 in Palm Bay, 13.6 percent of the city's veterans, against 7.7 percent countywide, and Hispanic or Latino veterans of any race number 1,183, or 11.9 percent, against 7.6 percent across Brevard County (S2101, Brevard County). White non-Hispanic veterans are 68.6 percent of the Palm Bay total, compared with 80.1 percent for the county.

The ACS 2020-2024 estimates put the median income of Palm Bay veterans at $50,322, against $32,644 for nonveterans in the city and $57,948 for veterans countywide.

The Palm Bay veteran median income has a margin of error of $5,192, so the gap to the county figure is not sharp (S2101, Palm Bay city). Across Florida, veterans have a median income of $52,753 (S2101, Florida). Schooling follows the same pattern: 26.7 percent of Palm Bay veterans 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the largest group, 44.6 percent, has some college or an associate's degree.

Palm Bay veterans are less likely to be poor than other adults in the city. The ACS counts 730 veterans in Palm Bay below the poverty level, 7.4 percent, while 11.2 percent of Palm Bay nonveterans are below it. The county veteran rate is 6.2 percent and the Florida rate 7.6 percent.

Disability is the sharpest difference. In Palm Bay, 3,335 veterans, or 33.6 percent, report any disability, about double the 17.1 percent of nonveterans; the Brevard County veteran figure is 30.7 percent (S2101, Brevard County). Fewer Palm Bay veterans aged 18 to 64 are in the labor force, 68.1 percent against 76.3 percent of nonveterans, and the veteran unemployment rate in the city is 5.7 percent.

Palm Bay veterans can book a county veteran service officer at Palm Bay City Hall, 120 Malabar Road, in an office the city says was scheduled to open on January 2, 2024 (City of Palm Bay).

The City of Palm Bay page lists the office in City Hall Building A, Room 114A, open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Appointments are required for all services and are made through Brevard County at (321) 633-2012, option 1 (City of Palm Bay). The Brevard County Veteran Services page lists the same Palm Bay City Hall office in Community and Economic Development Room 229, with hours of 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM (Brevard County Veteran Services); the two agencies give different room numbers, so a call to the appointment line settles where to go on the day.

The office belongs to Brevard County, not the city, so the full list of county offices, forms and claim documents sits with Brevard County Veteran Services, which also runs offices in Viera at 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way and in Merritt Island (Brevard County). The county says its officers help veterans and family members file claims for VA benefits with the required supporting evidence. For VA health care, VA Orlando Health Care runs the Viera VA Clinic at 2900 Veterans Way in Viera, an outpatient clinic offering urgent care, primary care and specialty health services (VA Orlando Health Care).

Palm Bay holds an annual Veterans Day Parade, set for Saturday, November 7, 2026, at 10:00 AM, from the Tony Rosa Community Center east along Port Malabar Boulevard to Veterans Memorial Park (City of Palm Bay, October 2026 update).

Veterans Memorial Park sits at 2201 Port Malabar Blvd NE, and the city directory lists a memorial area among its amenities, beside a bathing lake and a lighted football field (City of Palm Bay facility directory). The October 2026 update from the city also marked the 251st birthday of the U.S. Navy on October 13 and the Patriot Day ceremony at Sacrifice Park on September 11, 2026 (City of Palm Bay).

The city also hangs banners for service members with Palm Bay ties. In September 2022 the City of Palm Bay said it was running the Military Tribute Banner Program for a third consecutive year, and that the previous year 38 banners had hung at Palm Bay City Hall and Veterans Memorial Park from Veterans Day through Memorial Day (City of Palm Bay, September 2022). The program invited Palm Bay residents and business owners to honor veterans as well as active-duty, reserve and National Guard members, a wider group than the Census veteran count.