Wages and pay — Palm Bay, Florida

The median Palm Bay resident with earnings took home $37,505 a year, and the median full-time, year-round worker earned $48,260, in Census ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates.

Both figures come from the Palm Bay S2001 earnings table, which counts 65,356 Palm Bay residents aged 16 and over with any earnings and 45,299 who worked full time all year. The all-worker median includes part-time and part-year earners, while the full-time median covers only those who worked full time, year-round, so it is the closer guide to what a steady Palm Bay job pays. The mean for full-time Palm Bay workers is $62,379, pulled above the median by a smaller group of high earners.

Palm Bay sits below its county and state on every measure in the table. The Brevard County S2001 table puts the all-worker median at $42,256 and the full-time median at $56,903, and the Florida S2001 table gives $41,891 and $53,766. The Palm Bay full-time median is about $8,600 under the Brevard County figure ($56,903 minus $48,260).

The Palm Bay margin of error on the all-worker median is $1,667, so the city figure is clearly below the county one rather than a sampling quirk. Among full-time Palm Bay workers, 25.2 percent earned $35,000 to $49,999, the largest single bracket, and 12.9 percent earned $100,000 or more (S2001).

Computer and mathematical work is the best-paid occupation group for Palm Bay residents, with median earnings of $105,224, followed by architecture and engineering at $86,589 (ACS 2020-2024).

The Palm Bay S2411 table reports a median of $40,490 for all employed civilian Palm Bay earners and breaks it out by occupation. Management occupations reach $68,311, and health diagnosing and treating practitioners $75,338. At the other end, Palm Bay food preparation and serving workers have median earnings of $19,716, a figure that mixes part-time and full-time work.

The engineering gap stands out. Palm Bay architecture and engineering workers earn a median of $86,589, while the Brevard County S2411 table shows $105,019 for the same group countywide, so Palm Bay engineers earn less than the countywide median for the group, though the Palm Bay estimate carries a margin of error of $20,592. The Florida S2411 table puts that group at $87,513 statewide. These are medians for residents, wherever they work.

Trades close most of the distance. Palm Bay installation, maintenance and repair workers earn $51,508, almost exactly the county median for that group, and production workers $42,917. Law enforcement workers living in Palm Bay report median earnings of $61,272, though the margin of error on that small group is $17,167.

Professional, scientific and technical services pay Palm Bay residents the highest industry median, $73,916, and manufacturing pays $59,545, in ACS 2020-2024 estimates by industry of employment.

The Palm Bay S2413 table sorts the same $40,490 Palm Bay median by the industry a worker is employed in rather than by job title. Public administration pays a median of $57,113. Construction pays $40,753, health care and social assistance $36,431, retail trade $31,056, and accommodation and food services $21,028.

Manufacturing shows the widest county gap in this table: the Brevard County S2413 table puts the countywide manufacturing median at $78,395, about $18,850 above the Palm Bay figure ($78,395 minus $59,545). Retail and restaurant pay is close to even between Palm Bay and the county, while the widest gaps in this table are in manufacturing, public administration ($57,113 against $72,996) and professional services ($73,916 against $83,719).

Employers in the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville metro area paid an average of $32.31 an hour in May 2025, against $33.54 nationally, according to the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release of July 7, 2026.

This survey measures jobs located in the metro area, which covers all of Brevard County, and it asks employers rather than households, so it does not match the Census figures above. It excludes the self-employed. The Palm Bay area stands out for engineering: architecture and engineering jobs make up 5.6 percent of local employment, against 1.7 percent nationwide, and pay a mean of $52.36 an hour, slightly above the U.S. mean of $51.36.

Food service is the largest low-wage group in the Palm Bay metro area, with 26,090 jobs. Fast food and counter workers averaged $14.65 an hour across 7,630 jobs, waiters and waitresses $19.83 across 5,080 jobs, and chefs and head cooks $26.90 (BLS table 1, May 2025).

The City of Palm Bay community profile names L3Harris, Renesas Electronics and Raytheon Technologies as major employers and engineering and defense as the top industries in Palm Bay.

A Palm Bay worker with a bachelor's degree earns a median of $55,306, about $19,000 more than one with only a high school diploma at $36,305, in ACS 2020-2024 estimates.

The Palm Bay S2001 table reports earnings for residents 25 and over by education: $28,779 without a high school diploma, $36,305 for high school graduates, $38,735 for some college or an associate degree, $55,306 for a bachelor's degree and $62,218 for a graduate or professional degree. The step from an associate degree to a bachelor's degree is the largest jump on the Palm Bay ladder, worth about $16,600 a year ($55,306 minus $38,735).

Palm Bay men with earnings have a median of $42,773 and women $33,478. Restricting to full-time, year-round workers narrows the gap: Palm Bay men earn $52,218 and women $43,887 (S2001).

The Palm Bay graduate-degree median carries a margin of error of $9,138, wide enough that comparisons with the county for that small group should be read with care. Eastern Florida State College, which the city says has a large footprint in Palm Bay, offers bachelor's programs ranging from Computer Information Systems Technology to teaching and nursing.

Every Palm Bay employer covered by state law must pay at least $15.00 an hour from September 30, 2026, the last fixed step set by Article X, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution.

The constitutional amendment raised the Florida minimum to $10.00 on September 30, 2021 and added $1.00 every September 30 until it reached $15.00 on September 30, 2026. From September 30, 2027, the state calculates an inflation-adjusted rate each September 30 using the CPI-W consumer price index, and each adjusted rate takes effect the following January 1. The same state rate binds every employer in Palm Bay, from City Hall at 120 Malabar Road to the shops along Palm Bay Road.

The new floor sits close to several Palm Bay metro wages measured in May 2025, when the state minimum was $13.00 (the 2021 rate of $10.00 plus three $1.00 steps). Fast food and counter workers in the Palm Bay area then averaged $14.65 an hour, below the $15.00 that took effect in 2026, so the September 2026 step pushes the floor above that group's 2025 average.