Rental market — Palm Bay, Florida

About one Palm Bay household in five rents: 9,295 of 45,850 occupied homes, or 20.3 percent, in ACS 2020-2024 estimates (ACS DP04, Palm Bay).

That share is below the county and state figures. Across Brevard County renters hold 23.3 percent of occupied homes (ACS DP04, Brevard County), and statewide the figure is 32.4 percent (ACS DP04, Florida). Most residential development in Palm Bay was built by the General Development Corporation, which also oversaw the road and canal infrastructure (ECFRPC Compound study, page 3), and the city's 36,555 owner households outnumber renters almost four to one.

Palm Bay renter households are also larger than the county norm. The average renter household in Palm Bay holds 2.99 people, against 2.35 for Brevard County renters and 2.45 for Florida renters, all ACS 2020-2024 figures. That fits a Palm Bay rental stock in which half of renters occupy detached houses, as the section on home types below shows.

Most Palm Bay renters arrived recently. Of the 9,295 renter households, 1,033 moved into their current home in 2023 or later and 3,445 between 2020 and 2022, while 4,313 date from 2010 to 2019 and only 504 from before 2010 (ACS B25038, Palm Bay). The 504 is the sum of three published groups (387, 102 and 15).

The median Palm Bay renter pays $1,601 a month in gross rent (rent plus utilities), above the Brevard County median of $1,556 but below Florida's $1,669, per ACS 2020-2024 (ACS DP04, Palm Bay).

Gross rent is the Census measure that adds the estimated monthly cost of utilities (electricity, gas, water and sewer) and fuels to contract rent when the renter pays them, so that rentals with and without utilities included are compared on the same footing (ACS 2024 subject definitions, page 19). Two thirds of Palm Bay renters paying cash rent sit between $1,000 and $1,999: 35.9 percent pay $1,000 to $1,499 and 31.8 percent pay $1,500 to $1,999. Another 18.0 percent pay $2,000 to $2,499.

Cheap rent is scarce in Palm Bay. Only 0.6 percent of Palm Bay cash renters pay under $500 and 7.0 percent pay $500 to $999, compared with 12.8 percent in the $500 to $999 band across Brevard County (ACS DP04, Brevard County). At the top, 1.6 percent of Palm Bay renters pay $3,000 or more, half the Brevard County share of 3.3 percent.

Not every Palm Bay renter pays cash. The ACS counts 8,775 Palm Bay renter households paying rent and 520 that pay none, which the ACS reports separately as no rent paid, so those 520 drop out of the rent figures above.

In Palm Bay the median gross rent climbs from $1,495 for a two-bedroom unit to $1,768 for three bedrooms and $2,150 for four, per ACS 2020-2024 table B25031 (ACS B25031, Palm Bay).

One-bedroom units and studios in Palm Bay both show a median of $1,269, with margins of error of $82 and $164. Brevard County medians run close to Palm Bay for mid-size homes, $1,499 for two bedrooms and $1,800 for three (ACS B25031, Brevard County), so bedroom for bedroom the Palm Bay and county medians differ by less than $35 for one, two and three bedrooms.

Four-bedroom houses are the one size where Palm Bay rents run clearly above the county, $2,150 against $2,039, and five-bedroom Palm Bay rentals show a median of $2,089 with a margin of error of $250.

Half of Palm Bay renters live in detached single-family houses: 4,636 of 9,295 renter households, or 49.9 percent, by ACS 2020-2024 table B25032 (ACS B25032, Palm Bay).

The rest of Palm Bay's rental stock is split among small and mid-size buildings. The ACS counts 1,327 Palm Bay renter households in buildings of 5 to 9 units, 806 in 10 to 19 units, 777 in 3 or 4 units, 366 in 20 to 49 units and 661 in complexes of 50 or more units. Another 301 rent mobile homes, 267 live in duplexes and 154 in attached single-family homes such as townhouses. The 49.9 percent share is 4,636 divided by 9,295.

The large-complex share is small: 661 households, about 7.1 percent of Palm Bay renters (661 divided by 9,295), live in buildings of 50 or more units. Under the city's Live Local Policy, approved February 11, 2025 and issued by the city's Land Development Division at 120 Malabar Road SE, qualifying mixed-use projects in commercial, mixed-use and industrial zoning districts must set aside at least 40 percent of multifamily units as affordable rentals for at least 30 years (Palm Bay Live Local Policy, page 2).

More than half of Palm Bay renters, 52.5 percent of those whose burden can be computed, spend 35 percent or more of household income on gross rent, per ACS 2020-2024 (ACS DP04, Palm Bay).

The Palm Bay median renter spends 37.6 percent of income on rent (ACS B25071, Palm Bay), against 33.3 percent in Brevard County (ACS B25071, Brevard County) and 35.2 percent in Florida (ACS B25071, Florida). In Brevard County as a whole 47.2 percent of renters pass the 35 percent mark (ACS DP04, Brevard County), and in Florida 50.2 percent do (ACS DP04, Florida). Only 9.4 percent of Palm Bay renters spend less than 15 percent of income on rent.

The gap is an income story. The median Palm Bay renter household earns $50,990 a year, against $78,235 for Palm Bay homeowners (ACS B25119, Palm Bay). Brevard County renters earn a median of $52,625 (ACS B25119, Brevard County) and Florida renters $53,617 (ACS B25119, Florida), so Palm Bay renters earn slightly less while paying slightly more than the county median.

Supply is tighter in Palm Bay than countywide. The Palm Bay rental vacancy rate is 6.3 percent, against 10.8 percent across Brevard County and 7.6 percent in Florida, so a Palm Bay renter has fewer vacant units to choose from than a renter looking in Brevard County as a whole.

HUD's FY 2026 Small Area Fair Market Rents for Palm Bay ZIP codes range from $1,630 to $2,020 for a two-bedroom unit, and every Housing Choice Voucher program in the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville area uses them (HUD FY 2026 Small Area FMRs).

HUD defines these small areas by ZIP code, so the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville area has a separate figure for each ZIP code instead of one metro figure. The highest Palm Bay figures are in 32908, the ZIP code of Bayside High School at 1901 Degroodt Road SW (Brevard Public Schools, Bayside High), and the lowest in 32905, the ZIP code of Goode Park at 1300 Bianca Dr NE on Turkey Creek and Castaways Point Park at 2990 Bay Blvd NE (Palm Bay City Parks).

These HUD figures and the ACS medians answer different questions. Fair Market Rents are HUD figures for fiscal year 2026 that voucher programs use in each Palm Bay ZIP code, while the ACS medians describe what Palm Bay renters actually reported paying across 2020 to 2024, so the two should not be read as a rise from one to the other.

The Palm Bay 2045 Comprehensive Plan commits the city to work with existing and prospective landlords to expand the supply of rental housing units, Policy HSG-1.1F of the Housing Element (Housing Element, page 1).

The same Palm Bay Housing Element calls for amending the Land Development Code to allow missing middle housing such as duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes in select low-density districts (Policy HSG-1.1C, Housing Element, page 1), and for guidance and encouragement for rental property owners who wish to take part in the Section 8 Program (Policy HSG-1.3L, Housing Element, page 2).

Renters in Palm Bay are protected by the city's Fair Housing Ordinance alongside the Florida and federal fair housing acts. A complaint must be filed within 180 days of the alleged act; the City of Palm Bay makes an initial inquiry and refers complaints with reasonable grounds to the Florida Commission on Human Relations or to HUD. The city's housing office at 120 Malabar Road SE takes calls at (321) 726-5633 ext 3542 (Palm Bay Housing Programs).

Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the City of Palm Bay Housing Programs page, HUD USER and data.census.gov.