Wages and pay — Sebastian, Florida

The average hourly wage in the Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor metro area, which is Indian River County, was $28.25 in May 2025, against $33.54 for the nation.

That figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics release for May 2025, published July 7, 2026 (BLS, May 2025). The metro area includes Indian River County, so the number covers jobs in Sebastian, Fellsmere and Vero Beach together; BLS publishes no separate occupational wage series for the City of Sebastian. Dividing $28.25 by $33.54 gives 0.842, so an average hour of work in the county paid about 84 cents for each dollar paid nationally.

The May 2023 detailed table for the area, then named Sebastian-Vero Beach, FL, lists 55,370 jobs with a median hourly wage of $19.25 and a mean of $25.65 (BLS OEWS area 42680, May 2023). Florida's statewide May 2023 figures were a $21.67 median and a $28.95 mean (BLS OEWS Florida, May 2023). The gap between mean and median in Indian River County, $25.65 against $19.25, indicates that higher paid jobs pull the average above the pay of the typical Sebastian area worker.

Management jobs paid the most in the Sebastian metro area in May 2025, at $56.74 an hour on average, and farming, fishing and forestry jobs the least, at $16.62.

Three major groups paid more in the Sebastian area than nationally in May 2025. Food preparation and serving related work averaged $18.08 an hour locally against $17.86 nationally, and healthcare support $19.69 against $19.62 (BLS). Production jobs, a small 2.8 percent share in Indian River County, averaged $25.09 against $24.81 for the nation.

The widest gaps sit at the top. Management in the Sebastian area averaged $56.74 an hour, $13.10 below the U.S. mean of $69.84 (69.84 minus 56.74), and legal occupations $52.71 against $67.07. Health care is the exception among well paid groups: healthcare practitioners and technical jobs make up 8.6 percent of Indian River County employment, above the 6.3 percent national share, and paid $46.81 an hour in May 2025 (BLS).

Waiters and waitresses, the largest restaurant occupation in the Sebastian metro area, averaged $19.66 an hour, or $40,880 a year, in May 2025 across 1,560 jobs.

Food service is the biggest single occupational group in Indian River County. BLS counted 6,930 food preparation and serving jobs in the Sebastian area in May 2025, 12.0 percent of local employment against an 8.8 percent share nationally (BLS, May 2025). The release breaks the group down by job title.

Chefs and head cooks were employed at 2.65 times the national rate in the Sebastian area, and dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers at 2.31 times (BLS). OEWS wages include tips, according to the BLS technical notes, so the waiter and bartender figures for Indian River County reflect reported tips as well as base pay (BLS OEWS technical notes).

In the May 2023 detailed occupation table for the Sebastian metro area, registered nurses averaged $39.38 an hour, roofers $22.70 and landscaping workers $17.19.

The May 2025 news release details only the food service group, and points to the BLS data site for the full May 2025 occupation list. For nurses, trades and other single occupations this page uses the May 2023 table for Sebastian-Vero Beach, area 42680 (BLS OEWS area 42680, May 2023), set beside the Florida figures for the same year (BLS OEWS Florida, May 2023).

Roofing is the clearest local specialty. Indian River County had 400 roofer jobs in May 2023 with a location quotient of 8.19, about eight times the national share, at a mean of $22.70 an hour, close to the Florida mean of $22.61. Landscaping and groundskeeping workers, at 1,180 jobs and a location quotient of 3.48, averaged $17.19 (BLS).

One local employer posts its own number. The City of Sebastian lists a police officer starting salary of $60,770.00 on its Sebastian Police Department careers page (City of Sebastian), while the May 2023 BLS table gives an annual mean of $58,670 for all police and sheriff’s patrol officers in the metro area. The two figures differ in date and definition: one is the city’s currently posted starting rate, the other a 2023 average across every agency in Indian River County.

The Sebastian metro area mean hourly wage rose from $25.65 in May 2023 to $28.25 in May 2025, an increase of $2.60, or 10.1 percent.

The arithmetic uses the two BLS releases: 28.25 minus 25.65 is 2.60, and 2.60 divided by 25.65 is 0.101 (BLS, May 2023; BLS, May 2025). Over the same span the U.S. mean went from $31.48 to $33.54, a rise of $2.06, or 6.5 percent (2.06 divided by 31.48). The Indian River County average therefore gained faster than the national one, though it remains below it.

Two cautions apply to any comparison for Sebastian. The metro area changed name between the releases, from Sebastian-Vero Beach to Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, but BLS states in both that it includes Indian River County, so the territory is the same. And each OEWS release pools six survey panels over three years; the May 2025 estimates use panels from November 2022 through May 2025 (BLS technical notes), so the 2023 and 2025 figures share some survey data and the change is not a clean two year measurement.

The BLS figures for the Sebastian area cover wage and salary jobs at employers in Indian River County, including tips and commissions, and leave out the self-employed and overtime pay.

OEWS is an employer survey. The BLS overview states that it does not include the self-employed, owners and partners in unincorporated firms, household workers or unpaid family workers, and that data are published annually with a May reference date (BLS OEWS overview). Self-employed contractors and business owners in Sebastian are therefore outside these numbers.

Wages are straight time gross pay; overtime pay, shift differentials and employer spending on benefits are excluded (BLS technical notes). Annual figures in the Sebastian tables are the hourly mean multiplied by 2,080 hours (BLS). In the May 2023 survey round, the Sebastian-Vero Beach sample included 1,024 establishments with a 71 percent response rate (BLS). For context on the job market itself, the BLS Economy at a Glance page shows a preliminary August 2026 unemployment rate of 5.6 percent for the metro area (BLS Economy at a Glance).