Palm Bay, FL
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Palm Bay ranks 174th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 129th for income. A household earns $78,196 a year while median rent runs $1,681/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 0% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is air quality (68th of 300), while hazard safety is the soft spot (260th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 250th and home prices 199th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Palm Bay, your take-home is worth about $61,310 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 129th of 300↑36.5%$78,196
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 220th of 300100 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $78,192
- Per-capita income
- $42,924
- Full-time pay
- $42,452
Housing
- Median rent
- 250th of 300↑48.5%$1,681/mo
- Home value
- 199th of 300↑63.2%$372,900
- Property tax
- $2,597/yr · 0.7%
- Sales tax
- 6.95%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 216th of 3005.1%
- Bachelor's+
- 124th of 30035.7%
- Avg commute
- 222nd of 30026.5 min
People
- Population
- 658,447
- Population change
- +9.4%
- Median age
- 46.3 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 9.8%
- Broadband
- 94.2%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 68th of 30040
- Natural-hazard loss
- 260th of 300$30/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 99th of 30016.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 12.4%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Air quality
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Job market
- – Commute
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — melbourne intl ap.
What jobs pay in Palm Bay
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $237,200
- IT managers
- $172,020
- Financial managers
- $160,910
- Pharmacists
- $134,070
- Software developers
- $131,760
- Lawyers
- $129,640
- General & operations managers
- $101,830
- Civil engineers
- $100,640
- Registered nurses
- $80,900
- Web developers
- $79,170
- Accountants & auditors
- $75,860
- Elementary school teachers
- $62,510
- Police officers
- $60,520
- Plumbers
- $59,780
- Secondary school teachers
- $58,840
- Electricians
- $58,450
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $48,460
- Carpenters
- $47,770
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $45,400
- Construction laborers
- $44,720
- Customer service reps
- $37,760
- Waiters & waitresses
- $36,670
- Retail salespersons
- $33,430
- Janitors
- $32,810
- Cashiers
- $30,390
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Palm Bay metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Florida are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- New York1,992
- Ohio1,485
- California1,439
- Texas1,340
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Palm Bay
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Palm Bay metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Palm Bay metro?
- Median gross rent across the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL Metro Area is $1,681 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Palm Bay.
- What is the median household income in the Palm Bay metro?
- A typical household in the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL Metro Area earns $78,196 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Palm Bay expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL Metro Area runs about 0% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Palm Bay metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $78,192 (versus its face value of $78,196). CityLedger rates the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Palm Bay metro?
- The median home value across the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL Metro Area is $372,900 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Palm Bay metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL Metro Area is 5.1% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).