Cape Canaveral vs North Merritt Island

A side-by-side comparison of Cape Canaveral and North Merritt Island: population, income, housing, and more.

Cape Canaveral and North Merritt Island are places in Florida. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Cape Canaveral has the higher population (9,976 vs 8,903 in North Merritt Island). North Merritt Island has the higher median household income ($113,897 vs $70,585 in Cape Canaveral). North Merritt Island has the higher median home value ($495,400 vs $323,900 in Cape Canaveral).

Population, income & housing

	Cape Canaveral	North Merritt Island
Population	9,976	8,903
Median age	59.5 yrs	52.4 yrs
Median household income	$70,585	$113,897
Median home value	$323,900	$495,400
Median gross rent	$1,156	$1,328
Housing units	8,885	3,838
Homeownership rate	61.0%	86.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	38.6%	37.0%
Unemployment rate	2.6%	7.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cape Canaveral	North Merritt Island
Population	10,377 → 9,976 (-3.9%)	8,343 → 8,903 (+6.7%)
Median household income	$54,653 → $70,585 (+29.2%)	$90,019 → $113,897 (+26.5%)
Median home value	$244,900 → $323,900 (+32.3%)	$339,000 → $495,400 (+46.1%)
Median gross rent	$893 → $1,156 (+29.5%)	$1,574 → $1,328 (-15.6%)

Cape Canaveral

Population

10,3779,976

Median household income

$54,653$70,585

Median home value

$244,900$323,900

Median gross rent

$893$1,156

North Merritt Island

Population

8,3438,903

Median household income

$90,019$113,897

Median home value

$339,000$495,400

Median gross rent

$1,574$1,328

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cape Canaveral	North Merritt Island
Under 5	1.1%	3.0%
5 to 17	5.0%	14.4%
18 to 24	2.0%	6.1%
25 to 34	6.5%	8.5%
35 to 44	10.3%	10.6%
45 to 54	11.2%	10.9%
55 to 64	29.8%	19.8%
65 to 74	20.0%	13.2%
75 and over	14.1%	13.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cape Canaveral	North Merritt Island
White (non-Hispanic)	86.2%	82.6%
Black or African American	1.0%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.7%	2.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.2%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	9.4%	11.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cape Canaveral	North Merritt Island
No high school diploma	4.4%	3.0%
High school graduate	26.4%	27.1%
Some college or associate's	30.6%	32.9%
Bachelor's degree	25.0%	21.7%
Graduate or professional degree	13.6%	15.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cape Canaveral	North Merritt Island
Drove alone	71.4%	66.0%
Carpooled	2.7%	8.8%
Public transit	0.4%	0.0%
Walked	0.1%	1.3%
Bicycle	1.5%	0.0%
Worked from home	22.7%	23.4%
Other means	1.2%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cape Canaveral	North Merritt Island
1-unit, detached	8.7%	73.6%
1-unit, attached	11.3%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	12.3%	1.8%
5 to 19 units	30.8%	1.4%
20 or more units	30.4%	3.0%
Mobile home & other	6.5%	19.6%

Poverty & households

	Cape Canaveral	North Merritt Island
Poverty rate	8.8%	6.8%
Average household size	1.69	2.61
Mean commute (minutes)	23	29
Median year structure built	1985	1995