Cocoa vs Merritt Island

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

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

Merritt Island has the higher population (34,718 vs 19,330 in Cocoa). Merritt Island has the higher median household income ($91,020 vs $56,553 in Cocoa). Merritt Island has the higher median home value ($379,700 vs $215,700 in Cocoa).

Population, income & housing

	Cocoa	Merritt Island
Population	19,330	34,718
Median age	45.0 yrs	49.8 yrs
Median household income	$56,553	$91,020
Median home value	$215,700	$379,700
Median gross rent	$1,180	$1,348
Housing units	10,108	16,816
Homeownership rate	65.3%	81.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.8%	41.8%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cocoa	Merritt Island
Population	18,285 → 19,330 (+5.7%)	36,532 → 34,718 (-5.0%)
Median household income	$38,892 → $56,553 (+45.4%)	$64,865 → $91,020 (+40.3%)
Median home value	$115,500 → $215,700 (+86.8%)	$264,600 → $379,700 (+43.5%)
Median gross rent	$829 → $1,180 (+42.3%)	$1,019 → $1,348 (+32.3%)

Cocoa

Population

18,28519,330

Median household income

$38,892$56,553

Median home value

$115,500$215,700

Median gross rent

$829$1,180

Merritt Island

Population

36,53234,718

Median household income

$64,865$91,020

Median home value

$264,600$379,700

Median gross rent

$1,019$1,348

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cocoa	Merritt Island
Under 5	6.0%	4.3%
5 to 17	11.8%	13.4%
18 to 24	6.4%	6.4%
25 to 34	14.2%	9.4%
35 to 44	11.4%	10.1%
45 to 54	14.0%	13.1%
55 to 64	14.1%	17.4%
65 to 74	13.1%	13.9%
75 and over	8.9%	12.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cocoa	Merritt Island
White (non-Hispanic)	49.9%	83.0%
Black or African American	24.7%	2.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	0.6%	3.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.1%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	20.9%	7.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cocoa	Merritt Island
No high school diploma	12.1%	4.3%
High school graduate	28.2%	21.3%
Some college or associate's	38.0%	32.6%
Bachelor's degree	15.9%	24.7%
Graduate or professional degree	5.9%	17.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cocoa	Merritt Island
Drove alone	71.9%	75.3%
Carpooled	13.7%	4.8%
Public transit	4.0%	0.2%
Walked	1.1%	0.3%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.4%
Worked from home	8.2%	17.4%
Other means	0.9%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cocoa	Merritt Island
1-unit, detached	62.0%	78.3%
1-unit, attached	2.6%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	5.5%	2.6%
5 to 19 units	11.6%	6.3%
20 or more units	12.3%	8.5%
Mobile home & other	6.0%	2.9%

Poverty & households

	Cocoa	Merritt Island
Poverty rate	11.7%	7.4%
Average household size	2.31	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	26	25
Median year structure built	1971	1973