Melbourne vs Merritt Island

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

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

Melbourne has the higher population (85,718 vs 34,718 in Merritt Island). Merritt Island has the higher median household income ($91,020 vs $64,504 in Melbourne). Merritt Island has the higher median home value ($379,700 vs $272,900 in Melbourne).

Population, income & housing

	Melbourne	Merritt Island
Population	85,718	34,718
Median age	42.3 yrs	49.8 yrs
Median household income	$64,504	$91,020
Median home value	$272,900	$379,700
Median gross rent	$1,411	$1,348
Housing units	40,709	16,816
Homeownership rate	60.3%	81.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	33.3%	41.8%
Unemployment rate	4.4%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Melbourne	Merritt Island
Population	81,468 → 85,718 (+5.2%)	36,532 → 34,718 (-5.0%)
Median household income	$48,673 → $64,504 (+32.5%)	$64,865 → $91,020 (+40.3%)
Median home value	$169,000 → $272,900 (+61.5%)	$264,600 → $379,700 (+43.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,030 → $1,411 (+37.0%)	$1,019 → $1,348 (+32.3%)

Melbourne

Population

81,46885,718

Median household income

$48,673$64,504

Median home value

$169,000$272,900

Median gross rent

$1,030$1,411

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)

	Melbourne	Merritt Island
Under 5	4.5%	4.3%
5 to 17	13.3%	13.4%
18 to 24	9.7%	6.4%
25 to 34	14.2%	9.4%
35 to 44	11.1%	10.1%
45 to 54	10.9%	13.1%
55 to 64	13.7%	17.4%
65 to 74	12.5%	13.9%
75 and over	10.1%	12.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Melbourne	Merritt Island
White (non-Hispanic)	70.2%	83.0%
Black or African American	9.6%	2.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	3.2%	3.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.6%
Two or more races	4.8%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	11.8%	7.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Melbourne	Merritt Island
No high school diploma	7.1%	4.3%
High school graduate	25.9%	21.3%
Some college or associate's	33.7%	32.6%
Bachelor's degree	21.2%	24.7%
Graduate or professional degree	12.0%	17.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Melbourne	Merritt Island
Drove alone	73.6%	75.3%
Carpooled	7.4%	4.8%
Public transit	1.3%	0.2%
Walked	2.7%	0.3%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.4%
Worked from home	13.1%	17.4%
Other means	1.4%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Melbourne	Merritt Island
1-unit, detached	57.4%	78.3%
1-unit, attached	5.7%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	7.4%	2.6%
5 to 19 units	17.4%	6.3%
20 or more units	8.1%	8.5%
Mobile home & other	4.1%	2.9%

Poverty & households

	Melbourne	Merritt Island
Poverty rate	14.9%	7.4%
Average household size	2.28	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	22	25
Median year structure built	1984	1973