Merritt Island vs West Melbourne

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

Merritt Island and West Melbourne 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 27,643 in West Melbourne). Merritt Island has the higher median household income ($91,020 vs $90,521 in West Melbourne). Merritt Island has the higher median home value ($379,700 vs $341,500 in West Melbourne).

Population, income & housing

	Merritt Island	West Melbourne
Population	34,718	27,643
Median age	49.8 yrs	40.2 yrs
Median household income	$91,020	$90,521
Median home value	$379,700	$341,500
Median gross rent	$1,348	$1,801
Housing units	16,816	11,113
Homeownership rate	81.0%	74.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	41.8%	40.4%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Merritt Island	West Melbourne
Population	36,532 → 34,718 (-5.0%)	22,225 → 27,643 (+24.4%)
Median household income	$64,865 → $91,020 (+40.3%)	$68,277 → $90,521 (+32.6%)
Median home value	$264,600 → $379,700 (+43.5%)	$224,400 → $341,500 (+52.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,019 → $1,348 (+32.3%)	$1,349 → $1,801 (+33.5%)

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

West Melbourne

Population

22,22527,643

Median household income

$68,277$90,521

Median home value

$224,400$341,500

Median gross rent

$1,349$1,801

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Merritt Island	West Melbourne
Under 5	4.3%	5.5%
5 to 17	13.4%	16.2%
18 to 24	6.4%	7.7%
25 to 34	9.4%	13.7%
35 to 44	10.1%	11.5%
45 to 54	13.1%	13.6%
55 to 64	17.4%	12.6%
65 to 74	13.9%	9.6%
75 and over	12.2%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Merritt Island	West Melbourne
White (non-Hispanic)	83.0%	69.7%
Black or African American	2.2%	3.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.3%
Asian	3.2%	6.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.6%	1.9%
Two or more races	3.7%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	7.2%	13.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Merritt Island	West Melbourne
No high school diploma	4.3%	6.0%
High school graduate	21.3%	22.4%
Some college or associate's	32.6%	31.2%
Bachelor's degree	24.7%	24.6%
Graduate or professional degree	17.1%	15.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Merritt Island	West Melbourne
Drove alone	75.3%	76.4%
Carpooled	4.8%	7.3%
Public transit	0.2%	0.0%
Walked	0.3%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	17.4%	13.9%
Other means	1.7%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Merritt Island	West Melbourne
1-unit, detached	78.3%	70.6%
1-unit, attached	1.4%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	2.6%	4.9%
5 to 19 units	6.3%	11.6%
20 or more units	8.5%	6.3%
Mobile home & other	2.9%	3.9%

Poverty & households

	Merritt Island	West Melbourne
Poverty rate	7.4%	6.8%
Average household size	2.47	2.65
Mean commute (minutes)	25	23
Median year structure built	1973	2003