Palm Bay vs West Melbourne

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

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

Palm Bay has the higher population (125,273 vs 27,643 in West Melbourne). West Melbourne has the higher median household income ($90,521 vs $67,521 in Palm Bay). West Melbourne has the higher median home value ($341,500 vs $248,000 in Palm Bay).

Population, income & housing

	Palm Bay	West Melbourne
Population	125,273	27,643
Median age	41.3 yrs	40.2 yrs
Median household income	$67,521	$90,521
Median home value	$248,000	$341,500
Median gross rent	$1,487	$1,801
Housing units	48,826	11,113
Homeownership rate	79.4%	74.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.6%	40.4%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Palm Bay	West Melbourne
Population	111,997 → 125,273 (+11.9%)	22,225 → 27,643 (+24.4%)
Median household income	$51,408 → $67,521 (+31.3%)	$68,277 → $90,521 (+32.6%)
Median home value	$155,200 → $248,000 (+59.8%)	$224,400 → $341,500 (+52.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,059 → $1,487 (+40.4%)	$1,349 → $1,801 (+33.5%)

Palm Bay

Population

111,997125,273

Median household income

$51,408$67,521

Median home value

$155,200$248,000

Median gross rent

$1,059$1,487

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)

	Palm Bay	West Melbourne
Under 5	5.4%	5.5%
5 to 17	16.8%	16.2%
18 to 24	7.1%	7.7%
25 to 34	12.8%	13.7%
35 to 44	13.0%	11.5%
45 to 54	11.0%	13.6%
55 to 64	15.1%	12.6%
65 to 74	10.9%	9.6%
75 and over	8.0%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Palm Bay	West Melbourne
White (non-Hispanic)	53.2%	69.7%
Black or African American	17.4%	3.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.3%
Asian	2.1%	6.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	1.0%	1.9%
Two or more races	6.4%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	19.7%	13.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Palm Bay	West Melbourne
No high school diploma	9.2%	6.0%
High school graduate	32.6%	22.4%
Some college or associate's	35.6%	31.2%
Bachelor's degree	14.4%	24.6%
Graduate or professional degree	8.2%	15.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Palm Bay	West Melbourne
Drove alone	76.5%	76.4%
Carpooled	10.3%	7.3%
Public transit	1.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.6%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.4%	13.9%
Other means	1.6%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Palm Bay	West Melbourne
1-unit, detached	83.0%	70.6%
1-unit, attached	2.0%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	3.0%	4.9%
5 to 19 units	5.4%	11.6%
20 or more units	2.9%	6.3%
Mobile home & other	3.7%	3.9%

Poverty & households

	Palm Bay	West Melbourne
Poverty rate	11.5%	6.8%
Average household size	2.80	2.65
Mean commute (minutes)	28	23
Median year structure built	1992	2003