Photo: Excel23, Michael Seeley from Melbourne, FL, United States · CC BY 2.0Households in Melbourne have lower incomes than those in 63% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Melbourne C+; getting around on foot earns it A. The poverty rate is 15.8%; Florida has 12.6%. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 2.4 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 1.6 in Palm Bay.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Melbourne: the figures worth knowing
Melbourne is where the jobs are
Melbourne has 57,592 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Melbourne are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 28 across Florida. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Florida worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Melbourne
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Melbourne is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #407 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Melbourne’s grade up (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Melbourne could be anywhere from C to B−.
Melbourne by day and by night
On a workday 25,583 residents head out to work, 9,942 work right here, and 47,650 people come in from elsewhere.
About 109,000 people are in Melbourne on a workday afternoon, 25% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 23 minutes each way, quicker than most of Florida
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Melbourne workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 34,447 commuters (the 14% who work from home are left out). Across Florida: 83% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The daily trip into Melbourne
Where Melbourne clocks in
11% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
30% of the jobs in Melbourne make or build things
57,592 jobs are based in Melbourne.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Melbourne, 2013 → 2023: 46,441 → 57,592. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Melbourne’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Melbourne commutes less than 11 miles
About 28% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Melbourne is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Melbourne is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns, #107 of 638 in Florida. Both inputs place Melbourne near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 40,100 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 86% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 11% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 71% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 8.7% of Melbourne households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Melbourne’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Melbourne is 398th of 520 U.S. towns of 61,000 to 118,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 54 | Weston FL | 69,588 | $140K | 6.1% | 3.9% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Horizon West FL | 67,416 | $127K | 7.3% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 138 | Palm Beach Gardens FL | 63,883 | $107K | 7.2% | 3.9% | 17% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 396 | Kennewick WA | 88,366 | $74K | 14.3% | 5.1% | 29% | C+ |
| 397 | Arden-Arcade CA | 94,994 | $77K | 16.9% | 8.6% | 9% | C+ |
| 398 | Melbourne FL | 87,097 | $67K | 15.8% | 4.6% | 28% | C+ |
| 399 | Santa Fe NM | 89,837 | $73K | 12.9% | 5.1% | 58% | C+ |
| 400 | Knight Township IN | 68,332 | $58K | 16.4% | 4.1% | 27% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 520 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | D |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Melbourne, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Next door is work for 16% of Melbourne
The biggest share goes to Palm Bay (11%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Melbourne workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne | – | C+ | A | 23 min | $66,991 |
| West Melbourne | 4% | B+ | B | 23 min | $92,986 |
| Palm Bay | 11% | C+ | B+ | 28 min | $72,614 |
| Indian Harbour Beach | under 2% | A− | B+ | 23 min | $97,254 |
| Melbourne Village | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Palm Shores | under 2% | B+ | C | 25 min | $77,500 |
| Merritt Island | 1% | B+ | B | 25 min | $94,012 |
Same-state neighbors only. Melbourne Village: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Melbourne’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Melbourne: questions
What is the median household income in Melbourne?
$66,991 (±$2,486) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Melbourne?
15.8%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Melbourne?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Melbourne work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Palm Bay (11%, 11 mi), Rockledge (5%, 15 mi), West Melbourne (4%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Melbourne walkable?
Melbourne is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Melbourne without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 11% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Melbourne, from the people who make the trip.
More of Melbourne
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.