Work & commute · Palm Bay

Work & commute in Palm Bay, FL

Most working residents leave Palm Bay for work: only 19% work in town. The top destinations are Melbourne (23%), West Melbourne (5%) and Rockledge (4%). Half commute less than 13 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

19%

9,835 of 50,939 working residents

Typical commute

13 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

28 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

11%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 41,104 Palm Bay residents head out of town to work, 9,835 work right here, and 24,396 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Palm Bay.

41,104live here, work elsewhere

9,835live and work here

24,396work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Palm Bay goes to work

Melbourne10.8 mi away

23%11,606

Palm Bay (in town)right here

19%9,835

West Melbourne6.6 mi away

5%2,708

Rockledge25.7 mi away

4%2,248

Orlando53.7 mi away

3%1,367

Jacksonville175.2 mi away

1%717

Tampa110.4 mi away

1%639

Vero Beach27 mi away

1%436

Cocoa29.8 mi away

1%408

Viera East21.5 mi away

1%407

Everywhere elseother towns and states

40%20,568

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Palm Bay commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

44%

17%

31%

44%Under 10 mi

17%10–24 mi

8%25–50 mi

31%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Palm Bay is a commuter town

0.67jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.67 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Palm Bay are

34,231 jobs are based in Palm Bay. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Palm Bay’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Palm Bay

34,231 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)19%

Trade, transport & utilities13%

Services (health, schools, offices…)68%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month29%

Over $3,333 a month59%

Jobs Palm Bay residents hold

50,939 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)19%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)63%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month34%

Over $3,333 a month53%

+103%

Jobs based in Palm Bay, 2013 → 2023: 16,880 → 34,231. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.