Melbourne, Florida: City Guide

Melbourne is a Brevard County city on the Indian River Lagoon with 44.189 square miles of land, reached by Interstate 95 and by Melbourne Orlando International Airport.

The Census Bureau 2024 place gazetteer lists Melbourne city with 44.189 square miles of land and 5.82 square miles of water (Census gazetteer).

Drivers reach Melbourne from several I-95 interchanges. FDOT lists the ramps at U.S. 192, S.R. 518 (Eau Gallie Boulevard), S.R. 404 (Pineda Causeway) and Wickham Road among those being repaved on the Melbourne stretch of the interstate (FDOT I-95 resurfacing project). A newer interchange at Ellis Road was built from fall 2018 to spring 2020 at a cost of $39 million to give direct access between I-95 and the Melbourne airport (FDOT Ellis Road interchange).

Air travelers land at Melbourne Orlando International Airport (MLB), 1 Air Terminal Parkway, main line 321-723-6227 (Melbourne Orlando International Airport). The airport reported 747,691 total passengers in 2023, a total it says was surpassed only by its top year ever, 1990. Melbourne also holds the Brevard County District 3 commission office, at 1311 E. New Haven Avenue (Brevard County District 3).

Melbourne had an estimated 86,576 residents with a median age of 42.5 in the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 2020-2024 5-year estimates (ACS 2024 DP05 table).

In the same ACS 2020-2024 release, 22.5 percent of Melbourne residents were 65 or older (ACS 2024 DP05 table for Melbourne). Median household income in Melbourne was $66,991 (ACS 2024 DP03 table), and workers 16 and over averaged a 22.8 minute trip to work.

Housing in Melbourne is a mix of owners and renters. The survey counted 41,217 housing units in Melbourne, 37,041 of them occupied, and 59.7 percent of occupied homes were owner occupied (ACS 2024 DP04 table). The median value of an owner-occupied Melbourne home was $306,400, and median gross rent was $1,525 a month.

These Melbourne figures are survey estimates pooled over five years, 2020 through 2024; the Melbourne demographics section breaks them down further.

Melbourne is run by a seven-member City Council, led by Mayor Paul Alfrey, which hires City Manager Jenni Lamb to run daily operations from Melbourne City Hall at 900 East Strawbridge Avenue.

The Melbourne City Council consists of the mayor and six council members who serve four-year terms; all are elected by a citywide vote, and each council member represents a district of the city (Melbourne City Council). Julie Kennedy is vice mayor and represents District 6. The other district seats are held by Marcus Smith (District 1), Mark LaRusso (District 2), David Neuman (District 3), Rachael Bassett (District 4) and Mimi Hanley (District 5).

Melbourne council meetings are typically held the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber at City Hall, 900 E. Strawbridge Ave. They are live-streamed with closed-captioned videos, and recordings of regular meetings also air on Space Coast Government TV. The City Clerk's office answers at 321-608-7221.

The main Melbourne City Hall number is 321-608-7000 and the general email is [email protected] (City of Melbourne). The City Manager's office sits on the fifth floor of City Hall, phone 321-608-7200; the manager is appointed by the council, prepares the budget and is responsible for all city personnel (City Manager’s Office).

County services in Melbourne run through Brevard County. Melbourne falls in County Commission District 3, represented by Commissioner Kim Adkinson, whose office is at 1311 E. New Haven Avenue in Melbourne, phone 321-633-2075 (Brevard County Commission District 3). Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the City of Melbourne website.

Brevard County's 391-acre Wickham Park at 2500 Parkway Drive, in the heart of Melbourne, has camping, a dog park, lakes, trails and an amphitheater.

Brevard County describes Wickham Park as a 391-acre park with competition horseshoe pits, sand volleyball courts, an archery range, a small amphitheater, a disc-golf course, fishing lakes and two lighted multi-purpose fields (Wickham Park, Brevard County Parks). The off-leash dog park is split into small and large dog sections, biking, hiking and equestrian trails run through undeveloped areas, and parking is free. The park office is 321-255-4307.

The Wickham Park Community Center on the same grounds is managed by the City of Melbourne (321-608-7490), and the park also holds the Wickham Park Senior Center and an Adaptive Recreation Center. The park also has RV and tent camping sites.

Brevard County lists the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, Sebastian Inlet State Park, Turkey Creek Sanctuary and the Malabar Scrub Sanctuary among the notable named places of District 3, the commission district that holds Melbourne (Brevard County District 3). The Melbourne parks, recreation, landmarks and events sections cover the city's own riverfront parks, pools and festivals.

The biggest change on Melbourne roads is FDOT's $31 million widening of Ellis Road, a partnership that includes Melbourne Orlando International Airport, scheduled from fall 2026 to spring 2029.

FDOT is widening about 1.83 miles of Ellis Road from west of John Rodes Boulevard to west of Wickham Road, from two lanes to four (FDOT Ellis Road widening). The project lists Melbourne and West Melbourne as its cities and is a partnership with Brevard County, both cities, the Space Coast Transportation Planning Organization and Melbourne Orlando International Airport.

On the interstate, FDOT is resurfacing 24 miles of I-95 from south of Malabar Road to north of Fiske Boulevard, a $63.3 million job that began in early 2025 with completion estimated for spring 2027 (FDOT I-95 resurfacing). The ramps at U.S. 192, Eau Gallie Boulevard and Wickham Road in Melbourne are part of it.

Wickham Park is also mid-rebuild: Brevard County notes that the old playground is being demolished and replaced, and that a new restroom, shower and laundry building in campground loop A is under construction, expected to last until May 2027 (Wickham Park notice). Campers in loop A in Melbourne should expect construction noise.

One stale number to watch: the Melbourne airport home page still leads with its 2023 passenger count of 747,691 and a $72 million renovation and expansion that added passenger boarding bridges able to serve wide-body aircraft and an expanded international baggage claim (Melbourne Orlando International Airport). A 2024 or 2025 total was not posted there when this Melbourne page was checked on October 15, 2026.

Evacuation orders and storm alerts for Melbourne come from Brevard County Emergency Management at 1751 Huntington Lane, Rockledge (321-637-6670), which runs the AlertBrevard notification system.

Brevard County Emergency Management leads countywide disaster preparation, response and recovery, and its AlertBrevard system sends location-based calls, texts or emails about evacuation orders, shelter-in-place orders and boil-water notices for a registered Melbourne address (Brevard County Emergency Management). The office is led by Director John Scott, and the county's general line is 321-633-2000.

Flood insurance in Melbourne carries a community discount. FEMA lists the City of Melbourne (community 120025) in the National Flood Insurance Program at Community Rating System class 7, worth a 15 percent discount inside the special flood hazard area and 5 percent outside it (FEMA NFIP community status). That class rating took effect on April 1, 2026, and the current effective flood map for Melbourne is dated January 29, 2021.

A practical Melbourne tip: register every address that matters, including an elderly parent's home, with AlertBrevard, because the county bases its alerts on the address provided (AlertBrevard sign-up). The Melbourne safety and weather sections cover evacuation zones, sandbags and storm history in more detail.

Each Melbourne section on Digital Towns goes deeper than this profile, and the table below maps common Melbourne questions to the key fact and the section that answers it.

Melbourne also has sections on aerospace employers such as L3Harris and Northrop Grumman, the city economy and major employers, environment topics from Lake Washington to the Eau Gallie River, healthcare, history and historical markers, industries, landmarks, real estate, schools including Florida Tech and the public schools, sports, utilities from billing to boil water notices, and weather from seasonal patterns to the hurricane season guide.