Melbourne, Florida Economy Guide

The Melbourne economy section has six deep guides, and the table matches each common question about work and business in Melbourne with its key fact and the guide that covers it.

The major employers guide and the L3Harris headquarters guide cover the companies; the economic development incentives guide and the starting a business toolkit guide cover what the City of Melbourne offers and requires; the Space Coast cluster 2026 guide places Melbourne in the Brevard County aerospace economy; and the Eau Gallie redevelopment 2026 guide covers reinvestment north of Downtown Melbourne. Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the City of Melbourne 2025 ACFR, City of Melbourne business, incentive and CRA pages, and Census Bureau ACS 2020-2024 DP03.

Northrop Grumman, the School Board of Brevard County, Florida Institute of Technology, Health First and L3Harris Technologies are Melbourne's five largest employers in the city's 2025 financial report (2025 ACFR, Schedule 16).

The City of Melbourne calls itself the economic and business hub for South and Central Brevard County, and its Economic Development Division works to attract, retain and expand private investment (City of Melbourne). The top of the Melbourne list has changed since 2016. Health First was the largest employer that year with 4,066 employees and now ranks fourth with 2,371, while the School Board of Brevard County nearly doubled from 1,720 to 3,354 (ACFR). Teletech and Eastern Florida State College were in the 2016 top ten and have dropped out, replaced by MC Assembly and WABTEC. The ten employers together hold 21,188 jobs, just over half of total city employment.

Education and health care is the largest industry group for working Melbourne residents at 21.4 percent, followed by professional, scientific and management services at 15.3 percent, in the ACS 2020-2024 estimates (ACS DP03).

Manufacturing employs 12.5 percent of working Melbourne residents, retail trade 11.3 percent, and arts, entertainment, lodging and food service 10.6 percent (DP03). Government workers are 10.9 percent and the self-employed 5.5 percent. The professional services share is higher than Brevard County's 14.0 percent (Brevard DP03).

Labor force participation is 59.0 percent of Melbourne residents 16 and over, against 56.7 percent countywide. Per capita income in Melbourne is $38,249 and the median household income $66,991, below the Brevard County median of $78,476 (DP03, county DP03). The Melbourne demographics hub covers income, poverty and household size in more detail.

Melbourne's unemployment rate was 4.5 percent in 2025, up from 3.7 percent in 2024 and well above the 2.6 percent low of 2022, in the city's ten-year statistics taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025 ACFR, Schedule 15).

The same Melbourne schedule puts per capita personal income at $38,249 for 2025, up from $25,552 in 2016 (ACFR). The rise in unemployment from 2024 to 2025 is the main change to watch in the city's labor numbers; the ACS five-year rate of 4.6 percent for Melbourne (DP03) averages 2020 through 2024 and cannot show it.

The City of Melbourne's main incentive is an Ad Valorem Tax Exemption Program worth up to 10 years of 100 percent property tax exemption on new investment, and Brevard County lists a program on the same terms (City of Melbourne).

The Melbourne Economic Enhancement District (MEED), established in 2008, packages two sets of state incentives, one through Enterprise Florida and one through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for redevelopment of contaminated sites (City of Melbourne). That city page predates a 2023 state law, effective July 1, 2023, that transferred Enterprise Florida's duties to the Florida Department of Commerce (Florida Senate, HB 5 (2023)), so the Enterprise Florida reference is out of date. In the Melbourne Downtown CRA, eligible commercial properties may qualify for a matching facade improvement grant of up to $20,000, and the CRA can enter public-private partnerships for projects with at least $5 million in capital investment. The city summary also lists Foreign Trade Zone 136, which offers savings or deferrals on customs duties, and the state Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund for high wage jobs in targeted industries (incentives summary).

The city says incentive programs for substantial projects are considered on a per project basis, so incentives may not be limited to the listed programs. The Community Development Department takes incentive and facade grant inquiries at 321-608-7500 or [email protected] (City of Melbourne). The economic development incentives guide covers eligibility for each program.

A Melbourne business needs a City of Melbourne Business Tax Receipt before it begins operating, plus a Brevard County Business Tax Receipt, and the city application costs $25 and takes 5 to 10 business days (City of Melbourne, application instructions).

The city lists the order of steps: confirm with the Brevard County Property Appraiser that the location is inside Melbourne city limits, confirm with Community Development that the land use allows the business, obtain any required state license first, and register a fictitious name with the state if the business uses one (City of Melbourne). A separate receipt is required for each place of business, and contractors must show general liability insurance of at least $300,000 per occurrence. The Business Tax Receipts office answers at 321-608-7038, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Brevard County's receipt line is (321) 255-4453.

Step 1 of the toolkit the City of Melbourne prepared with the Melbourne Regional Chamber points to advisers, including the Small Business Development Center at Eastern Florida State College, 3865 North Wickham Road (321-433-5570), whose services are mostly free, the Space Coast Chamber at 1135 W. NASA Boulevard and the Groundswell incubator at 2412 Irwin Street (Starting a New Business Toolkit). The starting a business toolkit guide walks through all ten steps.

Melbourne now has two community redevelopment areas, the Melbourne Downtown CRA and the Olde Eau Gallie Riverfront CRA, after the Babcock Street CRA reached its sunset date on September 9, 2024 (City of Melbourne).

Each Melbourne CRA is funded by tax increment financing, capturing the growth in property tax revenue above its base year, and each has a volunteer advisory committee whose meetings are open to the public (City of Melbourne). Property owners along Babcock Street can no longer draw on CRA programs, so older references to Babcock Street CRA grants are out of date.

The airport is now the largest property taxpayer in Melbourne by a wide margin. Schedule 7 of the 2025 ACFR lists the Melbourne Airport Authority as the largest property taxpayer with $199,534,446 in taxable assessed value, up from $114,170,840 in 2016, against $59,025,110 for second-ranked Health First Physicians Real Estate, and Trillium at Sunlake LLC and Melbourne Addison Preserve are new to the top ten since 2016 (2025 ACFR, Schedule 7). The Eau Gallie redevelopment 2026 guide covers projects in the northern CRA.