Semiconductor and Electronics Industry in Melbourne, Florida

L3Harris Technologies, headquartered at 1025 W NASA Blvd, anchors the industry in Melbourne, and the city's 2025 top ten employers also include Northrop Grumman, Rockwell Collins, MC Assembly and WABTEC Transportation System (SEC EDGAR, City of Melbourne ACFR 2025).

L3Harris files with the Securities and Exchange Commission from its Melbourne address under industry code 3812, search, detection, navigation, guidance and aeronautical systems, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange as LHX (SEC EDGAR). The Space Coast EDC calls L3Harris the largest employer in the industry and notes that its main headquarters is in Melbourne (EDC of Florida's Space Coast).

MC Assembly had 642 Melbourne employees in 2025 and WABTEC Transportation System 405, neither of which was on the 2016 list (ACFR Schedule 16). The airport adds Thales, GE Transportation, Satcom Direct and Avidyne Corporation to the roster of companies on the Melbourne Orlando International Airport campus, beside L3Harris and Collins Aerospace (MLB business opportunities).

Brevard County, which includes Melbourne, had 15,759 computer and electronic product manufacturing jobs at 121 establishments in March 2026, at an average weekly wage of $3,371 (BLS QCEW, Brevard County).

Pay in the sector, $3,371 a week on average, runs more than double the countywide private sector mean of $1,522 (BLS QCEW). Measured by location quotient, electronics employment is about 10.1 times as concentrated in the county as in the nation. For the semiconductor and component group the March figure was close to 13, and for navigation and control instruments about 10.7. These are county figures, so they describe the Brevard County labor market rather than Melbourne city limits alone.

Brevard County has 14 establishments classed as semiconductor and related device manufacturers, but the federal wage census withholds their employment to protect individual employers, so no public count of chip jobs exists for the Melbourne area (BLS QCEW).

What the data does show is that semiconductors and other electronic components, the wider NAICS 3344 group, employed 7,720 people in Brevard County in March 2026, almost half of all local electronics jobs (BLS QCEW). The published detail lines inside that group are small: electronic connector makers had 226 jobs at 6 establishments and the highest published wage in the sector, $4,025 a week; other electronic component makers had 324 jobs at 10 establishments, up 34.4 percent in a year; and printed circuit assembly had 99 jobs at 4 establishments. The rest of the 7,720 sits in withheld lines.

No City of Melbourne or county source found for this guide names a semiconductor fabrication plant inside Melbourne city limits. The published BLS data counts the 14 semiconductor device establishments for Brevard County as a whole and does not place them in Melbourne.

L3Harris has its headquarters at 1025 W NASA Blvd, and Melbourne Orlando International Airport names L3Harris, Collins Aerospace, Thales and Avidyne Corporation among the companies on its campus (SEC EDGAR, MLB).

The city's property tax roll shows the scale of the L3Harris footprint: L3Harris Technologies Inc. was the seventh largest Melbourne taxpayer in 2025 with $43,901,730 in taxable assessed value, up from $26,185,000 and fourth place in 2016 (ACFR Schedule 7). The report notes that Harris Corporation and L3 merged as of June 29, 2019. The water and sewer schedules tell a similar story for Northrop Grumman, which rose from sixth to third among city sewer customers, paying $247,388 in fiscal year 2025 against $122,084 in 2016 (ACFR Schedule 10).

For anyone dealing with these Melbourne employers, the airport takes inquiries at 321-723-6227, and its Future Land Use Map shows the aeronautical and non-aeronautical properties available for lease (MLB business opportunities).

Brevard County electronics manufacturing lost 749 jobs, or 4.5 percent, in the year to March 2026, while the navigation and control instruments line gained 63 jobs (BLS QCEW).

The losses were concentrated in semiconductors and components, down 672 jobs or 8.0 percent, and communications equipment, down 83 jobs or 9.4 percent (BLS QCEW). Inside Melbourne the employer list shows a mixed picture over a longer span: L3Harris fell from 2,532 Melbourne employees in 2016 to 1,778 in 2025, while Northrop Grumman, also an airport campus tenant, climbed from 2,894 to 6,818 (City of Melbourne ACFR 2025).

Joblessness in Melbourne also edged up, with the city report putting the local unemployment rate at 4.5 percent when fiscal 2025 closed, against 3.7 percent a year before. Not every line shrank: other electronic component makers grew from about 241 to 324 jobs, a 34.4 percent rise, and connector makers added 43 jobs, small gains next to the losses in the larger lines (BLS QCEW). Printed circuit assembly in Brevard County added 20 jobs, or 25.3 percent, to reach 99 at an average weekly wage of $1,125, and other electronic component makers paid $1,109 a week, about a third of the $3,481 average for the whole semiconductor and component group. The number of electronics workplaces in the county also fell, by 5 establishments or 4.0 percent, to 121. A quarter of decline does not set a trend, so the next QCEW release for Brevard County is the first place to check whether the 2026 drop continues.

Florida Tech in Melbourne trains electrical engineers in a bachelor degree accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET (Florida Tech electrical engineering).

Florida Tech ranks third on the Melbourne employer schedule, 2,510 people in 2025 against 2,410 in 2016, so the Melbourne campus is a large payroll as well as a training ground (ACFR Schedule 16).

The Florida Tech degree is accredited under ABET's criteria for electrical, computer, communications, telecommunications and similarly named engineering programs (Florida Tech). The airport's business page describes the Florida Institute of Technology as a consistent pipeline of qualified candidates for companies (MLB). The Space Coast EDC notes that the county is home to Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (EDC industry profile). Melbourne guides to aviation manufacturing, defense and aerospace cover the employers that hire many of these engineers. Last verified: October 14, 2026, on BLS QCEW, the City of Melbourne 2025 ACFR, SEC EDGAR, Melbourne Orlando International Airport, Space Coast EDC and Florida Tech pages.