Sebastian, Florida Industries Guide

Sebastian's industries section has six guides, and the table below matches the common questions about local work, from fishing and clams to citrus, tourism and home building, with the guide that answers each one.

Each Sebastian industries guide carries its own sources and dates; this page gives the county job picture first and then one answer per industry, so the numbers below are the quickest way to compare them.

Education and health services, trade and transportation, and leisure and hospitality are the three largest private sectors by employment in Indian River County, which includes Sebastian, in the Bureau of Labor Statistics count for March 2026 (BLS QCEW).

All private employers in Indian River County reported 52,537 jobs in March 2026, and total employment across private and public payrolls was 57,821 (BLS QCEW). These are county figures: the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes no separate count for the City of Sebastian, so the county file is the closest official measure of the Sebastian job market.

Sebastian Municipal Airport (FAA designator X26) is the city's light industry address. The city describes it as a general aviation field with two runways, the longest 4,000 feet, and ten tenants including Sebastian Municipal Golf Course; its office is at 202 Airport Drive E, reception 772-228-7001 (City of Sebastian). The city lists over 80 acres at the airport available for aviation and light industry businesses, with tax incentives from both the City of Sebastian and Indian River County (City of Sebastian economic development).

One gap in the official numbers matters for Sebastian: the same Bureau of Labor Statistics file lists 10 aerospace product and parts manufacturing establishments in Indian River County in early 2026 but publishes no employment figure for them (BLS QCEW), so the size of the aviation manufacturing cluster around the airport cannot be read from public data.

Sebastian's commercial fishing base is the Stan Mayfield Working Waterfront, a two acre property on the Indian River Lagoon run as a partnership between the City of Sebastian and the nonprofit Fisherman's Landing Sebastian (City of Sebastian).

City staff began talks on reviving a working waterfront in early 2009 as part of the city's fishing village heritage. Florida Communities Trust awarded more than $3.1 million in Florida Forever funds to buy the properties, the City of Sebastian added more than $351,000 in local match, and the city later spent another $300,000 on purchase and remodeling (City of Sebastian). The grant program funds land used by state licensed commercial fishermen, aquaculturists or related businesses, or land for public education about working waterfront heritage, and land for recreational waterfront activities does not qualify.

Sebastian Inlet gives the riverfront its ocean access, and its economic weight is measured more broadly than fishing. A 2023 Balmoral Group study for the Sebastian Inlet District put the inlet's annual regional benefit at $1.1 billion, including $536 million in value added and 9,000 jobs across Brevard and Indian River counties (Sebastian Inlet District).

The Sebastian commercial fishing guide covers landings and the history of the fish houses, and the marine services guide covers the marinas, charter docks and boat yards along Indian River Drive.

Citrus around Sebastian has dwindled to a small payroll: fruit and tree nut farming, the category that includes citrus groves, counted 212 jobs at 14 establishments in Indian River County in March 2026 (BLS QCEW).

The city still sits inside the protected growing area: the Indian River citrus production area that state law draws along the Atlantic coast from the Flagler and Volusia county line south to the West Palm Beach Canal, with a western line that runs south through Indian River County between Ranges 36 East and 37 East (Florida Statutes).

The Indian River name has had legal protection for nearly a century. In 1930 the Federal Trade Commission ordered that Indian River not be used on citrus grown outside the district, and growers organized the Indian River Citrus League in 1931 (Indian River Citrus League). Today section 601.091 of the Florida Statutes limits the label to fruit grown inside the mapped Indian River area, a mapped area that includes Sebastian; St. Lucie County is the only county wholly inside the district (Florida Statutes; Indian River Citrus League).

Graves Brothers Company of Vero Beach, founded in 1895, is still owned by the Graves family and managed by its fourth generation; it calls itself the oldest company of continuous existence growing Indian River citrus (Graves Brothers). The company manages over 8,000 acres of citrus, vegetable and cattle land in Indian River, St. Lucie and Hendry counties, and grows its grapefruit in the Indian River District for the fresh fruit market (Graves Brothers). Research support comes from the UF/IFAS Indian River Research and Education Center in Fort Pierce, which began in 1947 as the Indian River Field Laboratory on an 80 acre site with 35 acres of bearing grove (UF/IFAS).

Groves around Sebastian sit in a state where Huanglongbing, known as citrus greening, has spread rapidly since it was first found in Florida in 2005; UF/IFAS economists reported that since then Florida orange acreage had fallen 26 percent and yield 42 percent, and that orange production dropped from 242 million to 104.6 million boxes in 2014 (UF/IFAS FE983).

Older acreage figures need care. The Indian River Citrus League history page still describes members farming approximately 150,000 acres across the district, but the page carries no date (Indian River Citrus League), so the figure cannot be read as a 2026 count. The Indian River citrus history guide covers the district, the brand and the decline in more depth.

Clam farming near Sebastian belongs to an industry UF/IFAS traces to the Indian River Lagoon, though most Florida shellfish leases now sit along the Panhandle and Big Bend (UF/IFAS).

UF/IFAS says the industry began on the Indian River Lagoon along the east central coast, where unreliable hard clam sets in the 1980s pushed harvesters toward farming instead of fishing natural stocks (UF/IFAS Shellfish Aquaculture). Hard clams still dominate the trade, which UF/IFAS calls the largest food use aquaculture industry in Florida. Production now spreads over 720 leases averaging just under 2 acres in 16 coastal counties, with most leases in Levy, Franklin, Wakulla and Dixie counties rather than in the Indian River Lagoon off Sebastian.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services runs the leasing program that makes sovereignty submerged lands available to aquaculturists, publishes lease parcel availability maps, and registers growers through an Aquaculture Certificate of Registration (FDACS). Aquaculture also qualifies for Sebastian's working waterfront: the Stan Mayfield grant rules name state licensed aquaculturists alongside commercial fishermen (City of Sebastian).

The Sebastian aquaculture and clam leases guide covers the lease area across the lagoon from Sebastian and how a lease is obtained.

Tourism around Sebastian runs on Sebastian Inlet State Park and the lagoon, and it supports 9,076 private leisure and hospitality jobs in Indian River County as of March 2026 (BLS QCEW).

Overnight stays in Indian River County carry a tourist development tax of 5 percent of taxable rental receipts on any rental of six months or less, collected on top of the 7 percent state sales tax (Indian River County Clerk).

Sebastian Inlet State Park, at 9700 South Highway A1A, is listed as open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and charges $8 per vehicle, though since November 12, 2025 only the North Ranger Station stays open around the clock while the South Ranger Station keeps standard hours of 8 a.m. to sunset (Florida State Parks). Its two museums tie straight back to local industry: the McLarty Treasure Museum covers the 1715 Spanish treasure fleet and the Sebastian Fishing Museum chronicles the area's fishing industry.

Visitors in late 2026 face a change: Florida State Parks says construction on the Sebastian Inlet bridge along Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway was scheduled to begin in May 2026, beach access from the south side is unavailable during the work, and the north side of the park can reach capacity and close temporarily on weekends (Florida State Parks). The Sebastian tourism and hospitality guide covers lodging, the bed tax and the main visitor draws.

Sebastian permitted 141 single family homes valued at $45,562,638 in 2025, and 87 more valued at $29,717,157 from January through August 2026, according to the Census Bureau building permits survey (2025; 2026 to August).

That 2026 count works out to about 11 homes a month against about 12 a month in 2025 (Census Bureau). Construction employed 4,736 private workers at 794 establishments in Indian River County in March 2026, at an average weekly wage of $1,152 for the first quarter (BLS QCEW).

The Sebastian construction and real estate guide covers the city building department, permit rules and wind speed requirements, and the land annexed into the city for new subdivisions.