South Brevard Demographics by Place

Palm Bay holds nearly nine in ten South Brevard residents, with 130,132 of the roughly 147,000 people counted across the region's four Census places in the ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates.

The smaller South Brevard places are measured one by one. Micco, an unincorporated census designated place, has 8,896 residents (ACS DP05, Micco CDP). The town of Grant-Valkaria has 4,921 residents (ACS DP05, Grant-Valkaria) and the town of Malabar has 3,066 (ACS DP05, Malabar). The Palm Bay count of 130,132 comes from the same table for the city (ACS DP05, Palm Bay).

Brevard County as a whole counts 632,780 residents in the same survey (ACS DP05, Brevard County), so Palm Bay, Malabar, Grant-Valkaria and Micco together hold a little over 23 percent of the county. Housing follows the same split: the ACS counts 50,147 housing units in Palm Bay (ACS DP04, Palm Bay), 6,834 in Micco (ACS DP04, Micco CDP), 2,207 in Grant-Valkaria (ACS DP04, Grant-Valkaria) and 1,286 in Malabar (ACS DP04, Malabar), out of 299,305 in Brevard County (ACS DP04, Brevard County).

Age rises sharply from Palm Bay to Micco: the median age is 41.0 in Palm Bay, 53.1 in Malabar, 59.7 in Grant-Valkaria and 68.2 in Micco, against 46.7 for Brevard County.

Micco stands apart. In the census place that takes in Barefoot Bay, 61.4 percent of residents are 65 or older and only 4.8 percent are under 18 (ACS DP05, Micco CDP). Grant-Valkaria comes next, with 41.4 percent of its residents aged 65 or older and 10.2 percent under 18 (ACS DP05, Grant-Valkaria).

Palm Bay is the youngest South Brevard place. Its median age sits more than five years below the county figure, and 22.1 percent of Palm Bay residents are under 18 (ACS DP05, Palm Bay), compared with 18.1 percent across Brevard County, where 24.5 percent are 65 or older (ACS DP05, Brevard County). Malabar falls in between, with a median age of 53.1 and 15.2 percent of its residents under 18 (ACS DP05, Malabar).

The two towns carry wide margins. The Census Bureau puts a margin of error of plus or minus 8.2 years on the Malabar median age (ACS DP05 margins, Malabar) and plus or minus 5.1 years on the Grant-Valkaria figure (ACS DP05 margins, Grant-Valkaria), against 0.8 years for Palm Bay and 1.4 years for Micco. The ranges for Malabar and Grant-Valkaria overlap, so the order of those two towns is less certain than the gap between Micco and Palm Bay.

Median household income in South Brevard runs from $45,794 in Micco to $128,698 in Malabar in the ACS 2020-2024 estimates, with Palm Bay at $72,614 and Brevard County at $78,476.

Grant-Valkaria's median household income is $119,583 (ACS DP03, Grant-Valkaria), close behind Malabar's (ACS DP03, Malabar). Per capita income, which spreads all income across every resident, keeps the two towns on top: $62,511 in Malabar and $52,512 in Grant-Valkaria, against $44,108 for the county (ACS DP03, Brevard County).

Micco and Palm Bay trade places on that measure. Per capita income is $35,662 in Micco (ACS DP03, Micco CDP) and $34,813 in Palm Bay (ACS DP03, Palm Bay), even though the Palm Bay household median is $26,820 higher. The age mix differs as well: 22.1 percent of Palm Bay residents are under 18, against 4.8 percent in Micco.

Poverty splits the region the same way. Palm Bay and Micco each have 11.7 percent of people below the poverty level, above the Brevard County rate of 10.2 percent, while Grant-Valkaria has 6.8 percent and Malabar 3.0 percent. The Malabar income figure is the least precise in South Brevard: its margin of error is plus or minus $46,983, against plus or minus $3,753 for Palm Bay.

The median value of an owner-occupied home is $550,400 in Grant-Valkaria, $451,100 in Malabar, $283,200 in Palm Bay and $172,600 in Micco, against $339,600 for Brevard County in the ACS 2020-2024 estimates.

Micco's housing stock also differs from the rest of the region. Mobile homes make up 67.3 percent of the housing units in Micco (ACS DP04, Micco CDP), the census place that includes Barefoot Bay, compared with 7.2 percent countywide. The share is 3.2 percent in Palm Bay (ACS DP04, Palm Bay), 1.9 percent in Grant-Valkaria (ACS DP04, Grant-Valkaria) and 1.1 percent in Malabar (ACS DP04, Malabar).

Almost every occupied home in Malabar (98.8 percent) and Grant-Valkaria (97.4 percent) is lived in by its owner, and Micco follows at 91.9 percent. Palm Bay has the largest renter share of the four, with 79.7 percent owner occupied, still above the Brevard County share of 76.7 percent.

Rents are published for only two South Brevard places: a median gross rent of $1,601 in Palm Bay and $1,430 in Micco, against $1,556 countywide. The Malabar and Grant-Valkaria tables publish no median rent estimate. Treat the Grant-Valkaria home value with care as well: its margin of error is plus or minus $84,833.

Grant-Valkaria workers have the longest average trip to work in South Brevard at 32.8 minutes, ahead of Palm Bay at 27.8, Malabar at 25.9 and Micco at 24.4, against 25.4 minutes for Brevard County.

Each figure is the mean travel time to work for workers 16 and over in the DP03 table of that place (ACS DP03, Grant-Valkaria; ACS DP03, Palm Bay), in the same ACS 2020-2024 release as the income figures above. On those figures, Grant-Valkaria workers spend 5.0 minutes more per trip than Palm Bay workers and 7.4 minutes more than the Brevard County average.

Where South Brevard workers go is the subject of the Commuting Across the County Line guide in this section. It compares Census county-to-county flows between Brevard and Indian River counties and shows what share of workers in Micco, Barefoot Bay, Grant-Valkaria, Palm Bay and Malabar leave Brevard County for work.

Barefoot Bay has no Census place of its own, so its residents are counted inside the Micco census designated place, the unincorporated Brevard County community whose figures appear throughout this page.

Barefoot Bay does not appear as a place in the Census Bureau's 2024 Florida place gazetteer, which lists Micco CDP, Palm Bay city, Malabar town and Grant-Valkaria town (Census 2024 Gazetteer, Florida places). The Barefoot Bay Recreation District lists its address as 625 Barefoot Blvd., Barefoot Bay, FL 32976 (Barefoot Bay Recreation District), and the Census Bureau geocoder places that address inside Micco CDP in Brevard County (Census geocoder). Census designated places are statistical areas for closely settled, unincorporated communities, while incorporated places such as Palm Bay, Malabar and Grant-Valkaria have legal boundaries and working governments (Census Bureau, census designated places).

That means the Micco figures on this page blend Barefoot Bay with the rest of the Micco census place. The ZIP 32976 guide in the South Brevard places section breaks the same area down by ZIP Code instead.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the U.S. Census Bureau and Barefoot Bay Recreation District websites.