Florida Marine Services Industry

Florida's four core marine services industries, boat building, ship building and repair, marinas and boat dealers, held about 29,700 private jobs at roughly 2,200 establishments in 2025, in the newest Bureau of Labor Statistics QCEW annual averages.

The table uses the 2025 annual averages for private employers in Florida from the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.

Each figure comes from the BLS data file for that industry: boat building (Bureau of Labor Statistics QCEW 336612), ship building and repairing (Bureau of Labor Statistics QCEW 336611), marinas (Bureau of Labor Statistics QCEW 713930) and boat dealers (Bureau of Labor Statistics QCEW 441222). Boat dealers pay the most on average at $81,260 a year in Florida, and marinas the least at $54,780.

Florida boatbuilding employment has shrunk two years in a row, falling to 9,095 jobs in 2025 after losing 1,325 jobs in 2024, even as the number of boat building establishments rose.

In 2024 Florida boat builders averaged 325 establishments and 10,157 jobs, down 11.5 percent from 2023 (BLS QCEW 2024). In 2025 jobs fell another 1,062, or 10.5 percent, while establishments grew by 19 to 344 and average pay rose from $60,857 to $64,195 (BLS QCEW 2025). More, smaller shops with fewer total workers is the pattern the numbers show.

The slide was steepest on the Space Coast: Brevard County boat building lost 163 jobs in 2025, a 36.5 percent drop (BLS QCEW 2025, county 12009). The service side held up better. Florida marinas added 150 jobs and ship building and repairing added 135 in 2025 (BLS QCEW marinas; BLS QCEW ship building).

Boat dealers also lost 171 jobs, or 2.3 percent, in 2025 (BLS QCEW boat dealers). The customer base remains large: Florida has more than a million registered vessels, a figure FWC repeated in its May 23, 2025 release on boating accidents (FWC).

Florida boatbuilding clusters in Miami-Dade, St. Lucie, Pinellas, Manatee, Broward and Martin counties, ship repair in Duval County around Jacksonville, and marinas and boat dealers most heavily in Broward County.

Miami-Dade had the most boat building jobs in Florida in 2025 at 1,349, followed by St. Lucie County at 1,028 (BLS QCEW 2025). St. Lucie's employment location quotient for boat building is 42.93, the highest of any Florida county in the file, and Martin County's is 20.05, the second highest. Pinellas had 702 boat building jobs, Manatee 491, Broward 486 and Martin 406.

Ship building and repairing is a Northeast Florida business: Duval County had 1,211 of the state's 4,464 jobs in that industry in 2025, with average pay of $88,447 (BLS QCEW 2025). Broward County leads the boating retail and storage side, with 1,273 marina jobs at 97 establishments and 1,877 boat dealer jobs at 244 dealerships (BLS QCEW marinas; BLS QCEW boat dealers). Pinellas County is second for boat dealer jobs at 716, and Lee County has 528.

County rows do not cover every job: the Florida counties with a published boat building job count in the 2025 file add up to 4,874 of the state's 9,095 jobs, and other counties list establishments with no job figure.

Florida vessel registration costs from $5.50 a year for a boat under 12 feet to $189.75 a year for one 110 feet or longer, under the fee schedule in section 328.72 of the Florida Statutes.

Chapter 328 makes the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) responsible for registering and titling vessels on Florida waters (FLHSMV). Since July 1, 2016, an owner whose recreational vessel carries an EPIRB, or who owns a recreational vessel and a personal locator beacon, can get a registration fee reduction; the statute sets the reduced fee at $20.40 for Class 1 and $57.50 for Class 2 (section 328.72).

The statute also sets a county portion for recreational vessels, for example $8.85 of a Class 1 fee and $32.85 of a Class 2 fee, and a dealer registration certificate costs $25.50 a year (section 328.72, Florida Statutes). Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the Florida Senate and FLHSMV websites.

A Florida marina, boatyard or marine retailer earns Clean Marina status from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection by meeting every DEP legal requirement and carrying out at least 60 percent of the program's voluntary best management practices.

The Clean Marina Program is voluntary, and the practices go beyond what the rules require, covering sensitive habitats, waste management, stormwater control, spill prevention and emergency preparedness (Florida DEP). DEP counts as a marina any docking facility with 10 or more boat slips, or a dock of any size that sells marine supplies or services such as dry storage, repair, fuel or boat sales. A boatyard is a site for hull, mechanical or electrical repair or refinishing, work that may need an air, industrial wastewater or stormwater permit.

Facilities that go further can earn a Clean and Resilient designation by strengthening their ability to withstand natural and manmade disasters. The Clean and Resilient Marina Initiative was launched in March 2013 as a Gulf of America Alliance project, with partners in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas (Florida DEP Clean Marina). Florida participants get ongoing technical support from program staff, the Clean Boating Partnership and volunteer mentors.

Florida's public seaports and commercial fishing fleets sit beside the boat trade: state law names 16 ports on the Florida Seaport Transportation and Economic Development Council, and FWC sets commercial Saltwater Products License fees.

Section 311.09 creates the council within the Florida Department of Transportation with 18 members: the port directors of Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus, Fort Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Manatee, St. Petersburg, Putnam County, Tampa, Port St. Joe, Panama City, Pensacola, Key West and Fernandina, plus the transportation and commerce secretaries (section 311.09, Florida Statutes). The council prepares a 5-year Florida Seaport Mission Plan. Cargo and cruise traffic at those ports are covered in the Florida logistics and warehousing guide and the Florida cruise industry guide.

FWC lists the Saltwater Products License at $50 for a Florida resident individual, $100 for a resident vessel license and $150 for a resident crew license, with nonresident individual and vessel licenses at $200 and $400 (FWC). Endorsements add fees, such as $125 for a stone crab endorsement, and FWC notes that fees are subject to change. The catch, the fleets and the landing ports are covered in depth in the Florida commercial fishing guide. Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the FWC website.