Palm Bay job growth flatlines as Florida's recovery accelerates elsewhere.
+300 jobs (+0.1%)
Metro year-over-year job growth
vs +59,000 (0.6%) statewide, Jan 2026
$15.00/hr
Florida minimum wage increase
Effective Sept 30, 2026, up from $14.00
40 events
Brevard County WARN events
9th-highest among FL counties, 2026 YTD
$32.31
Metro avg hourly wage
vs $33.54 national average, May 2025
This Month's Takeaways
01
Metro job growth has essentially stalled while Florida keeps expanding.
Palm Bay added only 300 jobs year-over-year through January 2026 versus a 0.6% statewide rate and 11,900-12,500 job additions in peer metros Orlando and Tampa. That divergence suggests local economic momentum is lagging the state's broader recovery rather than tracking it.
02
Blue-collar pay is softening even as the state wage floor rises.
Construction laborer, manufacturing, warehouse and delivery driver pay all registered moderate-to-significant local declines this cycle, while Florida's minimum wage climbs to $15.00 on September 30. The combination squeezes margin for goods-movement and construction employers precisely as their advertised pay was already retreating.
03
Healthcare remains the one consistently expanding pillar locally and statewide.
Registered nurse pay rose moderately in the metro ($89,207) even as broader wage growth flattened, mirroring Florida's statewide education-and-health-services gain of 39,000 jobs, the largest of any sector. Commerce and workforce planners should treat healthcare capacity, not general hiring breadth, as the metro's most reliable growth signal.
04
Professional-services softness may be an early signal, not noise.
The metro lost 500 professional and business services jobs year-over-year even as software engineer and data engineer pay rose moderately, implying growth is concentrating in high-skill technical niches tied to the metro's defense and aerospace base while broader administrative and business-support employment contracts.
Local Economic Conditions
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville's nonagricultural employment grew just 300 jobs year-over-year through January 2026, a near-flat reading that sits well below Florida's statewide 0.6% annual pace, with losses concentrated in professional/business services, construction and manufacturing offsetting modest leisure and hospitality gains. Local wage levels (average hourly wage $32.31 in May 2025) remain below both the state's accelerating minimum-wage floor — rising to $15.00 on September 30 — and the national average of $33.54, suggesting the metro's labor market is cooling from a position of relative wage softness rather than strength.
Open Threads in the Data
Flat payroll growth alongside wage softness in blue-collar categories — construction laborer and manufacturing production pay both down moderately this cycle — points to a metro economy that is stabilizing rather than expanding, a signal relevant to site-selection, capital investment and public infrastructure planning timelines. Commerce leaders evaluating expansion or relocation incentives should weigh that Brevard County's 40 WARN events this year reflect measured restructuring rather than acute distress, while the incoming state minimum-wage increase will compress margins for consumer-facing and logistics-dependent employers before it affects professional-services wage bands. Consider evaluating how the minimum-wage transition interacts with locally softening pay in warehouse, delivery and construction labor categories when assessing near-term business climate and workforce cost competitiveness.
Advertised Pay Indicators · WageScape Benchmark 25 Jobs
Job postings data for the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL MSA metro — median advertised pay, its recent trend, and the number of active postings behind each figure. Jobs are grouped for readability and are not the same as the 10 sector classifications on the next page. For additional job detail contact WageScape.
Retail Trade
| Retail Sales Associate |
$31,687 |
→ Stable |
2,135 |
| Retail Cashier |
$31,200 |
→ Stable |
933 |
Transportation & Warehousing
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate |
$33,863 |
↓ Moderate decline |
288 |
| CDL Truck Driver |
$67,600 |
↓ Moderate decline |
1,847 |
| Delivery Driver |
$31,611 |
↓ Significant decline |
1,456 |
| Warehouse Manager |
— |
Limited local postings |
— |
Construction
| Construction Laborer |
$36,124 |
↓ Moderate decline |
186 |
Construction/Skilled Trades
| Electrician |
$67,104 |
→ Stable |
732 |
| HVAC Technician |
$59,739 |
→ Stable |
176 |
Manufacturing
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler |
$36,250 |
↓ Moderate decline |
444 |
Cross-Sector
| Customer Service Representative |
$35,360 |
↓ Moderate decline |
392 |
| Operations Manager |
— |
Limited local postings |
— |
Leisure & Hospitality
| Food Service Worker |
$33,280 |
↑ Moderate increase |
70 |
Healthcare
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide |
$35,360 |
→ Stable |
2,137 |
| Registered Nurse |
$89,207 |
↑ Moderate increase |
2,774 |
Admin/Office Support
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk |
$40,240 |
↓ Moderate decline |
638 |
Information/Technology
| Software Engineer |
$135,567 |
↑ Moderate increase |
1,778 |
| Data Engineer |
$141,300 |
↑ Moderate increase |
113 |
Professional & Business Services
| Accountant |
$64,272 |
→ Stable |
310 |
| HR Generalist/Manager |
$67,943 |
→ Stable |
64 |
| Marketing Specialist |
$59,739 |
→ Stable |
21 |
| Business Analyst |
$103,172 |
↑ Moderate increase |
71 |
Finance & Insurance
| Financial Analyst |
$99,388 |
→ Stable |
323 |
Government/Education
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher |
$45,453 |
↓ Moderate decline |
1,819 |
Cross-Sector Sales
| Account Manager |
$87,500 |
↑ Moderate increase |
1,158 |
Industry Snapshot · Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL MSA
Advertised pay and job-posting trends across the whole metro economy, rolled up by employer industry — not just the bellwether roles above.
| Sector |
Median Pay Change |
Job Postings Change |
| Construction |
↑ +4.6% |
↑ +110.5% |
| Manufacturing |
↑ +8.0% |
↑ +117.5% |
| Retail Trade |
→ −0.6% |
↑ +64.3% |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities |
↑ +29.1% |
↑ +118.0% |
| Information |
↑ +16.4% |
↑ +99.1% |
| Financial Activities |
↑ +5.2% |
↑ +80.9% |
| Professional & Business Services |
→ +1.6% |
↑ +112.9% |
| Education & Health Services |
↑ +7.0% |
↑ +83.3% |
| Leisure & Hospitality |
↓ −3.1% |
↑ +81.5% |
| Government |
↑ +91.0% |
↑ +1112.6% |
Looking Ahead · Next 30–60 Days
Expected
Florida's minimum wage rises to $15.00 (tipped: $11.98) on September 30, 2026, with future increases tied to inflation. Watch whether retail, hospitality and logistics employers in the metro absorb the cost or pass it through to local prices.
Worth watching
Brevard County logged 40 WARN events this year, ninth-highest among Florida counties, yet no September-specific filings have surfaced. Any acceleration would be a meaningful departure from the state's reported 29% year-over-year decline in affected workers.
Emerging pressure point
Metro wage levels sit below both state and national averages across several blue-collar categories even as statewide wage growth is projected at 4%+ annually. A persistent local-national wage gap could affect the metro's competitiveness for logistics and manufacturing site decisions.
Early indicator
National data show government payrolls shedding workers for a twelfth straight month while healthcare and construction outperform. Given the metro's reliance on public-sector and defense-adjacent employment, any softening in federal or state government hiring locally would be a notable inflection to track.
Sources & Methodology
Pay and hiring data provided by WageScape. See every source cited in this report, with links →
Advertised pay reflects the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro, not survey or payroll data. Pay trends compare the current period with the prior period for the same metro and role. Sector figures group postings by the employer's industry classification; sectors with limited classified postings are marked as such rather than estimated. This briefing is independent of, and complements, official statistics from the BLS and state labor market information offices.
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