Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL MSA — September 2026
Palm Bay job growth flatlines as Florida's recovery accelerates elsewhere.
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville added just 300 jobs over the year through January 2026 versus 11,900+ in Orlando, while local blue-collar pay softened ahead of Florida's September 30 minimum-wage rise to $15.00.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro year-over-year job growth: +300 jobs (+0.1%) — vs +59,000 (0.6%) statewide, Jan 2026
- Florida minimum wage increase: $15.00/hr — Effective Sept 30, 2026, up from $14.00
- Brevard County WARN events: 40 events — 9th-highest among FL counties, 2026 YTD
- Metro avg hourly wage: $32.31 — vs $33.54 national average, May 2025
Key takeaways
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.
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.
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.
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.
Median advertised pay by role — Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $26,383 | $31,687 | $35,834 | Stable | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $27,040 | $31,200 | $33,130 | Stable | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $30,593 | $33,863 | $37,440 | Moderate decline | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $54,342 | $67,600 | $86,204 | Moderate decline | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $30,274 | $31,611 | $35,360 | Significant decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $31,529 | $36,124 | $41,080 | Moderate decline | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $55,120 | $67,104 | $70,720 | Stable | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $31,539 | $36,250 | $40,560 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $31,445 | $35,360 | $37,440 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $29,120 | $33,280 | $36,400 | Moderate increase | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $32,004 | $35,360 | $37,440 | Stable | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $34,263 | $40,240 | $46,378 | Moderate decline | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $56,160 | $59,739 | $67,600 | Stable | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $77,167 | $89,207 | $97,603 | Moderate increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $110,075 | $135,567 | $151,964 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer | $111,442 | $141,300 | $145,000 | Moderate increase | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $46,303 | $64,272 | $74,093 | Stable | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst | $74,911 | $99,388 | $104,729 | Stable | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $58,102 | $67,943 | $76,102 | Stable | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist | $46,800 | $59,739 | $65,000 | Stable | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager * | $60,000 | $72,643 | $87,458 | Stable | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $32,500 | $45,453 | $50,450 | Moderate decline | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $71,696 | $87,500 | $90,644 | Moderate increase | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $61,238 | $72,000 | $75,000 | Moderate increase | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $79,388 | $103,172 | $118,920 | Moderate increase | $98,279 |
* State-level figure shown where metro postings were too few.
WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings (reported as the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay). Download: CSV · JSON
Industry snapshot
| Sector | Median advertised pay | Pay trend | Postings trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | $54,397 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $122,551 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $35,360 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $61,500 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Information | $80,115 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $52,510 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $50,780 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $55,640 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $32,679 | Moderate decline | Significant increase |
| Government | $66,922 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Local market 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.
What it means
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.
Looking ahead
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.
Methodology
Advertised pay from active employer job postings, not survey data. WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings: distribution analysis shows roughly the lowest 10% of raw values are erroneous entries, so the reported median is the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay. WageScape observes 98% of U.S. job openings daily.
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