The county Domestic Product was $30.1 billion in 2022. In 2010 and 2011, the
Brookings Institution reported that Brevard ranked in the bottom fifth of the nation's top metro areas, based on
unemployment, gross metropolitan product, housing prices and
foreclosed properties. Foreclosures reached a monthly high of 963 in March 2009. The county reached an annual high foreclosure in 2009 of 9,772. In December 2010,
Forbes magazine rated the area the worst place in America to find a job. Government purchasing contributed 12–15% of the county's gross domestic product from 2000 to 2010. Though the area has a relatively small number of
high technology companies, 736, a business journal ranked it eighth in the country as a high tech center in 2009. The area had 23,096 high-tech jobs with a ratio of 124 per 1,000 total jobs. In December 2010,
Forbes magazine ranked the area as the worst in the country for finding a job, for the second time in 2010. During 2020, overlapping the
COVID-19 pandemic, the metropolitan area was the second best-performing out of 200 in the country.
Personal income As of the census of 2000: • Median income for a family – $47,571 • Median income for males – $36,542 • Median income for females – $24,632 •
Per capita income – $21,484. The
county has the 17th highest per capita income in the state (out of 67). • Median income for a household – $40,099 • In 2005, the median income for a household had risen to $43,281 The county ranked 17th for per capita income, out of Florida's 67 counties. The following were below the
poverty line in 2000: • Families – 6.80% • Total population – 9.50% • Under age 18 – 13.00% • Age 65 or older – 6.50% In 2012, 79,621 people in the county were receiving
food stamps. In 2010, there were 5,600 civilian government workers in the county. They earned an average of $74,000 each in 2009. In 2009, 84,401 households in the county (38%) received
social security payments averaging $16,136 for a total of $1.7 billion annually. 53,717 (24%) received pension payments averaging $24,327 for a total of $1.3 billion annually.
Housing The taxable value of property went from $20 billion in 2002 to $40 billion in 2007. In 2009 the bubble burst and a rapid descent to $24 billion was experienced. in 2017, the value rose to $35 billion. The last figure includes new construction. In 2011, the county was rated 6th worst in the country for foreclosures. There were 1,039 for the third quarter of 2010. Nearly half the homes in the county were worth less than their mortgages. The average home had dropped 53.4% since the peak of the boom. In 2012, the county was the highest in foreclosure rate in the nation. In 2013, the metro area was rated "best" in the country for buying, with a 34 months supply of houses, with a discount rate of 28%, according to
RealtyTrac. It has since reduced its backlog. After various insurance companies pulled out of Florida after their losses from the
2004 hurricane season,
property insurance became a major concern for many homeowners. As of 2011, 32,000 Brevard policyholders insure with the state-owned
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. In 2010
Kiplinger.com rated the county one of five "best" places in America to
retire. Factors evaluated included cost of living, weather, the number of doctors, taxes, crime rates and recreational opportunities. The largest home in Brevard is a 50-room mansion in
Suntree built in 1991 and once owned by
Cecil Fielder.
Development The Viera Company, developing
East and
West Viera as they’re identified by the
US Census Bureau, gained state permission and county acquiescence to create a self-governing board named the Viera Stewardship District that could raise taxes and sell bonds to pay for roads, water lines, pumping stations and other infrastructure needed to support the construction of 16,500 houses, apartments and condominiums.
Industry The Brevard economy has been driven by Trade, Transportation and Utilities (18%), Professional and Business Services (17%), Total government (15%), Education and Health (14%), Manufacturing (12%), Leisure and hospitality (10%), Construction (6%), Financial (4%). In 2012 local government employed 21,000 workers. Over the years the percentage has varied from 7.2% to 7.9% of the population. The number of people working in construction dropped from 2,630 in 2005 to 1,420 in 2010. Port Canaveral is one of the world's busiest
cruise port. There are seven cruise lines, with six major cruise terminals. There is of covered freight storage capacity. It handled of cargo in 2004. The port has contributed $500 million annually to the county's economy. Two hospitals were among the top five private employers in the county, together employing 8,850 in 2009. In 2014, there were 495 aerospace companies in the county. There were 36,223 workers. Sales and revenue from this industry were $3.4 billion.
L3Harris Technologies, headquartered in the county, has the most employees in the private sector, 7,000 in 2019. There are 15 Community
Redevelopment agencies in the county. They are funded from real estate taxes in the affected area. Cocoa has three, and Eau Gallie, one. Though the area has a relatively small number of high technology companies, 736, a business journal ranked it eighth in the country as a high tech center in 2009. The area had 23,096 high-tech jobs with a ratio of 124 per 1,000 total jobs. The county had 1,050 restaurants in 2007 and nearly that many (1,040) in 2010. There were 22,600 leisure and hospitality workers in the county in 2006. This figure includes hotel workers. That figure had dropped 8.5% to 20,700 in 2010. In the early 2010s, the
Shiloh area was proposed by
Space Florida as a potential location for the development of a
commercial-only spaceport. Located immediately north of the
U.S. Government's Kennedy Space Center, the open access to the flyover range on the open
Atlantic Ocean to the east, and easy access to the tracking facilities of the
Eastern Test Range make the location an attractive launch site. Among other potential users of the commercial spaceport facility,
SpaceX was reported to be considering Shiloh as one of several potential locations for building a commercial launch facility.
Space Coast Credit Union is the largest locally based financial institution in Brevard County and the third largest credit union in the state of Florida.
Military Military installations in Brevard County include
Patrick Space Force Base, near
Satellite Beach,
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center, and the U.S. Air Force Malabar Test Facility on Minton Road in suburban
Palm Bay. In 2009, they employed a total of 2,000 civilian federal workers. The
Navy maintains a
Trident turning basin at Port Canaveral for
ballistic missile submarines. The
Naval Ordnance Test Unit (NOTU) tests weapons on these subs, which arrive at the rate of one a month. 160 ships visited their two piers in 2017. The
2005 base closures included realigning NOTU out of state. The community was successful in having this decision revoked. The unit employs 100 military personnel and 900 civilian contractors. Cape Canaveral Space Force Station houses the
Air Force Space & Missile Museum and
Launch Complex 26, where many uncrewed rockets were launched early in the U.S. space program, including
Explorer 1, the first US spacecraft placed in earth orbit. The was a World War II
Alamosa-class naval cargo ship that was decommissioned shortly after the war.
Agriculture 23% of Brevard County is agricultural-usable for citrus, raising cattle or horses. Cattle ranches include the
Deseret,
Duda Ranch, Kempfer, and two other major ranches. Citrus growers include Victory Groves and Harvey's Indian River Groves. The county ranked 21 out of 24 Florida counties in the shipment of gift fruit. In 2009,
aquaculture was a $900,000 business in the county. The county produces more than 25% of all
blue crabs along Florida's East Coast. There are 40
4-H-related clubs in the county, including livestock- and pet-related and after-school clubs. As in all
Cooperative extension service, a
land grant college, the
University of Florida, conducted over 60 courses in 2010 in aid of 4-H programs and other agricultural pursuits. In February 2010, the
USDA declared that Brevard, along with 59 other Florida counties, was a "primary natural disaster area". The county raised its room tax to 5% in 2005. In 2012, this raised $8.4 million. In 2008, tourists spent $2.89 billion in the county. This is distributed in several categories: lodging $839 million, eating and drinking $509 million, Kennedy Space Center $597 million, retail sales $450 million, entertainment $120 million, and Port Canaveral $109 million. Brevard tourists come mainly from ten states: Florida itself is first, followed by
Ohio,
Illinois,
Michigan,
New York,
Virginia,
Wisconsin,
Georgia,
Minnesota, and
Pennsylvania. The five primary sources of foreign visitors are Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, and Italy. 1.6 million people visited the Space Center Visitor Complex in 2008. In 2009, there were 2.4 million overnight visitors in the county. There were 1.2 million day visitors. In 2013, a city manager estimated that 20% of income from tourism comes during
spring break. Brevard competes with other Florida areas for tourists. A number of organizations help promote the area. The
Space Coast Office of Tourism consists of county staff and the Brevard County Tourist Development Council (TDC). They attempt to attract tourists. The TDC serves as an advisory council to the county on the expenditures of revenues received from a tourist tax. This revenue is spent on beach improvements, visitor information centers and website, promotion and advertising, the
Brevard Zoo, additional beach improvements and the Space Coast Stadium. $97.7 million has been spent on
beach replenishment in the county between 2000 and 2010. This was funded 58% by the federal government, 27% by the state and 15% by the county. In 2008 monthly tourist tax revenue slumped from a high of $1,174,742 in March to a seasonal low in September of $432,145. In 2008, the county had 11,000 hotel rooms available. In July 2007, there was a 66.1% occupancy rate. In 2008, the county had a nearly identical 81%+ occupancy rate in March and April. This fell to a seasonal low of 42.3% in September. In January 2010, the average hotel room rate was $88.25. Cocoa Main Street, a member of the Florida and
National Main Street Programs, works toward restoring business sites in the historic area known as "Cocoa Village". Cocoa Main Street has received six Florida Main Street Awards given by the Secretary of State. The restored area is a tourist attraction and an economic magnet. Melbourne Main Street is another historic business area and tourist attraction restored through the Main Street Programs. Brevard has five judged art festivals annually attracting tens of thousands of people to art displays. Most festivals are held in the spring or fall when many tourists can attend. Many other annual festivals are held in parks and public sites throughout the year. The Brevard Cultural Alliance (BCA) maintains an event calendar and a map of sites of historic, cultural, and ecological interest. The annual Florida Key Lime Pie Festival is held beach side every Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. In 2018 The Florida Key Lime Pie Company successfully made the World's largest key lime pie. An annual February Greek Festival had over 8,000 visitors in 2011. The annual Grant Seafood Festival attracts as many as 50,000 people for the two-day February event. It is the
Southeast's largest and longest running seafood festival. An ice skating rink in Rockledge serves the county's residents and visitors with hockey and figure skating events. In 2009, recreational boat owners generated almost $51 million annually towards the county economy, ranking the industry fifth in the state.
Labor There were 168,500 private sector jobs in the county in 2009. The
Bureau of Labor Statistics counted the following workers in Brevard along with average annual pay ($): • Retail 25,900 ($23,361) • Manufacturing 21,700 ($65,521) • Local government 20,100 ($42,517) • Hospitality 19,600 ($15,857). The largest local employer is
Brevard Public Schools, with 9,500 employees, 5,000 of which are teachers. Brevard County Teachers are represented by the Brevard Federation of Teachers (
AFT). The county had an unemployment rate of 12.7% in January 2010, a 20-year record high. In March 2010, there were 33,500 people out of work. The county experienced a record low unemployment in 2005 of 2.8%. There were 32,608 people unemployed in the county in January 2011. In 2009, there were 6,400 federal workers, total, employed in the county. They earned an average of $74,600. In 2009, average annual salaries in the county for engineers was $90,563;
registered nurses $53,315; education $49,441; police officers $43,035; cooks $21,569; and cashiers $19,489. The average annual pay for all workers was then $42,411. In 2011, there were more engineers (48) per thousand workers than any other region in the United States.
Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is the largest employer in the county with 15,000 contractors and civil servants. While there is concern about the new generation of space vehicles requiring 1/3 fewer workers, about that number were eligible for retirement by 2011. Unions represented at KSC include the
American Federation of Government Employees, the
International Association of Machinists and the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. ==Healthcare==