Moving to the Space Coast: The 2026 Relocation Guide

Work

The Space Coast job market

This is the one Florida coast where people move for the job as often as for the weather. Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launched a record 109 orbital rockets in 2025, up from 93 in 2024, with SpaceX flying 101 of them and United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin the rest, and Artemis II carried four astronauts around the Moon from KSC in April 2026. Kennedy employed about 17,700 civil servants and contractors in 2025, Patrick Space Force Base supports about 10,400 jobs, and Brevard's aerospace and aviation workforce nearly doubled from 7,847 in 2017 to 14,828 in 2023.

The big private employers cluster in Melbourne: L3Harris Technologies is headquartered there, Northrop Grumman's two-million-square-foot campus employs about 5,000 and is the design headquarters for the B-21 bomber, with a new 300,000-square-foot engineering building for 1,200 more, and Embraer assembles its Phenom and Praetor business jets at Melbourne Orlando International Airport. Blue Origin builds New Glenn at a 230-acre factory on Merritt Island with more than 3,000 Florida employees, Amazon has invested more than $400 million in Space Coast facilities for its Amazon Leo satellite network, and Lockheed Martin's $140 million Titusville facility is due in 2027. Health First, with about 9,500 employees and four hospitals, and Brevard Public Schools are the two largest employers overall.

Port Canaveral became the world's busiest cruise port in fiscal 2025 with about 8.6 million passenger movements, edging past Miami, with 18 ships from seven cruise lines and a $912 million five-year development plan. The flip side of a launch-driven economy: 2026 launches ran well behind 2025's pace after a New Glenn exploded on its pad during a May 2026 engine test, with no injuries, and Blue Origin now plans a second pad.

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Money

Taxes, insurance and what a home really costs here

No state income tax, and the homestead exemption

Florida has no state income tax on wages, pensions or retirement withdrawals. If you own a home and make it your permanent residence as of January 1, you can file for the homestead exemption with the Brevard County Property Appraiser by March 1. The exemption deducts $25,000 from assessed value for all taxes, plus a second exemption on assessed value above $50,000 that is now adjusted for inflation each year, $26,411 for 2026, for non-school taxes. After you qualify, the Save Our Homes cap limits annual increases in assessed value to 3% or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower, and you can transfer up to $500,000 of that benefit to your next Florida home. Taxes reset for a new owner, so don't budget from the seller's current bill.

One date to know: Florida voters decide in November 2026 whether to raise the non-school homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028 for people who are already Florida residents as of December 31, 2026. Under the proposal, anyone who establishes residency on or after January 1, 2027 would start with a $50,000 exemption and reach the full amount in the fifth year. It needs 60% approval to pass, so treat it as a possibility rather than a plan, but if you are deciding between closing in December and closing in January, ask about it.

Property and sales taxes in Brevard

Brevard County's own aggregate millage was about 4.4 mills in its 2024–25 budget proposal, before the school district, your city and any special districts are added, so the total varies by address; run the specific home through the property appraiser's tax estimator before you offer. Sales tax is 7%: the state's 6% plus two half-cent county surtaxes, one for school construction and one for the Save Our Indian River Lagoon cleanup. Both expire December 31, 2026 unless Brevard voters renew them on the November 3, 2026 ballot.

Homeowners insurance

Insurance is the number most newcomers get wrong. The state's July 2026 stability report puts Brevard County's average homeowners premium at $3,532 including wind coverage, $1,975 without it, and $1,454 for a condo unit policy, as of March 31, 2026, and the trend is finally down: premiums fell in 51 of 67 counties between the January and July reports, Citizens Property Insurance cut its 2026 rates by an average of 8.8%, and Citizens' policy count dropped below 300,000, its lowest in 25 years. A newer roof and impact windows make the biggest difference to your quote; insurers ask for a wind mitigation inspection, and on older homes a four-point inspection, so get quotes during your inspection period, not after closing.

Flood zones and flood insurance

Homes on the barrier island, Merritt Island, along the Indian River Lagoon and the Banana River, and near Crane Creek and the Eau Gallie River may sit in higher-risk flood zones. Most homeowners policies do not cover flood damage, homes with federally backed mortgages in A or V zones must carry flood insurance, and a new NFIP policy usually takes 30 days to take effect unless it is bought with a mortgage closing. Look up any address on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center or through Brevard County's floodplain office, and ask your agent about the county's Community Rating System discount.

Cost of living

The Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville metro's cost of living runs about 5% below the national average on BestPlaces' index, with housing the main saving and groceries about average. FPL's typical 1,000-kWh residential bill is $136.64 a month as of January 2026, Florida car insurance is among the most expensive in the country, and Brevard's median household income is $78,476, with West Melbourne ($92,986) and Rockledge ($84,255) above that and Palm Bay ($72,614) and Melbourne ($66,991) below.

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Weather

Climate and hurricane season

Melbourne's average January high is 72°F with lows around 52°F, and July runs about 90°F by day and 74°F at night, with about 51 inches of rain a year, most of it in summer afternoon storms. The sea breeze keeps the beach towns a few degrees cooler than the mainland in summer. Locals do everything before 10 or after 6 from June through September, so don't judge the place by a July visit.

Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30 and peaks around September 10. Direct hurricane landfalls are rare here, but Brevard gets the edges: Ian in September 2022 flooded parts of north Brevard and knocked out power to 171,500 FPL customers, Nicole in November 2022 caused beach erosion officials compared to the 2004 season, and Milton in October 2024 pushed gusts near 87 mph at Kennedy Space Center and spun up an EF-1 tornado that crossed A1A in Cocoa Beach. Impact windows, a newer roof and a plan are the whole answer, and a wind mitigation report tells you which houses already have the first two.

Lifestyle

Living on the Space Coast

• Rocket launches a couple of times a week, visible from almost anywhere in the county and best from Jetty Park, Playalinda Beach, Space View Park in Titusville, the Cocoa Beach Pier and the Pineda and Eau Gallie causeways. The 321 area code is a nod to the countdown.
• Cocoa Beach is the East Coast's surf capital: the Cocoa Beach Pier (1962), Ron Jon's 52,000-square-foot flagship, the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame and the hometown of 11-time world champion Kelly Slater. Sebastian Inlet, at the county's south end, is the other classic break.
• Canaveral National Seashore's 24 miles of undeveloped beach and the 140,000-acre Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge share the north end with the space center; the Haulover Canal observation deck is a reliable spot for manatees.
• The Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, from Melbourne Beach south, hosts roughly a quarter of all sea turtle nesting in the United States, 15,000 to 20,000 nests a year, with guided turtle walks in June and July.
• The Indian River Lagoon, 71% of it in Brevard, with the Thousand Islands kayak trails in Cocoa Beach, dolphins and manatees, and the county's half-cent sales tax funding its cleanup.
• The Brevard Zoo in Viera, a 75-acre zoo with more than 900 animals built by 16,000 volunteers, with its Bowen Aquarium at Port Canaveral breaking ground in December 2026.
• The Eau Gallie Arts District's 30-plus murals, Historic Downtown Melbourne, Cocoa Village's Saturday art market, The Avenue Viera and the 2,016-seat King Center for the Performing Arts.
• The USSSA Space Coast Complex in Viera, former spring-training home of the Marlins, Expos and Nationals, now a 13-diamond youth and pro softball hub.
• Fishing the inlets, the Banana River flats and the Gulf Stream offshore, plus the cruise port at your door for a long weekend to the Bahamas.

Also see William's Melbourne real estate guide, the Vero Beach guide just south of the county line, and the Moving to the Treasure Coast guide if you are weighing the two coasts.