Brevard County Florida   Located in East Florida

Brevard County Cities

Land area (rank): 995 square miles (17)
Population 1993 (rank): 427,035 (9)
Population density 1993 (rank): 429 persons per square mile (11)
Growth 1980-1990 (rank): 46.2% (17)

Physical Characteristics

Brevard County is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and by Volusia, Orange, Osceola, and Indian River counties. The county has 299 square miles of water. The average January temperature is 68.6 degrees F, and the average August temperature is 82.0 degrees F. The average annual rainfall is 65.19 inches.

History

Brevard County was established in 1844 from a portion of Mosquito County and was originally named St. Lucie. In 1855 the name was changed in honor of Theodore Washington Brevard (1804-77) of North Carolina. Brevard came to Florida in 1847 and became the state comptroller.

Population

Most of Brevard County's population is along the Indian River and the Atlantic Ocean. In 1993 the most populous incorporated areas were Palm Bay (69,197 persons), followed by Melbourne (64,191 persons), and Titusville (40,679 persons). Cocoa, Rockledge, and Cocoa Beach all had populations in excess of 10,000 in 1993. The unincorporated area of Merritt Island, sparsely populated in 1960, had a population of 32,886 in 1990. During the 1980s Port St. John, between Titusville and Cocoa, and Micco, south of Melbourne, developed rapidly. The U.S. Bureau of the Census has designated Brevard County as the Melbourne-Titusville-Palm Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 1993, 90% of Brevard County's population was white and 10% was nonwhite. In 1990, 3.1% of the population was Hispanic. Of the population increase between 1980 and 1990, 87.7% was due to net migration. The 1992 birth rate for the county was 13.2 live births per 1,000 persons, and the 1992 death rate was 9.3 deaths per 1,000 persons. In 1992 the infant mortality rate was 6.9 per 1,000. The leading causes of death in 1993 were heart disease, cancer, and chronic obstructive lung disease.

Education

Of all 1992 high school graduates, 78.2% planned to continue their education. The 1992 high school dropout rate was 1.8%. In 1990, 82.3% of persons in the county were high school graduates, and 20.4% had completed four or more years of college. Colleges and universities. Brevard Community College, Cocoa; College of St. Frances Center, Florida Institute of Technology, Phillips Junior College of Florida, Melbourne.

Economy

The per capita income for 1993 was $19,321 (18th highest in the state). The median household income in 1989 was $30,534. In 1989, 6.3% of families had incomes below the poverty level. In 1990, 17.7% of personal income was derived from transfer payments. Electrical equipment and supplies and transportation equipment firms account for the most employment in the manufacturing sector. In 1992 there were 496 farms in Brevard County, totalling 199,724 acres (31% of land in the county). Leading agricultural products include cattle and citrus. In 1991, 4,338,679 pounds of fish and 1,539,218 pounds of shellfish were landed in Brevard County.

Median value of a single-family home 1990: $75,200
Median monthly rent 1990: $404
Mobile homes as a % of total housing 1990: 11.5
Housing starts (1992): 3,678
Housing starts (1993): 3,800

In 1992 the price level index for Brevard County was 97.38 (18th highest in the state).

Local Government

In 1993, the ad valorem millage rate was 4.5527, and the total taxable value of property was $13,322,272,879. Taxable sales totalled $3210.20 million in 1992 and $3427.00 million in 1993. Lottery sales totalled $67,290 thousand in 1992-93. In 1990-91 Brevard County's revenues totalled $289,134 thousand ($706.3 per capita) and its expenditures $315,833 thousand ($771.5 per capita). Of those 18 years of age and older, 70.2% were registered to vote in 1992. Of these, 43.9% were registered Democrat and 48.4% were registered Republican. In the 1992 presidential election, 43.2% of the votes were cast for Bush, 31.2% for Clinton, and 25.3% for Perot.

Events and Places of Interest

Seafood Festival, Grant, February; Space Coast Art Festival, Cocoa Beach, November; Astronaut Memorial Space Science Center, Cocoa; Brevard Art Center and Museum of History and Natural Science, Cocoa; Kennedy Space Center's Spaceport USA; U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, Titusville; Melbourne Beach Pier.