Below you will find all the SperlingViews added about this city.
| Palm Bay has High Cost of Living - 2/23/2023
I moved to Palm Bay in 2020 and the cost of living has skyrocketed! A two bedroom apartment was around $900/month in 2020. Now it's $1600 and up. Mostly up. A three bedroom house was under $250,000 in 2020, now it's closer to $300,000. Florida has been hit hard by investors over-inflating housing costs and of course nothing is being done to help. Don't move here.
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| Lovin' Palm Bay For Over 20 Years Now!!?? - 10/18/2020
My family of 4 have lived here in NW Palm Bay for over 10 years. My wife and my son from another marriage lived here for over 7 before that. I myself have lived here for well over 20 years and have never had any of the problems that people talk of here or anywhere else. The crimes are well taken care of and only in certain areas, just as in any city, and there are so many great people, places and things to do here it's just unimaginable that anyone couldn't find something Great about the area. Plus, Cocoa Beach is right up the road and Daytona as well as Orlando are both short car rides from here. St. Cloud/Kissimmee is another enjoyable area with plenty of fun to be had which is a hop-skip & a jump from here as well.
I'd say, come on down and see us for yourself. Open up your mind and hit some of the small restaurants toward the coast and see just what us locals have to share.
God Bless and have a Lovely Day!!??
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| It's Safer in New England - 12/10/2019
I lived in Palm Bay for 12 years. It's a very unfriendly and crowded place to live. It's well into the 90's from late April till right around the 10th of November. The Medical field is unprofessional. The hospitals have very bad ratings. The wages are low. It's not a place to move to unless you're retireing and even then it's dangerous because of the bad medical care.
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| it is a nice place but lacks good paying job - 10/17/2017
The cost of living here is not cheap food is expensive if you make 45k you are screwed. If you are a minority you better have a job before you come down here other wise you are screwed. If you have bad money management skills you are screwed. It is a nice place to live the people can be friendly but dont let that fool you.......................
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| Burmuda run - 9/2/2016
What is this community look like Is it pretty or just ok
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| WORST.PLACE.EVER. Palm Bay--Melbourne--West Melbo - 7/13/2016
For your own good, PLEASE DO NOT MOVE TO THIS AREA OR ANY AREA OF BREVARD COUNTY FLORIDA! The economy is in the tank, has been for years, and will be for several more. I made the worst mistake of my life coming here--unemployed for 4 YEARS (the entire time I've lived here). Brevard County is all about tech, IT, airplane and weapons manufacturing, retail, and restaurant. I'm an administrative professional--the ratio here is low for office jobs, so there are at least 50-200 other people applying for the jobs I am. That's according to employers who've interviewed me, and internet sites that show how many have applied to jobs. The area is rife with disreputable businesses desperately trying to make money (which is how my car got ruined), a visible homeless population, abandoned cats and dogs, and an unstable economy unable to handle the overflow of people like me and those worse off than me. Don't be fooled by the "busyness" of this area. The local government is focusing on bringing in low and medium income businesses because they can't get the bigger companies to move here--gee, I wonder why? Employers are among the stupidest and most unprofessional I've ever spoken to, seeming fearful of hiring people who might actually be smart and progressive. Far too many businessess of less than 100 employees, who tell me during interviews that they are a "family" and want people who will fit in and stay a long time. Good grief, what an antiquated mentality! At this point, my hope is that MAYBE I can get a job with an international call center opening in Melbourne, for which I must obtain a health insurance license or somesuch thing (they pay). Even then, it appears that I might need to borrow LOTS of money to get myself out of this hole and back into the REAL world.
There's very little good here--desert temperatures with tropical humidity combined, having to hide in the house most of the year so I can breathe and not be eaten by insects, unbelievably expensive to live here, bananas that ripen into over-ripe before you can drive home from the store, frozen cucumbers that are either softened or partly frozen in the stores, and a population so used to living at or below the poverty level that they don't even realize they are being paid shamefully low wages.
This is not the place for anyone but military or retirees with double incomes or the very rich.
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| palm bay - 5/7/2015
winters are mild and summers are rainy with thunderstorms everyday. Hot and humid best describes summer. If you are a teenager or retired it is good for you.
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| no jobs - 4/30/2015
I moved here from NYC and the cost of living as far as renting is lower, but there are not jobs. I got tired of the friendly attitude because how friendly can you be without a job to support yourself....Don't come here...you would be wasting your precious time.
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| Moving here was not my best idea... - 4/5/2014
Moved here in June of 2012 from Berks County, PA, to escape the rampant unemployment and ridiculously high housing costs. I was assured by my mother and realtor that there were jobs here. They must have thought I said "mobs", not "jobs"! While housing is much lower than in southeastern PA, as well as a few other things, Palm Bay is a bedroom community with NO downtown to anchor it, only stores, restaurants, and undeveloped land as far as the eye can see.
The focus in Florida is ECOLOGY, rather than ECONOMY. I applaud the passion of Floridians to protect and preserve nature, but the time has come to focus on the citizens. The governor refused an unemployment compensation extension based on the number of people receiving it, rather than the reality that most people are no longer eligible to collect. There's something really wrong when 150 people apply for an administrative assistant position at F.I.T. that pays only $12.00/hour for full-time. And,by the way, shame on one of the most prestigious universities in the country for paying such a miserable wage.
The local beaches are indeed dirty, especially Indiatlantic. Beaches are also small in the tri-city area (Melbourne/W.Melbourne/Palm Bay).
There are plenty of sole proprietorships and very small, family-owned businesses, but large companies such as you'll find in the Northern U.S. are basically non-existent in Southern and Mid-Brevard County. Brevard is dragging it's feet when it comes to entering the current century, just as it was when I graduated from high school in 1979. The largest employer is still Harris Corporation--thirty years after I left the area. This is primarily a government/military/contract/medical business area. Practically nothing else as far as even medium-sized businesses.
The climate seems to have worsened since I lived here (grew up in Melbourne); yes, too much sun and heat for about 8-10 months of the year. The area of Palm Bay where I am currently living usually has a temperate to cool breeze, but in the middle of summer, it's crazy hot. I have to practically simonize myself in sunscreen to be able to go outside without frying my skin and hair. The air conditioner running most of the time is irritating and overdries everything.
This immediate area is also about half undeveloped lots, and the wildlife is too plentiful for my comfort. During the hotter months, it seems every living creature that crawls, hops, walks, or flies is determined to enter the house each time I open the door, even a crack. I have chased out ENORMOUS wolf spiders, frogs, toads, and anoles (a type of lizard that changes it's skin color to match it's surroundings). I can't walk in the evenings after 7pm in the summer due to mosquitos. I can't take my cats outside into the yard to play because of the fleas. It costs about $100 to have the yard treated, and it must be treated monthly or every other month. I stopped after two treatments because it was just a waste of money and it kills all of the beneficial insects also.
Grass, weeds, vines, and plants I can't begin to identify are CONSTANTLY growing, especially in the warmer months. Be prepared to pay someone every week to come and mow, or buy a mower and other yard tools and do yard battle in your spare time.
Also, the number of homeless cats is appalling, and people continue to abandon them in the plentiful undeveloped lots and areas of Brevard County. Currently, I'm feeding (and vetting) 3 of them and fostering another (I fostered one last year, and it did get adopted), in addition to my own two cats, because I believe it's wrong to let them starve. They are friendly, very affectionate,playful animals who were somebody's pets at some point in their young lives. The local shelter is a kill-shelter with a bad reputation. There are several active rescue groups, however.
The diversity here is great, the people are very friendly and nice, but unless you have a stockpile of money or a guaranteed job that is permanent, choose someplace else to move to. I've been volunteering at the local utility company just to keep up my office skills and be eligible to apply for internal job postings, but nothing has surfaced yet. The local office of CareerSourceBrevard does a great job of offering free classes to help people prepare for employment; they also have a weekly support meeting for those who have or want to start their own business. Employers often use CareerSource to find employees, but the numbers of people seeking full-time and even part-time work seem to outnumber the employers willing or able to hire.
At this point, I must either receive a miracle or make the difficult decision to move again before my savings is wiped out. I hope this information helps people before they make the same mistake I did.
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| I love it here. - 12/5/2012
I come from the most congested corrupt state and city in the world...Chicago,IL. I moved here because I hate crowds and love warm weather. My mortgage is non existant.My new house is a dream. My new pool is excellent, the beach is never ending, the weather is nice. I'd rather be homeless here than a millionaire in Chicago. You can have it I'm here to stay. To the people who hate it here, you're nuts... if you are essentially an uneducated lazy bustout then you will be one everywhere you go. To the fake contractors here... buy some tools or don't show up. Don't blame Palm Bay... my home.
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| Great Place to Live & Retire - 3/12/2012
I have only been in Palm Bay since July of 2011 but in that amount of time we've discovered the people are extremely friendly, housing is very affordable and there's plenty of things to do here and within an hour of here. The temperatures are between 60 and 90 during the day year round it seems, and there's nice breezes from the ocean to keep it cooler than inland Florida. I haven't met a rude person here. It's true that when the snow birds are here the roads are more congested but they leave the end of March. I'd highly recommend this area to families or retirees. I'm not retired but my husband is. Being we came from a state that ranks in the top 10 worst states for retiring, this place is a haven.
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| Retirement Community - 1/23/2012
Nice friendly low cost of living. Close to Orlando and all the theme parks, shopping, restaurants...overall not bad.
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| I dont see how this top place to live in any low n - 1/21/2012
This place is too small for all the people who live here not enough jobs to go around and if your above 15hr might want to reconsider moving here everyone wants you to work for 9 or 10 bucks a hour and the house market here is still flip flop at moment 186,000 dollars 220,000 that now worth 68,800 or 110,000. but the funny part is more people moved here.
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| Problems - 6/18/2010
I think the problem is the 23% increase in people here since 2000. This place simply was not built with the infrastructure to handle that. The government is trying to play catch up, but with a conservative mindset and small town mentality. The problem is that nowhere in Brevard is really a small town any more and the same people who have the conservative mindset let people essentially turn the whole area into one big city. The pay is consistently too low for the cost of living and the housing bubble effect isnt even close to over. There is a great deal of potential which goes untapped. I think thats because no one really wants to come here due to the mindset being too conservative. Leave the area alone if you are not super conservative or libertarian. If you arent, all you do is yearn for an area where politics are more liberal, even if you arent an especially liberal person.
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| The weather hardley changes. - 12/1/2009
It is mostly hot and muggy here.There might be 4 days out the winter that are considered cold days .You never no what to expect 60 degrees one day and 80 the next.If you like to stay warm this is the place to live.
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| Palm Bay Dump - 5/13/2009
Palm Bay advertises itself as a great place to live but this simply is not the case. The beach is dirty because they can't clean it up due to sea turtles, which i agree with, but if you move here for the beach you will be disappointed. The city its self has nothing to do for entertainment, the pay here is terrible and there are no jobs... at least not many out side retail, resturant or healthcare. The construction here is so stuipid because they build all these houses and housing complexes but there is no one to move into them. There are so many empty places it's sad. Plus, the contractors make deals with the investors of a housing community so that if you buy a lot you have no choice for who builds your home. They are poorly built, thrown up almost over night, have no character, cost way to much and for the most part are ugly. Palm Bay should be renamed The Scrub Brush city because that's all you'll see. Ugly Ugly scrub forest filled with awful biting bugs. Palm Bay is in Brevard county which USED to be called mosquito county. Why you ask? Because there are 82 species of mosquito that live here, some of which are indiginous to the Indian river. also, there are 14 species of biting ants, some bite bad enough to leave scars, there are scorpians, black and brown widows, brown recluse, and more. I don't even know how many different types of bugs I've been bitten by. It can be quite worrisome when you wake up with 15 bites on your body and have no idea where they came from. Don't even get me started on the LOVE BUG swarm that happens twice a year either. The water here is awful as well. It's not so bad if you have city water but if you are unfortunate enough to have a well, be prepared for sand and stink coming out of your faucet. I won't even feed it to my pets. It smells like rotten eggs and i literally have to wipe the grit out of my brita pitcher's reservoir. You can't get into any of the streams, or ANY water really, here without worrying about gators and poisonous snakes (no exaggeration).There really isn't anything good about living here. It's sunny all the time, it's true, but that sun combined with the humidity make it torture to be outside. I lived in Houston for most of my life but I had never felt HEAT like I do here. It is truely miserable. Also, during the summer, prepare for severe thunderstorms everyday starting around 3PM. You must factor this into any outdoor activity. They are short lived storms but packed with lightening and winds. the power grid here sucks too, so you lose power a lot. PLUUUS, if that weren't enough, there is TRASH every where. All over the streets, collected in the scrub, in the drainage canals... everywhere. Nobody cares. The same trash stuck under the same bush for weeks and weeks and weeks. The roads are terrible and there are whole networks of roads abandoned and left to rot, for exampe an area called the compound. You can look it up on wiki I think. Don't move to Palm bay if your looking for something nice. Come here if you're looking for 350.00 electric bills in the summer and a life spent surrounded by ugly nature and ugly people who don't care about anything or anyone. Why should they? No one here is from here, no one here wants to stay here, so no one here cares for this place like it's there home. It's just trash. That's the truth about Palm bay. Oh, and if you have kids, this is the LAST place you want them to be. This is a drug infest violent youth culture and the schools here are terrible. Putting a child in public school here would decrease their success rate in life no matter how good a parent you are. there are way too many bad seeds here and most people 23 and under I have met from here are total garbage and have a permenant 'spring break' mentality. Party, booze, drugs, sex- anything goes. There are no pockets of bad people and bad neighborhoods.... It could be anywhere, it could be your neighbor. It is like swiss cheese. The holes are every where for anyone to fall into... or in the case of the meth labs here, it could be the house next door that blows up. I've have been here for 5 years and am making preparations to leave as soon as possible. There is no future here which is why I guess it's such a great place to retire. Old people don't know it's like this I guess, they stay inside anyway here.
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| Palm Bay ~ think twice - 10/13/2008
Tends to have a diversity of different races though Crime appears to be on an upward swing and the quiet little town is noted to have more gang type rif-raf and the over all crime rate is on the rise.
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| Home depreciation - 9/3/2007
This is a beautiful place to live. I love it here. However, we are in the mortgage industry, and due to the sharp decline in home values, we are finding it increasingly difficult to make a living here. In addition to the home depreciation, the home insurance and property taxes are very high. If you want to rent, move here. However, if you insist on owning a home, think twice.
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| Sun, Sea Breezes, Trees, Nearby Clean Beaches - 4/20/2007
While many sing the virtues of Florida's sunny, warm climate in the winter, Palm Bay in Central Florida on the East Coast enjoys cooling breezes off the Atlantic Ocean to temper the Spring and Summer heat. The City of Palm Bay, whose motto is: " A Perfect Place to Grow," puts great emphasis on preservation of native Pines, Oaks as well as the Palms for which the city is named. The majority of Brevard County's beaches (some as close as 15 minutes by car) have received top marks for water quality and cleanliness of sand & facilities.
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| Great in the winter; BRUTAL in the summer! - 3/26/2007
Palm Bay, Florida is a great place to live during the months of October thru March but otherwise, count on breaking a sweat as soon as you take two steps outside your door!
People with Fibromyalgia are miserable here during the summer months.
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