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Space Coast political and tourism leaders routinely tout the area’s stellar nationwide rankings in financial progress, locations to maneuver to, locations to retire and extra.
But Brevard County ranks near the bottom of the barrel as a spot to stay for a key demographic group — single millennials, in response to a Porch Group study launched final week.
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville ranked solely one hundred and thirty fifth out of America’s 150 largest metropolitan areas for single millennials. Metrics included proportion of single millennials, gender ratio amongst millennials, millennial share of the inhabitants, and meals and leisure.
“I think I can understand how, if you’re on the front end of the millennial age curve of 25-year-olds to 30-year-olds, Brevard may be a little bit of an adjustment coming from a metropolitan city,” said Ryan Jesenik, who chairs Space Coast Young Professionals.
“However, I do believe that Brevard has a lot of great things to offer,” Jesenik said. He moved to the Space Coast in January 2020 from Newport Beach, California, and he works as senior vice president of Orion 180 Insurance Services.
“Specifically around quality of life. A highly engaged community. And a rapidly improving restaurant culture,” Jesenik said.
![Melbourne Orlando International Airport was named the most scenic airport in North America in a 2020 poll by charter-flight booking service PrivateFly.](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2020/09/22/PBRE/1fe440ce-f51e-459b-ba9b-db074c8235d8-MLB_Most_Scenic_1_PHOTO_CRED_WALT_SIMPSON.jpg?width=660&height=441&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
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According to the Pew Research Center, millennials were born between 1981 and 1996 and are 25 to 40 years old. Millennials now are the nation’s largest adult generation — and as of 2019, 56% were unmarried.
Porch ranked Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina, as the nation’s best city for single millennials. Boston-Cambridge-Newton ranked second, while Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria, Virginia, ranked third.
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford led Florida by ranking 16th in the country. Jacksonville ranked 28th, while Gainesville ranked 46th and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach ranked 75th.
Toward the rear of the list, Brevard County ranked one spot ahead of neighboring Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, which came in 136th. Port St. Lucie was 139th, Cape Coral-Fort Myers was 140th, Ocala was 142nd, and Naples-Marco Island ranked 146th out of the 150 metro areas.
Porch is a Seattle-based software platform for more than 20,000 home-services firms, ranging from mortgage companies and title companies to moving companies and real estate agencies.
Porch researchers analyzed 2019 U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data, then compiled composite scores based on:
- Percentage of single millennials.
- Gender ratio among millennials.
- Millennial share of the population.
- Employment rate among single millennials (compared to average).
- Median adjusted income for full-time millennials.
- Food and entertainment.
A pivotal metric: Brevard’s low millennial share of the population (18.2%) ranked only 141st among the 150 metro areas.
Fayetteville, North Carolina, had the highest millennial share of the population (26.5%). That percentage change represents nearly a 50% increase in millennial share, compared with Brevard.
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue and Clarksville, Tennessee-Kentucky, tied for second place in highest millennial share of the population at 26.4%.
North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton ranked 150th with the lowest millennial share (14.3%), followed closely by Naples-Marco Island (14.4%).
Brevard also ranked 121st in gender ratio among millennials, with 8.5% more men than women.
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Space Coast business officials consider it essential to attract young professionals to the area’s booming aerospace and high-tech economy, with noteworthy hiring underway at L3Harris Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Terran Orbital, GenH2 and elsewhere.
During a mid-September Melbourne Regional Chamber panel discussion, OneWeb Satellites CEO James Hinds issued a challenge to chamber members: Make Brevard more attractive to younger job recruits.
“We have found it very difficult to actually get some of those high-end design staff,” Hinds said during the chamber’s annual retreat in Jupiter.
“The younger folks who are in that category say, ‘I don’t want to live in Cape Canaveral. Unless I’m a surfer, I don’t want to be down in Cocoa Beach. I want to go to Orlando,’ ” Hinds said.
“Because Orlando is somewhere where it’s happening,” he stated.
Kirsten Dreggors, a fellow panelist who leads Northrop Grumman’s Manned Aircraft Design Center of Excellence in Melbourne, replied that she receives similar feedback.
![Chris Ayers of Intracoastal Brewing Co., right, pours a beer for Samantha Selig at the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast board meeting and investor update in August in Cocoa Village.](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/08/05/PBRE/d1181479-3428-4e77-bb5a-4501701c8442-LaunchesLagers.jpg?width=660&height=493&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
On the flip side, Brevard’s poor single-millennial ranking runs counter to similar lists that tout it as one of America’s top places to live:
- The Milken Institute ranks Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville No. 2 on its Best-Performing Cities index for economic growth among the 200 largest metropolitan areas.
- The United Van Lines 2020 national migration study ranked Melbourne-Titusville-Palm Bay the seventh-most popular place to move among urban areas of at least 50,000 residents.
- U.S. News & World Report simultaneously ranks the Melbourne metro area as No. 4 in Best Places to Retire and No. 18 in Best Places to Live.
Zach Featherstone, 321 Millennials member chair, noted Brevard’s low ranking (102nd out of 150) in Porch’s food and entertainment category. He co-owns Beachfly Brewing Co. in Rockledge, and he moved here in 2017 from Colorado Springs.
“I’ve only been in Brevard for four or five years now, and I’ve seen that industry grow. We’re getting some really cool, young, exciting chefs coming in and really bumping up the food scene,” Featherstone stated.
“Owning a brewery, we’ve worked with a lot of musicians in the area. I know there’s a lot of really good musicians in the area,” he stated.
“I think one of the issues — it’s kind of a good thing and a bad thing — is Brevard is so spread out. We don’t have one main downtown metropolis area,” he stated.
“We have Cocoa Village. We have downtown Melbourne. Eau Gallie’s starting to grow. We have Cocoa Beach. There’s these little pockets where you have arts and food and entertainment. But there’s no one centralized area,” he stated.
A 2017 Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast survey confirmed that 80% of Space Coast millennials loved their high quality of life, 62% selected to stay in Brevard over one other location, and solely 10% have been Brevard natives.
Jesenik and Featherstone consider the Space Coast’s millennial demographics cited by Porch are evolving due to fast financial progress the previous couple years.
The EDC manages the web site livebigspacecoast.com to advertise Brevard amongst younger professionals and potential area staff. The web site options the Launches & Lagers marketing campaign, which pairs craft beers by native breweries with varied spacecraft.
Last week, the Melbourne Regional Chamber introduced it has rebranded and relaunched ENGAGE — its group aimed toward networking and profession development for 20-to-40-somethings — as Space Coast Young Professionals.Largely sidelined this 12 months by the COVID-19 pandemic, SCYP hosted a networking fundraiser in May at Hotel Melby and a cheerful hour in September at Mainstreet Pub. The occasions garnered greater than $3,900 in donations for Brevard Public Schools and the South Brevard Sharing Center.
SCYP will host an Ugly Sweater Holiday Happy Hour from 6 to eight p.m. Dec. 2 at Hell ‘n Blazes Brewing Co. in downtown Melbourne.
Admission is free with proof of purchase of $15 or greater from the Salvation Army’s digital angel tree or $15 on the door. Proceeds will profit the Salvation Army and the Gifts from the Heart Christmas Shop toy drive.
Thursday, 321 Millennials hosted a cheerful hour at Game Over Retro Arcade and Bar in West Melbourne. The occasion highlighted a meals drive benefitting Women’s Center of Brevard.
Next, 321 Millennials will host an out of doors vacation film evening that includes “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 17 exterior BeachFly Brewing Co.’s new location at 513 Barton Blvd, in Rockledge, which has but to open to the general public. Attendees are inspired to donate $5 or carry unwrapped toys for a toy drive.
Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for extra of his tales, click on right here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1
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