ACADEMIA

The dynamic area surrounding Emerald Lakes contains 11 colleges and universities as well as 3 technical institutions, including the world renowned Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, University of Central Florida, Eastern Florida State College, Barry University and Florida Institute of Technology. The Brevard County Public School System, Private and Charter Schools provide a high quality quality education and are consistently rated above the state average. Eastern Florida State College, with campuses in the north, central, and south areas of the county, along with extensions of the  Palm Bay University of Central Florida provide an outstanding educational environment. 

The Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville metropolitan statistical area (the Emerald Lakes Triangle) was ranked No. 10 on the Milken Institute’s Best Performing Cities 2020: Where America’s Jobs are Created and Sustained. The brain power that has kept the U.S. space program in operation since the 1950s has taken root in the Palm Bay area, which houses about one-fifth of Brevard County’s total population of approximately 500,000. While mega-defense contractor L3Harris Corporation is the best-known operation in the area and continues to land multimillion-dollar contracts worldwide, the area continues to be viewed as “choice” real estate for technical and research operations of any type. This is not surprising considering the vast number of educational institutions that make their home in the area surrounding Palm Bay and the Emerald Lakes location.