Bartow vs Lakeland

A side-by-side comparison of Bartow and Lakeland: population, income, housing, and more.

Bartow and Lakeland are places in Florida. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Lakeland has the higher population (117,030 vs 19,801 in Bartow). Bartow has the higher median household income ($66,944 vs $60,947 in Lakeland). Lakeland has the higher median home value ($229,100 vs $210,400 in Bartow).

Population, income & housing

	Bartow	Lakeland
Population	19,801	117,030
Median age	36.1 yrs	39.9 yrs
Median household income	$66,944	$60,947
Median home value	$210,400	$229,100
Median gross rent	$1,073	$1,299
Housing units	7,635	53,926
Homeownership rate	66.4%	56.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.3%	27.7%
Unemployment rate	3.7%	5.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bartow	Lakeland
Population	19,440 → 19,801 (+1.9%)	107,922 → 117,030 (+8.4%)
Median household income	$47,779 → $66,944 (+40.1%)	$47,511 → $60,947 (+28.3%)
Median home value	$137,100 → $210,400 (+53.5%)	$149,500 → $229,100 (+53.2%)
Median gross rent	$841 → $1,073 (+27.6%)	$999 → $1,299 (+30.0%)

Bartow

Population

19,44019,801

Median household income

$47,779$66,944

Median home value

$137,100$210,400

Median gross rent

$841$1,073

Lakeland

Population

107,922117,030

Median household income

$47,511$60,947

Median home value

$149,500$229,100

Median gross rent

$999$1,299

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bartow	Lakeland
Under 5	6.3%	5.2%
5 to 17	14.6%	13.7%
18 to 24	9.6%	11.9%
25 to 34	17.7%	13.4%
35 to 44	12.3%	11.6%
45 to 54	11.9%	10.9%
55 to 64	11.3%	11.4%
65 to 74	9.1%	11.3%
75 and over	7.3%	10.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bartow	Lakeland
White (non-Hispanic)	55.3%	57.0%
Black or African American	22.3%	17.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	2.8%	2.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.8%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	16.0%	19.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bartow	Lakeland
No high school diploma	9.8%	9.4%
High school graduate	35.2%	31.8%
Some college or associate's	32.7%	31.1%
Bachelor's degree	15.7%	17.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.6%	9.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bartow	Lakeland
Drove alone	79.9%	73.7%
Carpooled	8.8%	8.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.5%
Walked	1.5%	2.7%
Bicycle	1.1%	1.2%
Worked from home	7.6%	11.6%
Other means	1.0%	2.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bartow	Lakeland
1-unit, detached	73.6%	50.2%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	4.2%
2 to 4 units	10.2%	8.6%
5 to 19 units	4.6%	12.7%
20 or more units	5.0%	9.7%
Mobile home & other	6.3%	14.5%

Poverty & households

	Bartow	Lakeland
Poverty rate	16.5%	14.5%
Average household size	2.70	2.35
Mean commute (minutes)	25	23
Median year structure built	1976	1981