Lake Wales vs Lakeland Highlands

A side-by-side comparison of Lake Wales and Lakeland Highlands: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Lake Wales has the higher population (16,365 vs 11,669 in Lakeland Highlands). Lakeland Highlands has the higher median household income ($106,012 vs $55,799 in Lake Wales). Lakeland Highlands has the higher median home value ($352,000 vs $225,900 in Lake Wales).

Population, income & housing

	Lake Wales	Lakeland Highlands
Population	16,365	11,669
Median age	41.1 yrs	46.0 yrs
Median household income	$55,799	$106,012
Median home value	$225,900	$352,000
Median gross rent	$1,060	$1,817
Housing units	7,961	4,630
Homeownership rate	61.0%	81.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.0%	42.7%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lake Wales	Lakeland Highlands
Population	16,035 → 16,365 (+2.1%)	12,332 → 11,669 (-5.4%)
Median household income	$44,186 → $55,799 (+26.3%)	$92,955 → $106,012 (+14.0%)
Median home value	$167,400 → $225,900 (+34.9%)	$262,900 → $352,000 (+33.9%)
Median gross rent	$821 → $1,060 (+29.1%)	$1,570 → $1,817 (+15.7%)

Lake Wales

Population

16,03516,365

Median household income

$44,186$55,799

Median home value

$167,400$225,900

Median gross rent

$821$1,060

Lakeland Highlands

Population

12,33211,669

Median household income

$92,955$106,012

Median home value

$262,900$352,000

Median gross rent

$1,570$1,817

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lake Wales	Lakeland Highlands
Under 5	5.9%	3.2%
5 to 17	14.8%	20.4%
18 to 24	6.5%	6.8%
25 to 34	12.5%	7.3%
35 to 44	12.5%	10.4%
45 to 54	8.2%	15.2%
55 to 64	12.5%	16.2%
65 to 74	14.9%	13.2%
75 and over	12.1%	7.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lake Wales	Lakeland Highlands
White (non-Hispanic)	47.6%	77.0%
Black or African American	19.2%	3.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.4%
Asian	0.7%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.3%
Two or more races	1.4%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	30.7%	15.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lake Wales	Lakeland Highlands
No high school diploma	12.5%	4.4%
High school graduate	32.8%	22.8%
Some college or associate's	32.7%	30.1%
Bachelor's degree	14.4%	24.4%
Graduate or professional degree	7.6%	18.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lake Wales	Lakeland Highlands
Drove alone	79.3%	74.7%
Carpooled	11.2%	10.1%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	0.3%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.4%
Worked from home	6.5%	13.3%
Other means	2.7%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lake Wales	Lakeland Highlands
1-unit, detached	65.5%	79.8%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	5.5%
2 to 4 units	13.4%	1.0%
5 to 19 units	9.7%	0.4%
20 or more units	4.1%	5.4%
Mobile home & other	5.7%	7.9%

Poverty & households

	Lake Wales	Lakeland Highlands
Poverty rate	24.4%	3.7%
Average household size	2.44	2.63
Mean commute (minutes)	26	24
Median year structure built	1992	1986