Lake Wales vs Winter Haven

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

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

Winter Haven has the higher population (52,846 vs 16,365 in Lake Wales). Winter Haven has the higher median household income ($59,604 vs $55,799 in Lake Wales). Winter Haven has the higher median home value ($248,200 vs $225,900 in Lake Wales).

Population, income & housing

	Lake Wales	Winter Haven
Population	16,365	52,846
Median age	41.1 yrs	40.6 yrs
Median household income	$55,799	$59,604
Median home value	$225,900	$248,200
Median gross rent	$1,060	$1,200
Housing units	7,961	22,944
Homeownership rate	61.0%	62.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.0%	22.2%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lake Wales	Winter Haven
Population	16,035 → 16,365 (+2.1%)	41,248 → 52,846 (+28.1%)
Median household income	$44,186 → $55,799 (+26.3%)	$46,669 → $59,604 (+27.7%)
Median home value	$167,400 → $225,900 (+34.9%)	$154,100 → $248,200 (+61.1%)
Median gross rent	$821 → $1,060 (+29.1%)	$961 → $1,200 (+24.9%)

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

Winter Haven

Population

41,24852,846

Median household income

$46,669$59,604

Median home value

$154,100$248,200

Median gross rent

$961$1,200

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lake Wales	Winter Haven
Under 5	5.9%	5.2%
5 to 17	14.8%	16.0%
18 to 24	6.5%	8.9%
25 to 34	12.5%	13.3%
35 to 44	12.5%	10.8%
45 to 54	8.2%	12.4%
55 to 64	12.5%	12.5%
65 to 74	14.9%	11.4%
75 and over	12.1%	9.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lake Wales	Winter Haven
White (non-Hispanic)	47.6%	44.0%
Black or African American	19.2%	25.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	0.7%	1.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.8%
Two or more races	1.4%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	30.7%	24.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lake Wales	Winter Haven
No high school diploma	12.5%	12.4%
High school graduate	32.8%	33.7%
Some college or associate's	32.7%	31.8%
Bachelor's degree	14.4%	14.8%
Graduate or professional degree	7.6%	7.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lake Wales	Winter Haven
Drove alone	79.3%	80.8%
Carpooled	11.2%	6.3%
Public transit	0.1%	0.3%
Walked	0.3%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.8%
Worked from home	6.5%	9.8%
Other means	2.7%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lake Wales	Winter Haven
1-unit, detached	65.5%	65.4%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	3.5%
2 to 4 units	13.4%	8.6%
5 to 19 units	9.7%	9.0%
20 or more units	4.1%	7.6%
Mobile home & other	5.7%	5.9%

Poverty & households

	Lake Wales	Winter Haven
Poverty rate	24.4%	16.5%
Average household size	2.44	2.64
Mean commute (minutes)	26	28
Median year structure built	1992	1988