Lakeland vs Winter Haven

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

Lakeland and Winter Haven 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 52,846 in Winter Haven). Lakeland has the higher median household income ($60,947 vs $59,604 in Winter Haven). Winter Haven has the higher median home value ($248,200 vs $229,100 in Lakeland).

Population, income & housing

	Lakeland	Winter Haven
Population	117,030	52,846
Median age	39.9 yrs	40.6 yrs
Median household income	$60,947	$59,604
Median home value	$229,100	$248,200
Median gross rent	$1,299	$1,200
Housing units	53,926	22,944
Homeownership rate	56.1%	62.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.7%	22.2%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lakeland	Winter Haven
Population	107,922 → 117,030 (+8.4%)	41,248 → 52,846 (+28.1%)
Median household income	$47,511 → $60,947 (+28.3%)	$46,669 → $59,604 (+27.7%)
Median home value	$149,500 → $229,100 (+53.2%)	$154,100 → $248,200 (+61.1%)
Median gross rent	$999 → $1,299 (+30.0%)	$961 → $1,200 (+24.9%)

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

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)

	Lakeland	Winter Haven
Under 5	5.2%	5.2%
5 to 17	13.7%	16.0%
18 to 24	11.9%	8.9%
25 to 34	13.4%	13.3%
35 to 44	11.6%	10.8%
45 to 54	10.9%	12.4%
55 to 64	11.4%	12.5%
65 to 74	11.3%	11.4%
75 and over	10.5%	9.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lakeland	Winter Haven
White (non-Hispanic)	57.0%	44.0%
Black or African American	17.7%	25.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	2.2%	1.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.8%	0.8%
Two or more races	2.8%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	19.2%	24.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lakeland	Winter Haven
No high school diploma	9.4%	12.4%
High school graduate	31.8%	33.7%
Some college or associate's	31.1%	31.8%
Bachelor's degree	17.7%	14.8%
Graduate or professional degree	9.9%	7.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lakeland	Winter Haven
Drove alone	73.7%	80.8%
Carpooled	8.2%	6.3%
Public transit	0.5%	0.3%
Walked	2.7%	0.5%
Bicycle	1.2%	0.8%
Worked from home	11.6%	9.8%
Other means	2.1%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lakeland	Winter Haven
1-unit, detached	50.2%	65.4%
1-unit, attached	4.2%	3.5%
2 to 4 units	8.6%	8.6%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	9.0%
20 or more units	9.7%	7.6%
Mobile home & other	14.5%	5.9%

Poverty & households

	Lakeland	Winter Haven
Poverty rate	14.5%	16.5%
Average household size	2.35	2.64
Mean commute (minutes)	23	28
Median year structure built	1981	1988