City safety & data profile
Lake WalesFL
Lake Wales, FL is a 16K-resident city in Polk County with a median household income of $56,347.
Polk County, Florida. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Lake Wales, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Lake Wales has a population larger than 30% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $239,300, and 1 hospital serving the surrounding area.
Data updated 2026-09-04
- 16K
- Population (place)
- Bottom 31%
- By size
- $56,347
- Median income (place)
- $239,300
- Median home (place)
- 22.4%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on Lake Wales
Lake Wales posts a median household income higher than 17% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 hospital serves the Lake Wales area.
- Bottom 18%
- by median income, US cities
- 1
- hospital in & near Lake Wales
Where Lake Wales income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$56,347 Bottom 17% higher than 17% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles
Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year
Largest cities in FL
Population among 310 FL places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.
- Jacksonville
Jacksonville, FL
1,009,833 residents
- Miami
Miami, FL
487,014 residents
- Tampa
Tampa, FL
414,547 residents
- Orlando 334,854
Orlando, FL
334,854 residents
- St. Petersburg 257,083
St. Petersburg, FL
257,083 residents
- Hialeah 237,069
Hialeah, FL
237,069 residents
- Tallahassee 201,731
Tallahassee, FL
201,731 residents
- Fort Lauderd… 183,146
Fort Lauderdale, FL
183,146 residents
- Cape Coral 175,229
Cape Coral, FL
175,229 residents
- Pembroke Pines 166,611
Pembroke Pines, FL
166,611 residents
What this shows Jacksonville is the largest FL city on this list; Pinecrest leads median income.
Highest median incomes in FL
Median household income among the same 310-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.
- Pinecrest
Pinecrest, FL
$206,417 median
- Parkland
Parkland, FL
$198,669 median
- Lake Butler
Lake Butler, FL
$182,500 median
- Key Biscayne
Key Biscayne, FL
$181,505 median
- Keystone
Keystone, FL
$161,056 median
- Naples
Naples, FL
$153,182 median
- Miami Shores
Miami Shores, FL
$144,050 median
- Palmetto Bay
Palmetto Bay, FL
$142,447 median
- Fruit Cove
Fruit Cove, FL
$141,863 median
- Weston
Weston, FL
$139,825 median
What this shows Pinecrest posts the highest place-level median income in FL; Jacksonville is largest by headcount.
The quick read
Reading Lake Wales, FL beyond the headline numbers
Lake Wales sits inside Polk County, Florida, at roughly 27.90°N, -81.59°W. Population 15,541, $56,347 median household income. Median home value $239,300, median rent $1,110. Poverty rate 22.4%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
1 hospital in/around Lake Wales, 2/5 avg rating, 1 with an ER.
22.4% of Lake Wales, FL residents live below the poverty line, placing it in the hardest-hit quarter of reporting cities. Read every median on this page against that: half the households are above it, and a large minority are far below.
A median home in Lake Wales runs about 4.2 times median household income, above the midpoint. Multiples in this range usually mean buyers are arriving from outside the local wage base.
Remote work covers 8.7% of Lake Wales workers, under the midpoint for reporting cities.
Among the CDC measures on this page, stroke departs furthest from its peer median: 5.5% in Lake Wales, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.
Public transit carries 0.1% of Lake Wales workers, a smaller share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.
At 42.7 years, Lake Wales's median age is in the oldest quarter of reporting cities.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Lake Wales from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.
10-Year Trends 2013–2024
County-level trend (Polk County): Lake Wales's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.
Economics
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Median Rent | |
| Poverty Rate | 22.4% +81% vs avg |
| Unemployment | 5.9% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 20.8% |
| Work From Home | 8.7% |
| Public Transit | 0.1% |
Population
Health Profile 15 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Other Measures
Hospitals 1 total
What alerts and safety updates affect Lake Wales?
No area-tagged alerts are on record for Lake Wales right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet FL-LAKE-WALES · Lake Wales
Lake Wales: no area-tagged alerts on record — state hubs carry the live CAP stream.
- FEED-QUIET No tagged alerts
- LEAD-NONE Feed idle
- DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed
Counts reflect published articles tagged to Lake Wales; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Florida state hubs · Methodology
Read with this city profile
Frequently Asked Questions 6
What is the population of Lake Wales, FL? ▼
What is the median household income in Lake Wales? ▼
What is the median home value in Lake Wales? ▼
What are the top health concerns in Lake Wales? ▼
How many hospitals are in Lake Wales? ▼
What is the median age in Lake Wales? ▼
Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for Lake Wales, both outside Florida so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.
Similar poverty rate
Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside FL (22.4% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside FL ($56,347 here).
Compare Lake Wales with another city
Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.
Nearby Cities 8
Using Lake Wales's profile
Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.
- Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Lake Wales area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
- Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
- Compare Lake Wales against Florida peers on any ranking lens. Explore Florida
Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.
Data Sources
All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Polk County) where that is the smallest published unit.
Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.