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Place dossier plate
SheetFL-LAKE-CITY-FL · Lake City, FL 12,404 pop · income 21st pct · 13 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Lake City
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Lake City on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Sylacauga · lowest
46,384
Sylacauga · lowest
46,384 median HH income
41.4% of the leader · rank #1
Angier · near
51,162
Angier · near
51,162 median HH income
45.6% of the leader · rank #2
Killian · near
51,166
Killian · near
51,166 median HH income
45.6% of the leader · rank #3
Lake City · this city
51,175
Lake City · this city
51,175 median HH income
45.6% of the leader · rank #4
Tomah · near
51,185
Tomah · near
51,185 median HH income
45.6% of the leader · rank #5
Holgate · near
51,188
Holgate · near
51,188 median HH income
45.6% of the leader · rank #6
Myrtle Grove · highest
112,139
Myrtle Grove · highest
112,139 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Lake City on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 12,404.
Nationally, Lake City sits in the 21st percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
21st
percentile, household income
36th
percentile, home value
73rd
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Lake City, FL
Lake City is a small town in Florida, home to 12,404 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Lake City households earn a median of $51,175 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.1%. Lake City's housing stock carries a median value of $178,600, and the median resident age is 38.2 years. 25.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 52.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 27 residential building permits were authorized in Lake City (Building Boom), up 1250% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 67.2°F with 54.0 inches of precipitation per year.
Florida carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 103.4 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,526 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Florida's average monthly utility costs around $225 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 75.7 out of 100 (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Lake City's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from housing and income to comparison shortlist to within-city variation to schools and households to climate and hazard context to population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Lake City, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Lake City?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Which cities make useful reference points for Lake City?
Within Florida, the closest population matches are Jensen Beach (12,456 residents, $63,397 income); Doctor Phillips (12,458 residents, $101,540 income); Goldenrod (12,603 residents, $62,410 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Myrtle Grove, NC (12,404 residents); Borger, TX (12,398 residents); Fortuna, CA (12,413 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
What can 13 Census tracts reveal inside Lake City?
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 13 Census tracts to this city.
What does the education layer cover for Lake City?
The NCES join finds 15 public schools within the city match. 25.4% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Lake City?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 67.2°F, with 54.0 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Florida is 75.7 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Mean temperature
67.2°F
Annual precipitation
54.0 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
75.7
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Is Lake City growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +434 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 27 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+3.5%
2025 estimate
12,788
2020 estimate
12,354
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Lake City?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 75.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
6.1%
Drive alone
75.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 5,101 workers age 16+.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Florida average
F
City profile score · Lake City, FL
27/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share C-
25.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living F
103.4 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income F
$51,175
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Lake City profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 50/100 (C-) · 25.4%
Cost of living: 25/100 (F) · 103.4 index
Household income: 22/100 (F) · $51,175
Poverty rate: 19/100 (F) · 17.1%
How does Lake City compare to other US cities?
Where Lake City sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income21% higher than other cities
Home value36% pricier than other cities
Median rent73% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Lake City against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Florida only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Florida-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Lake City near the bottom of Florida's cities
Among the 930 Florida cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Lake City ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Lake City only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#732 of 903
19th percentile in Florida
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 930
0th percentile in Florida
Median Home Value
#724 of 894
19th percentile in Florida
Poverty Rate
#171 of 930
82nd percentile in Florida
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#503 of 930
46th percentile in Florida
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Florida only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
21st percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Lake City's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$178,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 64% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. 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 ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Lake City's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,931 of 15,516
More affordable than 42% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,483 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.5×, Lake City sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,931 of 15,516 and #1,483 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$51,175Lake City, FL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Lake City, FL median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Lake City, FL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)25.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
12,404
Median Income
$51,175
Median Home Value
$178,600
Median Age
38.2
Poverty Rate
17.1%
Labor force participation
52.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
25.4%
Climate
Avg Temperature
67.2°F
Annual Precipitation
54.0"
Annual Snowfall
0.0"
Schools
Total Schools
15
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Lake City's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
12,354 residents
2021
12,419 residents
2022
12,465 residents
2023
12,651 residents
2024
12,761 residents
2025
12,788 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
27
housing units authorized
Single-Family
23
detached homes
Multifamily
4
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
2
2
0
$0.3M
2020
10
10
0
$1.8M
2021
17
17
0
$4.0M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
6
2
4
$1.0M
2024
27
23
4
$5.5M
Permit volume increased 1250% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
75.3%
Carpool
15.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.5%
Work from Home
6.1%
Other
2.2%
Based on 5,101 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Florida statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $225
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Florida at $225 (electricity about $145 , water and sewer about $55 ).
These are Florida statewide averages, not a meter reading for Lake City. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Florida's BEA cost-of-living index is 103.4 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Lake City is $1,526/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Florida statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 75.7 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Florida statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Lake City sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Lake City compares to similar-size Florida cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.