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Place dossier plate
SheetFL-LAKE-WALES-FL · Lake Wales, FL 16,365 pop · income 29th pct
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 Wales
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Lake Wales on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Opa-locka · lowest
31,680
Opa-locka · lowest
31,680 median HH income
14.2% of the leader · rank #1
Lake Wales · this city
55,799
Lake Wales · this city
55,799 median HH income
25.0% of the leader · rank #2
Dana · near
55,801
Dana · near
55,801 median HH income
25.0% of the leader · rank #3
Kingsland · near
55,801
Kingsland · near
55,801 median HH income
25.0% of the leader · rank #4
Luray · near
55,802
Luray · near
55,802 median HH income
25.0% of the leader · rank #5
Spring Grove · near
55,804
Spring Grove · near
55,804 median HH income
25.0% of the leader · rank #6
Vienna · highest
223,571
Vienna · highest
223,571 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Lake Wales on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 16,365.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Lake Wales - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Lake Wales places in the 29th percentile for household income and the 38th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
29th
percentile, household income
50th
percentile, home value
73rd
percentile, median rent
38th
percentile, safety
📝 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 Wales, FL
Florida's Lake Wales is a small town, with 16,365 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $55,799 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 19.6%. Typical homes in Lake Wales are valued around $225,900, and the median resident age is 41.1 years. About 22.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 41.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 420 residential building permits were authorized in Lake Wales (Stable), down 3% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Lake Wales reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1772.4 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Florida run around $225, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Wales'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 schools and households to reported crime to comparison shortlist to population change to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Lake Wales, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, commute-mode shares, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Lake Wales?
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.
The NCES join finds 10 public schools within the city match. 22.0% 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Lake Wales?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1772.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 22% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Which cities make useful reference points for Lake Wales?
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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Florida, the closest population matches are Brownsville (16,391 residents, $38,460 income); Lady Lake (16,337 residents, $47,260 income); Three Lakes (16,426 residents, $91,364 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are North Arlington, NJ (16,368 residents); Vienna, VA (16,369 residents); Chickasha, OK (16,349 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.
Is Lake Wales growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +2,365 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +14.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 420 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Lake Wales?
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 19.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.0×
Home value
$225,900
Household income
$55,799
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Lake Wales?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 79.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Drive alone
79.3%
Work from home
6.5%
Public transit
0.1%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 5,522 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 19.6% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
103.4 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Florida average
F
City profile score · Lake Wales, FL
29/100
5 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.
Violent crime D
244 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share D
22.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$55,799
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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.
Poverty rate F
19.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Lake Wales profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 41/100 (D) · 244 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 40/100 (D) · 22.0%
Household income: 28/100 (F) · $55,799
Cost of living: 25/100 (F) · 103.4 index
Poverty rate: 14/100 (F) · 19.6%
Where Lake Wales sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Lake Wales's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Lake Wales highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Lake Wales, FL (this city): home $225,900, crime 1,772/100k
Vienna, VA : home $961,100, crime 910/100k
Chickasha, OK : home $113,200, crime 2,162/100k
River Falls, WI : home $299,800, crime 990/100k
Buffalo, MN : home $281,900, crime 475/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Lake Wales compare to other US cities?
Where Lake Wales sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income29% higher than other cities
Home value50% pricier than other cities
Median rent73% pricier than other cities
Safety38% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Florida alone, Lake Wales ranks #58 of 120 Florida cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Lake Wales 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 Wales near the bottom of Florida's cities
Among the 930 Florida cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Lake Wales ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Lake Wales only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#655 of 903
27th percentile in Florida
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 930
0th percentile in Florida
Median Home Value
#630 of 894
30th percentile in Florida
Poverty Rate
#125 of 930
86th percentile in Florida
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#564 of 930
39th 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
29th percentile nationally for median household income · 38th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Lake Wales's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Lake Wales's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Lake Wales's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$225,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 50% 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 Wales's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,846 of 15,516
More affordable than 30% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,025 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.0×, Lake Wales sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,846 of 15,516 and #2,025 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
$55,799Lake Wales, FL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Lake Wales, 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 Wales, FL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)22.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)19.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)41.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
16,365
Median Income
$55,799
Median Home Value
$225,900
Median Age
41.1
Poverty Rate
19.6%
Labor force participation
41.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
22.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1772.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
243.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1528.6
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
10
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Lake Wales's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
16,285 residents
2021
16,421 residents
2022
16,586 residents
2023
16,840 residents
2024
17,786 residents
2025
18,650 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
420
housing units authorized
Single-Family
409
detached homes
Multifamily
11
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
25.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
431
86
345
$45.8M
2020
30
30
0
$8.3M
2021
34
34
0
$9.4M
2022
69
69
0
$22.8M
2023
476
228
248
$112.6M
2024
420
409
11
$136.5M
Permit volume decreased 3% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.3%
Carpool
11.2%
Public Transit
0.1%
Walk
0.3%
Work from Home
6.5%
Other
2.6%
Based on 5,522 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 Wales. 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 Wales 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 Wales sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Lake Wales 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, FBI UCR, 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.