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Place dossier plate
SheetTN-LAKELAND-TN · Lakeland, TN 14,068 pop · income 85th 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 Lakeland
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Lakeland on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
McMinnville · lowest
43,348
McMinnville · lowest
43,348 median HH income
20.8% of the leader · rank #1
Carrollton · near
113,813
Carrollton · near
113,813 median HH income
54.6% of the leader · rank #2
Lakeland · this city
113,843
Lakeland · this city
113,843 median HH income
54.6% of the leader · rank #3
Tinton Falls · near
113,844
Tinton Falls · near
113,844 median HH income
54.6% of the leader · rank #4
Grandview Hei… · near
113,862
Grandview Hei… · near
113,862 median HH income
54.6% of the leader · rank #5
Powers Lake · near
113,875
Powers Lake · near
113,875 median HH income
54.6% of the leader · rank #6
Mill Valley · highest
208,466
Mill Valley · highest
208,466 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 Lakeland 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: 14,068.
Nationally, Lakeland sits in the 85th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
85th
percentile, household income
75th
percentile, home value
34th
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: Lakeland, TN
Lakeland is a small town in Tennessee, home to 14,068 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Lakeland households earn a median of $113,843 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 1.6%. Home values in Lakeland run a median of $373,800, and the median resident age is 39.5 years. 55.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 63.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 2 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Living costs in Tennessee run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Tennessee scores 91.9 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,118 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Tennessee's average monthly utility costs around $218 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 52.5 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Lakeland'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 population change to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Lakeland, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Lakeland?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Lakeland?
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.
Within Tennessee, the closest population matches are Athens (14,250 residents, $53,151 income); White House (13,875 residents, $87,315 income); Elizabethton (14,364 residents, $44,834 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are New Ulm, MN (14,066 residents); Mill Valley, CA (14,064 residents); Colesville, MD (14,075 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 Lakeland growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +394 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.8% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. 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.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 55.7% 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Lakeland?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 80.2%. 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
80.2%
Work from home
13.1%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 6,683 workers age 16+.
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.
Poverty rate A
1.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A
55.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A-
$113,843
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Cost of living B+
91.9 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Lakeland profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 89/100 (A) · 1.6%
Bachelor's+ share: 89/100 (A) · 55.7%
Household income: 83/100 (A-) · $113,843
Cost of living: 78/100 (B+) · 91.9 index
How does Lakeland compare to other US cities?
Where Lakeland sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income85% higher than other cities
Home value75% pricier than other cities
Median rent34% 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 Lakeland against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Tennessee only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Tennessee-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Lakeland near the bottom of Tennessee's cities
Among the 482 Tennessee cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Lakeland ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Lakeland only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#27 of 458
94th percentile in Tennessee
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 482
0th percentile in Tennessee
Median Home Value
#41 of 455
91st percentile in Tennessee
Poverty Rate
#413 of 482
14th percentile in Tennessee
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#18 of 482
96th percentile in Tennessee
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 Tennessee only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
85th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Lakeland's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$373,80025th percentilemore affordable than 25% 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
Lakeland's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,046 of 15,516
More affordable than 48% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,270 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.3×, Lakeland sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,046 of 15,516 and #1,270 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
$113,843Lakeland, TN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Lakeland, TN median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Lakeland, TN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)55.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
14,068
Median Income
$113,843
Median Home Value
$373,800
Median Age
39.5
Poverty Rate
1.6%
Labor force participation
63.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
55.7%
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Lakeland's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
14,028 residents
2021
14,153 residents
2022
14,217 residents
2023
14,230 residents
2024
14,491 residents
2025
14,422 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.2%
Carpool
6.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
13.1%
Other
0.6%
Based on 6,683 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Tennessee statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $218
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Tennessee at $218 (electricity about $120 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are Tennessee statewide averages, not a meter reading for Lakeland. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Tennessee's BEA cost-of-living index is 91.9 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Lakeland is $1,118/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Tennessee statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 52.5 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Tennessee statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Lakeland sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Lakeland compares to similar-size Tennessee 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, NCES CCD, 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.