HomeFloridaPolk CountyLake Wales city
Lake Wales city, Florida: commercial real estate data.
Lake Wales city is a Census city of 16,785 people across 20.30 square miles of land, in Polk County. Median household income is $56,347, 59.2 percent of occupied homes are owned, and the SBA record carries 26 7(a) approvals to borrowers here worth $13.4 m.
80 sourced place values · tier FULL · 9 sections · underlined figures are computed by MMCG Analytics, not published by the agency
Lake Wales
What Lake Wales is
- Census place typecity
- Land area20.3 sq mi
- Water area1.71 sq mi
- Population per square mile of land827
- County holding the largest share of its areaPolk County, 100.0 percent
US Census Bureau, cartographic boundary file, places, 2024 vintage. US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Lake Wales
How many people live in Lake Wales
- Population16,785
- Median age42.7
- Population under 183,218
- Share under 1819.2 percent
- Population 65 and over4,488
- Share 65 and over26.7 percent
- Households6,924
- Family households4,341
- Share of households that are families62.7 percent
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Lake Wales
Income and work in Lake Wales
- Median household income$56,347
- Per capita income$28,384
- Civilian labor force6,211
- Employed5,842
- Unemployed369 plus or minus 164
- Unemployment rate5.9 percent plus or minus 2.6
- Adults 25 and over12,298
- Adults 25 and over with a high school diploma or higher87.5 percent
- Adults 25 and over with a bachelor degree or higher20.8 percent
- Adults 25 and over with a graduate degree6.6 percent plus or minus 1.9
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Lake Wales
Housing in Lake Wales
- Housing units8,223
- Occupied units6,924
- Vacant units1,299 plus or minus 300
- Vacancy rate15.8 percent plus or minus 3.5
- Owner occupied4,099
- Renter occupied2,825
- Ownership rate59.2 percent
- Median owner-occupied home value$239,300
- Median gross rent, monthly$1,110
- Annual rent as a share of median income23.6 percent
- Single family units5,445
- Share single family66.2 percent
- Units in buildings of two or more2,328
- Share in buildings of two or more28.3 percent
- Mobile homes450 plus or minus 141
- Median year structure built1991
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Lake Wales
How Lake Wales gets to work
- Workers 16 and over who commute5,213
- Commuting under 15 minutes1,539 plus or minus 468
- Share commuting under 15 minutes29.5 percent plus or minus 8.5
- Commuting 30 minutes or more1,864
- Share commuting 30 minutes or more35.8 percent
- Drove alone74.4 percent
- Carpooled13.4 percent plus or minus 4.4
- Public transport0.1 percent plus or minus 0.2
- Walked0.6 percent plus or minus 0.7
- Worked from home8.7 percent plus or minus 3.3
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Lake Wales
SBA loans in Lake Wales (7(a))
- Approvals26
- Gross approval$13,384,600
- Average approval$514,792
- Median approval$250,000
- Ninetieth percentile approval$1,539,000
- Largest approval$3,292,700
- Jobs supported364
- Jobs per approval14.0
- Loans with a final outcome5
- Paid in full5
- Charged off0
- Median term120 months
- Share on real estate terms of 20 years or more19.2 percent
- Share to franchises7.7 percent
- Distinct lenders17
- Distinct industries by NAICS19
A charge-off rate is not published here. only 5 resolved loans, too few to publish a rate, and a rate over that few outcomes would move several points on one loan.
US Small Business Administration, 7(a) FOIA release, FY2020 to FY2026 year to date, as of 2026-06-30.
Lake Wales
SBA loans in Lake Wales (504)
- Approvals3
- Gross approval$1,861,000
- Average approval$620,333
- Median approval$545,000
- Largest approval$1,186,000
- Jobs supported22
- Loans with a final outcome0
- Charged off0
- Median term300 months
- Distinct CDCs1
US Small Business Administration, 504 FOIA release, FY2010 to FY2026 year to date, as of 2026-06-30.
Lake Wales
Flood risk in Lake Wales
- Listed NFIP communities1
- Of those, participating1
- NFIP community number120390
- Currently effective map date12/22/16
This community carries no Community Rating System class, so no CRS premium discount applies to it.
FEMA, National Flood Insurance Program Community Status Book, Community Status Book, as retrieved.
Polk County, not Lake Wales
Polk County context, not Lake Wales figures
These are Polk County figures. There is no place level equivalent published for any of them, so they are shown as the county backdrop and never as Lake Wales measurements.
- Establishments in Polk County13,992
- Employment at those establishments, Polk County232,278
- Covered employment, Polk County260,590
- Average annual pay, Polk County$55,697
- Average weekly wage, Polk County$1,071
- Housing units permitted, Polk County10,384
- Of those, single family, Polk County8,514
- County product, 2024, Polk County$44,304,039,000
- County product change over the prior year, Polk County6.1 percent
- Average income of an arriving household, Polk County$56,052
Every figure in this section is published for Polk County as a whole and is not a measurement of Lake Wales. It is here because a county backdrop is what a credit committee reads a place against, and it is labelled so that it can never be quoted as the place's own.
US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2023. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2024 annual averages. US Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, 2024 annual. US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional, table CAGDP2, CAGDP2, through 2024. US Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income county migration flows, 2021 to 2022 filing years.
Coverage
What this page does not hold.
Every item below could be filled with a plausible figure. None of them is. On a page a lender may read, a number that cannot be traced is worse than an absence, so the absences are named.
- Parcel level detail, zoning and flood zone at an address are resolved in the platform, not on this page.
SBA figures count approvals to borrowers whose address is in the place. They are not approvals for projects inside the place boundary: the tape records a borrower city and a project county, and those can differ.
Common questions
Lake Wales questions, answered from the record.
How many people live in Lake Wales, Florida?
16,785, in 6,924 households. Lake Wales city covers 20.30 square miles of land, which is 827 people per square mile. Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
What county is Lake Wales in?
Polk County, which holds 100.0 percent of the place by area. Source: US Census Bureau, cartographic boundary file, places, 2024 vintage.
What is the median household income in Lake Wales?
$56,347. The median owner-occupied home is valued at $239,300. Median gross rent is $1,110 per month. Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
How much SBA lending goes to Lake Wales businesses?
26 7(a) approvals totalling $13.4 m, across 17 lenders, median approval $250,000, plus 3 504 approvals worth $1.9 m. These count approvals to borrowers whose address is in Lake Wales, not projects sited inside the place boundary, and they are approvals recorded in the release rather than loans disbursed.
Do SBA loans to Lake Wales borrowers get paid back?
No rate is published for Lake Wales. only 5 resolved loans, too few to publish a rate, and a percentage over that few outcomes would move several points on a single loan. The counts are shown instead.
Is Lake Wales in the National Flood Insurance Program?
Yes. Lake Wales appears in the FEMA Community Status Book as community 120390, with no Community Rating System class, so no CRS discount applies. Whether a specific parcel sits in a mapped special flood hazard area is an address level question the platform answers.
Are the county figures on this page Lake Wales figures?
No, and they are labelled so. County Business Patterns, QCEW, the Building Permits Survey, BEA product and IRS migration are published for Polk County as a whole and there is no place level equivalent. They appear in one clearly marked section as context and are never presented as measurements of Lake Wales.
Is zoning published for Lake Wales?
Not yet. The zoning layer is in build. Nothing on this page presents parcel level zoning.