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Where am ILOCATED

Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL Metro Area

The Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL metro area is one county in Florida: Polk County. About 874,790 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 20.7% more than in April 2020.

Polk County, centralLakelandWinter Haven
Polk County in Florida
Population, July 2025
874,790 20.7% more than in April 2020
Type
Metropolitan statistical area
County
Polk County
Land area
1,798 sq mi (4,658 km²)
Time zone
Eastern TimeUTC-05:00 in January; UTC-04:00 in July
State
Florida
Combined statistical area
Orlando-Lakeland-Deltona, FL
CBSA code
29460
Open this area in the metro area finder

The county in the Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL metro area

CountyRolePopulation, July 2025
Polk CountyCentral874,790

A central county holds the area’s core, an urban area of at least 50,000 people. This area has no outlying counties: no neighboring county sends enough commuters to join it. A county belongs to one metro or micro area at most, and it counts whole, countryside included.

Principal cities, largest first

  1. Lakeland119,961 people
  2. Winter Haven55,200 people

OMB names the area after its largest principal cities. A principal city is the area’s largest city, plus any other city that is very large or a big job center, and smaller ones with at least as many jobs as working residents (2020 Census and commuting figures). People counts are American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates.

Part of the Orlando-Lakeland-Deltona, FL combined statistical area

OMB joins neighboring metro and micro areas into a combined statistical area when enough people commute between them. The other 3 areas in this one, largest first:

  1. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL Metro Area2,957,672 people
  2. Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL Metro Area746,933 people
  3. Wildwood-The Villages, FL Metro Area157,772 people

Bordering metro and micro areas, nearest first

Areas with a county on this area’s edge. Distances are straight lines between the areas’ largest cities.

  1. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metro Area33 mi west
  2. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL Metro Area48 mi northeast
  3. Sebring, FL Metro Area51 mi southeast
  4. Wildwood-The Villages, FL Metro Area58 mi north
  5. North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL Metro Area71 mi south
  6. Okeechobee, FL Micro Area89 mi southeast

Before using this answer on a form

A metro or micro area is a statistical area that OMB draws for federal statistics. It is not a city, a local government or a mailing address, and it is not a measure of urban and rural: whole counties count, rural parts included. Programs that use metro areas, such as housing income limits or wage rates, can use their own version of these lists; check the program’s own list for an address.

Find the metro area where you are now, find your county, or see every metro and micro area by population.

See this area on Census.gov ↗