LAKELAND, Fla. — As anyone who has been stuck in traffic in Polk County can tell you, the population in the area is booming. According to Census data, Polk County, Florida, ranked fifth in the country for the largest gains after adding 29,948 residents in 2023.
A Lakeland native and realtor, Brian Stephens, told ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska that new home construction is booming, and demand from out-of-staters continues to be high.
"There's hardly any home sites for sale in the City of Lakeland," Stephens said. The boom has been the last four years since COVID. I mean, it just exploded. I used to be able to get anywhere in Lakeland, you know, north to south, in 15 to 20 minutes. Now, 30 minutes. So it's just traffic and just increased people."
And as the saying goes, location, location, location can make all the difference.
"We're between Tampa and Orlando, so everybody's just kind of merging this way," Stephens said. "Because the truth is, our prices are better, generally speaking, than Tampa and Orlando. So people can get more bang for their buck here."
Polk County also has the land to build on. Developers across the county are eyeing citrus and cattle ranches. And the more rural you go, the better the prices get.
Paluska asked Stephens, "Why Polk?"
"They're online, doing research and finding one of the best places to live. So yeah, they're doing the research, pulling us up, and looking at job situations and cost of living, and we're right in the middle of Central Florida," Stephens said. "The last probably two weeks, I had an inquiry from a guy named Ben in New York, and he's always said he's going to live in Florida. We had one from North Dakota, some from California, Arizona, and Washington."
Lucas Castro, a pilot, moved to Lakeland to pursue a career with NOAA after they moved operations toLakeland Linder International Airport from MacDill Air Force Base. We met the North Dakotan trading his snow boots for sandals.
"It was quite an adjustment coming from rural North Dakota, where I think the entire population state is 750,000 people," Castro said. "The home prices are pretty awesome for a home like this. Moving here, I didn't think I would have been able to afford a home at any point in my life. And, you know, I'm here, and it's awesome to have the opportunity to do so."
Castro's wife is a second-grade teacher. Once the year is over, she plans to join her husband in Lakeland.
Stephens said the opportunity to build equity is now available, no matter what the market looks like.
"It's always a great time to buy. My dad used to say, 'Don't wait and buy real estate; buy real estate and wait,'" Stephens said. "We are poised for the growth with the infrastructure we've got in place. We have a very well-run city. I really like our city. I'm very vested in it. The government does a great job, the city officials, I should say, of running a good, tight ship."
New data on the population growth in Polk County will be released this March. For the most current up-to-date information, clickhere.
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