Over the past few years, Lakeland has consistently grown in population and has become a popular place for people to move to. The Census Bureau provides population estimates, rankings, and components of change for the nation’s 390 metropolitan statistical areas, 555 micropolitan statistical areas, and 3,142 counties.

Florida and Utah each contain two of the fastest-growing metro areas in 2018. Lakeland-Winter Haven rank number four in the top 10 Metropolitan Areas in Percentage Growth: 2017- 2018.

Lakeland also ranked #9 in realestate.usnews.com’s list of 25 Best Places People Are Moving To. In 2017, Lakeland ranked number 18 on Forbes’ list of fastest-growing cities.