Cypress Gardens, Florida

Area Profile

10,077 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Cypress Gardens, in Polk County.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2256th of 3,904 cities measured52
Housing affordabilityTop 47% of 4,223 cities measured82
ClimateTop 19% of 4,223 cities measured79
Physical resilience3615th of 4,182 cities measured20
AccessTop 45% of 4,226 cities measured93
Economic stability3069th of 4,226 cities measured47
The quick read

Unemployment is 5.7% and median household income $75,483, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Rent takes 22% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.8 times that income.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by hurricane, strong wind and tornado.

At a glance

Population
10,077
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$75,483
Top 39% nationally
Density
2,922/sq mi
3.4 sq mi of land
Median age
39.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Polk County
Florida
Metro area
Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL
Nearest major airport
LAL
20 mi · Lakeland Linder Intl
Median home value
$287,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.7% is lower than 11% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.4% over the past year, to 344,014 employed residents.

35% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 77% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$14,489$75,483Top 39%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,878$39,970Top 33%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate11.1%Top 49%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute33.3 minTop 21%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher35.4%Top 23%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment344,014Top 21%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.9%Top 36%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.4%Top 21%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force364,829Top 21%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation60.1%Bottom 48%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$57,070Bottom 7%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$46,140Bottom 9%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.8%Top 14%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate5.7%Top 11%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202486k70k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $75,483 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Stockers and Order Fillers9,400$39,690
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand8,440$42,800
Retail Salespersons8,220$31,820
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers7,820$57,090
Fast Food and Counter Workers7,380$28,050
Registered Nurses6,140$84,030

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Polk County, FL, which contains this city.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,369 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.8 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
21.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,369
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$287,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.80Top 30%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate75.6%Bottom 49%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3534,489Top 13%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$230$1,369Top 25%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$19,891$287,100Top 30%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.8%Top 31%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate12.3%Top 42%of 32,0012024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

8 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 93°F and January a low of 52°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 46.1 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 39, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station WINTER HAVEN GILBERT AP, 5.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND7.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index58.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation46.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low52°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high93°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months81991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index39.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing22°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
39
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
58
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

20 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, strong wind and tornado.

Strong windHigh
HurricaneElevated
WildfireModerate
TornadoModerate
Cold waveModerate
LandslideModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, inland flooding, heat wave, hail, drought, earthquake.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Polk County records 2.8 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 10.0 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 14.4 per 100,000 residents in Polk County.

Homicide
2.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
10.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
14.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
13.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Polk County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Cypress Gardens rather than Cypress Gardens itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

7 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 20 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Lakeland Linder IntlLAL20 mi8,500 ft
Orlando IntlMCO37 mi10,000 ft
Tampa IntlTPA51 mi11,002 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Other cities in Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
LakelandPolk County119,96150vs Cypress Gardens
Winter HavenPolk County55,20051vs Cypress Gardens
Haines CityPolk County34,23452vs Cypress Gardens
BartowPolk County20,43854vs Cypress Gardens
AuburndalePolk County18,53056vs Cypress Gardens
Lake WalesPolk County16,78549vs Cypress Gardens
Highland CityPolk County13,276vs Cypress Gardens
DavenportPolk County13,23850vs Cypress Gardens
Lakeland HighlandsPolk County12,102vs Cypress Gardens
MedullaPolk County10,985vs Cypress Gardens
Fuller HeightsPolk County10,083vs Cypress Gardens

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.