Lakeland: The Swan City

Lakeland, the largest city in Polk County, is home to the largest one-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world at Florida Southern College, Circle B Bar Reserve, Detroit Tigers Spring Training, and Safari Wilderness.

Lakeland is a great place to live, and residents find its proximity to bigger cities like Tampa and Orlando convenient, as it always gives them something to do. Lakeland is known for its wide variety of Florida wildlife, many waterways.

Lakeland’s most famous residents are the swans floating on Lake Morton and other city lakes. The swans moved in back in 1923, but predators and diseases wiped out the native population by 1954. A former Lakeland resident living in England heard about it and wrote to Queen Elizabeth II for help.The town is sometimes locally referred to by the nickname “Swan City” due to its sizeable population of swans, all of whom are descendants of two mute swans gifted to Lakeland by Queen Elizabeth II in 1957.

The city is focused on infrastructure, healthcare, education and affordable housing. Lakeland’s population is growing rapidly. The current population is 260,000 today and will be 500,000 by 035. A lot of the growth can be attributed to the cost of living, which is 13% lower than the national average and 17% lower than the state average. Also, contributing to the growth, is the expansion of the corporate office for Publix and significant growth from Amazon. The city’s crime rate is lower than the national average, and its violent crime rate is slightly lower than Florida’s average.