Lakeland, FL: A Top Local Market to Watch in 2027
The Lakeland–Winter Haven MSA caught the eye of EW’s editors because of its rapid population growth over the past few years. With a 2025 population of 874,790, it’s not one of the larger metros on our lists of hot markets. But its +19.8% population growth over the past five years and the addition of 144,642 new residents put this metro right near the top of our population growth metrics.
The Lakeland-Winter Haven metro’s 2Q 2026 total estimated electrical sales is $295.4 million, roughly a percentage point down from 2Q 2025. The area’s central Florida location and access to Interstate 4 and several of the state’s other busy highways makes it a natural for expansion in the warehousing and logistics markets, and phase 2 of the $750-million Lakeland Central Park Project broke ground in Dec. 2025. When complete, this development is expected to attract $750 million in investment and eventually will offer 5 million sq ft in Class A industrial space.
A big chunk of the anticipated construction projects over the next few years will come through Polk County’s plans to expand county buildings, water treatment facilities, roadways and parks. The county’s 2026–2030 Community Investment Program projects are expected to cost more than $1.9 billion, and more than $794 million in fiscal 2025–2026. These projects include fire rescue stations and a fire-rescue training center; sheriff’s training facilities; an emergency-operations warehouse; the Northeast Wastewater Treatment Facility expansion; the Jordan’s Grove reservoir and pumping station; utility improvements along Ernie Caldwell Boulevard; major roadway extensions and widenings; parks and sports-facility improvements; and government-building and HVAC projects.
ELECTRICAL SALES ESTIMATES
2Q 2026 Total Sales Estimate: $295.4 million
2026 Electrical Contractor Est. ($ Millions): $182.2 million
2026 Estimated Industrial Sales: $54.1 million
POPULATION GROWTH
2025 Population Estimate: 874,790
2020-2025 Population # Change: 144,642
2020-2025 Population % Change: 19.8%
New Residents per day: 62
BUILDING PERMITS
June 2026 - Single-family (SF) permits: 3,449 permits
# Change SF YOY: (174) permits
% Change SF YOY: -4.8%
June 2026 -Multi-family (MF) permits: 150 permits
# Change MF YOY: (1,091) permits
% Change MF YOY: -87.9%
Electrical Wholesaling's Top 10 Local Markets to Watch gives you a taste of the mountain of electrical market sales estimates and other local market data available at Electrical Marketing newsletter for just $99 per year. This data includes:
- Local market sales estimates, building permits and population data for more than 300 other Metropolitan Statistical areas
- The Electrical Price Index (EPI) - A monthly compilation of pricing trends for more than 20 key electrical product groups
- Annual product sales estimates from 16 key electrical products
Sources of market data: Local market data collected by Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and county. Sales estimates developed with sales-per-employee multipliers from Electrical Wholesaling’s Market Planning Guide ($83572 per electrical contractor employee and $2,7289 per industrial employee) and employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Building permit and population data downloaded from U.S. Census Bureau website.
About the Author
Jim Lucy
Editor-in-Chief
Over the past 40-plus years, hundreds of Jim’s articles have been published in Electrical Wholesaling and Electrical Marketing newsletter on topics such as the impact of new competitors on the electrical market’s channels of distribution, energy-efficient lighting and renewables, and local market economics. In addition to his published work, Jim regularly gives presentations on these topics to C-suite executives, industry groups and investment analysts.
He recently launched a new subscription-based data product for Electrical Marketing that offers electrical sales potential estimates and related market data for more than 300 metropolitan areas, and in 1999 he published his first book, “The Electrical Marketer’s Survival Guide” for electrical industry executives looking for an overview of key market trends.
While managing Electrical Wholesaling’s editorial operations, Jim and the publication’s staff won several Jesse H. Neal awards for editorial excellence, the highest honor in the business press, and numerous national and regional awards from the American Society of Business Press Editors. He has a master’s degree in Communications and a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Glassboro State College, Glassboro, N.J. (now Rowan University).