Fort Meade, Florida.
Typical home $225,706 (-1.8% in a year). Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$667 (+129%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $4,087 -2%
- $229,793$225,706 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $42,642 +23%
- $183,064$225,706 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Fort Meade$1,185
- Florida$1,970
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 17 years.
Typical home values in Fort Meade, FL fell 1.8% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Fort Meade, Polk County, Florida
Fort Meade is a city of 5,100 people in Polk County. Half its households earn more than $36,657 a year and half less, against $65,978 across Polk County; 22% of its people live below the poverty line. 70% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 30% are rented. Unemployment in Polk County was 5.6% in August 2026, and the county had 1.7% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then construction.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Fort Meade is a small city in Polk County where most homes are lived in by their owners, and the population is somewhat older than in many places. Incomes run well below the county's, and more households than you might expect live below the poverty line. Few adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are mild, with little or no snow, and summers are hot and rainy.
Work. Residents work mainly in schools, hospitals and social care, in the building trades, in shops and in manufacturing. Among the largest workplaces in town are Valmont Industries, Seedway, which sells seed, and a Wawa convenience store. Across Polk County, the number of jobs grew a little last year, while unemployment is a shade higher than it was a year earlier.
Things to do. McCullough Creek runs in or beside town, and Bowlegs Creek is a short drive away for time near the water. Paynes Creek Historic State Park, a protected area, is also a short drive away. For a day out, Bok Tower Gardens, a botanical garden, and Legoland Florida, an amusement park, are both a longer drive away.
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- 2,196households
- 9%of adults have a degree
- 22%below the poverty line
- 10%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Polk County had 264,981 jobs in 2025, 1.7% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 73° and lows near 50°; warmest in July, with highs near 92° and lows near 73°. About 51 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Bartow 1SE weather station, 8 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Fort Meade
- Valmont Industries121
- Seedway - Ft. MeadeSeed sales30
- Wawa SiteConvenience store28
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 3 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 179 people in all. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- WildfireRelatively moderate
- Hurricanesrelatively high in parts of Fort MeadeRelatively moderate
- Strong windrelatively high in parts of Fort MeadeRelatively moderate
- Lightningrelatively high in parts of Fort MeadeRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Fort Meade’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Polk County and the Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL metro.
Fort Meade home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Fort Meade$225,706
- Florida$375,361
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Fort Meade listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Fort Meade36.12%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Fort Meade31
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Fort Meade5
Zip codes with a Fort Meade address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Fort Meade — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.