Jobs in the Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL area: pay, hiring and remote work
The Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL metro area has 156 open job postings from 40 employers in our data. 3.4% list a pay range, the median posted pay is – a year, 0.6% are remote and 26.1% have been open more than 60 days (data as of October 2026).
What stands out
3.4% of open job postings list a pay range, 99th of 99 metro areas.
After adjusting for local prices, the typical worker's official median wage ($46,000) is worth $47,500 in average-US dollars, 88th of 99 metro areas.
0.6% of postings are remote, 94th highest of 99 metro areas.
The unemployment rate is 5.6%, 1.5 points above the median of the metro areas in this report.
19.9% of postings are entry-level, 9th of 99 metro areas.
Lakeland compared with similar-sized metro areas: the median wage divided by the local price level (US average prices = 100). Download this chart (SVG)
156open postings from 40 employers
3.4%list a pay range
–median posted pay
0.6%remote
5.6%unemployment rate, 2026-08 (BLS)
$46,000official median wage for all jobs, May 2025 (BLS)
19.9%entry-level postings
The metro area's unemployment rate was 5.6% in 2026-08 (5.3% a year earlier) (BLS, not seasonally adjusted). Across Florida, employers had 404,000 job openings in 2025-12, an openings rate of 3.9% (BLS JOLTS). Indeed's own measure of job postings in the metro area is 15.8% above its February 2020 level and 8.8% lower than a year ago (Indeed Hiring Lab, 2026-10-02).
City by city inside the metro area
Place
Postings
Employers
Pay listed
Median posted pay
Lakeland, FL
61
27
n/a
–
Winter Haven, FL
35
6
n/a
–
Places with at least 15 postings from 3 employers. Shading shows where median posted pay is higher. Pay figures need 8 postings with pay.
Who is hiring, by industry
Industry
Postings
Retail & E-commerce
74
Healthcare & Life Sciences
31
Real Estate & Construction
19
Employers with the most openings
RaceTrac: 34 postings
Carvana: 24 postings
CenterWell: 14 postings
Careers Na Merlinentertainments: 9 postings
Floor & Decor: 8 postings
Federal government hiring
17 federal job announcements open to the public list Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL, with a median posted salary range midpoint of $114,000. Agencies hiring most: Federal Aviation Administration (15), Internal Revenue Service (1), Farm Service Agency (1). Source: USAJOBS, 2026-10-10.
What your paycheck buys here
Prices in the Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL area run 3% below the national average, and housing runs 4% below it. The official median wage for all jobs is $46,000, which is worth $47,500 in average-US dollars.
Local prices compared with the national average, where 100 is the US average. Download this chart (SVG)Median wages for the ten occupations with the most workers here (worker count in parentheses). Download this chart (SVG)Which industries have the most open postings in our data. Download this chart (SVG)
A posting that lists several places counts once in the metro. Metro areas are the Census Bureau's 2023 definitions. This covers employers whose career pages we read, not every job in the area. Methodology · All metro areas (CSV)
