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With its county seat in Bartow, Polk County is located in the middle of Florida as shown in the map below.
Although the county seat in located in Bartow, the largest city in the county is Lakeland. In terms of land area, Polk County is the fourth largest county in the state and the fifth largest in terms of total area. All told, Polk County consists of 2,011 square miles of which 1,798 square miles are land and just 213 square miles of water.
The most recent U.S. Census estimated the population of Polk County at 602,095 comprising just over a quarter million households, approximately 25 percent of which have children under the age of 18 years living at home; just over half (51.1%) of the households consist of married couples who live together. The average size of households in Polk County is about 2.6 individuals and the average size of families living there is about 3.05 individuals.
Polk County boasts a well attended public university, a state college, and four private for-profit universities as well as the headquarters of Publix Super Markets, a Fortune 500 company that is owned by its employees and Florida’s Natural agricultural cooperative. The largest industries in the county include phosphate mining, agriculture, and tourism, in that order. Polk County is also the home of LEGOLAND Florida Resort, Bok Tower Gardens, and the Safari Wilderness Ranch as well as one of the top ten art museums in the state, the Polk Museum of Art. In addition, Polk County is the leader in hosting amateur sporting events in Florida, representing a whopping $138 million industry for the county. In fact, in 2018, Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing hosted 246 amateur sporting events, representing 580 event days and accounting for nearly 300,000 event visitors who pumped another $25.6 million into the county’s coffers from sales taxes alone.
Despite its centralized location in the state, numerous cultural, recreational and entertainment venues as well as hundreds of sunny days each year, Polk County suffers from some bad luck when it comes to occasional severe weather. In fact, Polk County has been struck by several hurricanes over the years, including three major weather events (Charley, Frances and Jeanne) which all occurred in 2004.
255 North Wilson Avenue
Bartow, FL 33830
Marsha M. Faux, CFA, ASA
255 North Wilson Avenue
Bartow, FL 33830
| Office/Hours of Operation | Address | Telephone Number | Fax Number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bartow / Main Office
Monday – Friday: 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM |
255 N Wilson Avenue Bartow, FL 33830 | (863) 534-4777 | |
| Lakeland Office
Monday – Friday: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM |
930 E Parker Street, Suite 272 Lakeland, FL 33801 | (863) 802-6150 | (863) 802-6163 |
| Winter Haven Office
Monday – Friday: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM |
3425 Lake Alfred Rd. 3 Gill Jones Plaza, Winter Haven, FL 33881 | (863) 401-2424 | (863) 401-2428 |
The county’s relatively large size, central location and popularity as a tourism destination have made the role of the Polk County Assessor more important than ever. The role of the Polk County Appraiser includes the assessment (e.g., the valuation of all properties within Polk County), the recordation of deeds and other legal ownership documents, processing exemptions, as well as providing GIS/mapping services to county departments, residents and commercial enterprises.
The Polk County Property Appraiser’s Office GIS services are among the most accurate and efficient Parcel Base Mapping / GIS projects in the entire state. The Polk County Appraiser’s Office’s GIS services have achieved this noteworthy status through the field mapping of every land section and square mile in the county prior to any parcel mapping. Indeed, the accuracy of the Appraiser’s Office’s GIS services has been estimated to be within 2 feet of real world coordinates. Likewise, digital ortho-rectified aerial photography has also contributed to the accuracy of the mapping services provided by the Polk County Appraiser’s Office. Moreover, the data used to generate customized GIS maps in continuously updated, ensuring that constituents receive the most up to date information available.
In addition, the Polk County Appraiser is tasked with overseeing the classification of mobile homes and recreational vehicles for taxation purposes, establishing the fair market value for real estate parcels and tangible personal property (e.g., anything other than real estate that has value by itself) and administering the county[s tax roll and truth in millage initiative.
Located smack-dab in the middle of Florida, Polk County attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, many for amateur sporting events but for the many recreational and entertainment opportunities that are available as well. The county’s 602.000-plus friendly residents have made it their goal to make Polk County a great place to live, work and visit, and achieving this goal has been facilitated by the Polk County Appraiser’s Office which is responsible for a wide range of important services that touch the lives of virtually everyone living there.