Polk County, FL: distress report
794 of the 361,542 properties in Polk County, FL have unpaid property tax: 0.2%, the 76th highest of 87 counties we track. Its LeadCounty Distress Index is 17 out of 100, rank 66. Source: Florida Department of Revenue, Property Tax Oversight and other county offices. Refreshed weekly.
Polk County compared with the rest
| Measure | Polk County | Count | Florida | All counties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tax delinquent | 0.2% | 794 | 2.4% | 3.0% |
| Foreclosure | 0.1% | 227 | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| Code cases | 0.2% | 837 | 1.3% | 1.9% |
| Inherited (12 mo) | n/a | n/a | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| Absentee | 30.9% | 111,782 | 31.5% | 25.3% |
| Owned 15+ yrs | 22.0% | 79,573 | 23.3% | 23.6% |
| Distress Index (0-100) | 17 | rank 66 | 49 | – |
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Summary in plain English
- 0.2% of properties are tax delinquent, against 3.0% across all counties we cover (76th of 87).
- 30.9% are owned by an absentee owner and 22.0% are owned 15 years or more.
- 227 properties (0.1%) are in foreclosure.
- 6.8% of properties were sold in the last 12 months.
Top ZIP codes for tax-delinquent properties
| ZIP | City | Tax delinquent |
|---|---|---|
| 33805 | Lakeland | 276 |
| 33815 | Lakeland | 121 |
| 33803 | Lakeland | 57 |
| 33810 | Lakeland | 36 |
| 33801 | Lakeland | 33 |
Other Florida counties
How the Distress Index is built
For each county we take four distress measures from its official records: the share of properties that are tax delinquent, in foreclosure, have an open code case, or received an inheritance deed in the last 12 months. Each measure is turned into a percentile among the counties that publish it (0 is the lowest share, 100 the highest). The index is the average of the percentiles a county has.
- A county is scored only if the tax-delinquent measure and at least one more are available. A record a county's offices do not publish is left out, never counted as zero.
- Shares use all properties in the county file as the base. Absentee owners, long-held properties and sales are shown for context and are not part of the index.
- Sales are shown only where a county publishes sale dates and prices. Counties that do not (for example Texas) show n/a.
- A state's index is the average of its scored counties, weighted by number of properties.
- The index compares the counties LeadCounty covers. It is not a national ranking and not investment advice.
Edition 1. Counts come from official county records and are refreshed weekly. Full method: methodology, editorial standards, data sources.
Questions
How many properties in Polk County have unpaid property tax?
794 of the 361,542 properties in Polk County, FL, which is 0.2%. Across all counties we cover the share is 3.0%.
Where do the Polk County numbers come from?
From Florida Department of Revenue, Property Tax Oversight, Polk County Tax Collector, Polk County Property Appraiser and the other offices listed on our data sources page. LeadCounty joins the records parcel by parcel and refreshes them weekly.
What is the Polk County Distress Index?
17 out of 100, rank 66 of 71 scored counties. It averages how high Polk County sits among counties on the measures its offices publish.
How we make these guides
Written by the LeadCounty editorial and data team from official county, court and state sources and our own weekly counts. We name the office behind every number, say what we cannot see, and fix mistakes when you tell us. See our editorial standards and methodology. General information, not legal or financial advice. Refreshed weekly.
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