Its economy isn't inspiring. Lakeland is tied with Chicago as the metro with the highest unemployment rate – 8.6 percent – among the Top 10 list. Unique among those Top 10 metros, it continued to lose jobs after the Great Recession and only began to see job growth in 2012.
On the plus side, the Detroit Tigers baseball team is back in town for spring training. The weather is warming up – and so is the real estate market. Home prices are up 10.6 percent from a year ago, according to Trulia. Home building activity made some impressive gains last year, especially in the upscale end of the market.
Of the metros on RealtyTrac’s Top 10 list, Lakeland has the smallest discount on foreclosure properties, which might signal that the window of opportunity is closing in Lakeland, even though RealtyTrac estimates it has a 33 months’ supply of foreclosed homes.
