2025 Compare Cities Cost of Living:
Lake Wales, FL vs Sarasota, FL

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Highlights
Is it cheaper to live in Sarasota or is it cheaper to live in Lake Wales?
- Sarasota is 15.0% more expensive than Lake Wales.

Which city has more affordable housing, Sarasota or Lake Wales?
- Sarasota housing costs are 81.7% more expensive than Lake Wales housing costs.

Is Health Care more affordable in Lake Wales or is Health Care more affordable in Sarasota.
- Health related expenses are 0.8% more in Sarasota.
 Lake Wales, FLSarasota, FLUnited States
 Overall  Unlock105.3100
 Food & Groceries102.0  Unlock100
 Health  Unlock101.7100
 Housing62.9  Unlock100
 Median Home Cost  Unlock$454,200$338,100
 Utilities106  Unlock100
 Transportation  Unlock90.9100
 Miscellaneous80.0  Unlock100
100 = National Average (Below 100 means cheaper than the US average. Above 100 means more expensive.)
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Reviews for Lake Wales    2 Reviews

Over 18 years ago

I have lived in Lake Wales, Florida for almost 8 years. Most of the people are very nice, but it can be very difficult to find a decent job there. The weather is pretty  More

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Over 18 years ago

Lake Wales, Fl has great weather year round. Although summers can be quite hot, most of the year is very enjoyable and  More

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Reviews for Sarasota    105 Reviews

Sarasota is my home from birth but those of us who have lived here long enough to have seen the devolution of what was once an easy to navigate, clean, low crime beach  More

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Starting to love Sarasota: Wife and I moved to Osprey- a small suburb between Sarasota and Venice. We're about 13 miles to downtown Sarasota, so not "city dwellers".   More

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As always, anyone considering moving to anyplace new, including Sarasota, needs to come down and spend a month or two before actually moving here. The city is overrun  More

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