Moving to
Fuller Heights.

All Fuller Heights data Compare Fuller Heights

10,083people live here $82,006median household incomeNear US average $1,444median rent per monthNear US average $278,000median home value▼ 16% below US

Fuller Heights is an unincorporated community in Polk County, FL. It has no city government: the county runs it, and the Census counts it as its own place.

What it's like to live in Fuller Heights

Fuller Heights is an unincorporated community in Florida with home prices that remain within reach, air quality that stays clean most of the year, and schools with class sizes near the national average. Those factors carry real weight for anyone weighing where to move next.

The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. Fuller Heights deals with college degree attainment below the national average, a population that has been shrinking, hot summers, and above-average rainfall.

The good

Affordable home prices
Clean air
Average class sizes

The not so good

Low college degree attainment
Shrinking population
Hot summers
Above-average rainfall
Car-dependent — few commuters use transit

How Fuller Heights compares

Median household income

Fuller Heights$82,006

Florida avg$74,568

US$80,734

Median rent (per month)

Fuller Heights$1,444

Florida avg$1,669

US$1,413

Median home value

Fuller Heights$278,000

Florida avg$359,000

US$332,700

What it takes to move to Fuller Heights

Based on Fuller Heights's median rent, home value and household income

To rent

$2,888

up front: first month plus a typical one-month deposit

Income to keep rent under 30%: $57,760 a year
37% of Fuller Heights renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent

To buy

$55,600

a 20% down payment on the median home

With 10% down: $27,800
Homes cost 3.4× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)

Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.

The details

Cost of livingNear US average

$1,444/mo median rent

Rent is pretty middle of the road, at $1,444 a month median. Not a bargain, not a budget-buster. About typical for a city this size. Home prices are reasonable, with a median around $278,000. Not a steal, but not intimidating either.

Median home value $278,000 · 37% of renters cost-burdened

Job market

4.8% county unemployment

Unemployment in Polk County is 4.8%, somewhat above the national average of 4.3%. Lining up work before the move is the safer route. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.

Polk County (county-wide)

Safety

187 violent crimes per 100k, whole jurisdiction

Fuller Heights doesn't have its own police department, so there's no crime rate for it alone. The figures shown are for the Polk County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction as a whole, which runs below the national average for violent crime and covers many communities. Individual neighborhoods can differ a lot from that overall rate.

Property crime 488/100k · Policed by Polk County Sheriff's Office (county-wide rate) · 2025 data

Getting aroundNear US average

26 min average commute

Commutes run about average, at 25.8 minutes. Fine day to day, but it adds up over a year, and where someone lives relative to where they work starts to matter. 8 in 10 workers drive to work; 13% work from home.

How workers get to work

Drive alone

70%

Work from home

13%

Carpool

11%

Other

5.0%

Walk

0.9%

Climate

Summers are hot and humid, with highs regularly hitting 92°F, and winters are mild, with lows rarely dropping below 53°F. It's a wet climate overall.

Average month

High °FLow °FPrecip (in)

30-year averages, 1991–2020

Education & workforce▼ 58% below US

15% bachelor's degree or higher

This is a working-class city, and college degree rates reflect that. Trades, manufacturing, and service industries tend to dominate the local economy, which is a strength for some fields and a real constraint for others.

Schools

1 public school inside the boundary

There is 1 public school inside the boundary and 1 private school. The student-to-teacher ratio is 15:1, close to the national average of 16:1. Smaller class sizes are generally a positive sign for a district.

Parks & recreation

The nearest national park or historic site is De Soto National Memorial (48 miles away). There are 2 national parks and sites within a day's drive.

Bottom line

Fuller Heights's strongest points are home prices that remain within reach and air quality that stays clean most of the year; the main tradeoffs are college degree attainment below the national average and a population that has been shrinking. A year of median rent ($1,444/mo) equals 21% of the median household income here, about the same as the 21% typical nationwide. Whether it fits comes down to the specifics: the neighborhood, the job, and what matters most in the move.

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