Moving to
Lakeside.

All Lakeside data Compare Lakeside

32,105people live here $81,684median household incomeNear US average $1,479median rent per monthNear US average $273,900median home value▼ 18% below US

Lakeside is an unincorporated community in Clay 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 Lakeside

Lakeside is an unincorporated community in Florida with home prices that remain within reach 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. Lakeside deals with commute times longer than most cities, hot summers, and a car-dependent commute, with few people using transit.

The good

Affordable home prices
Average class sizes

The not so good

Above-average commute times
Hot summers
Car-dependent — few commuters use transit

How Lakeside compares

Median household income

Lakeside$81,684

Florida avg$74,568

US$80,734

Median rent (per month)

Lakeside$1,479

Florida avg$1,669

US$1,413

Median home value

Lakeside$273,900

Florida avg$359,000

US$332,700

What it takes to move to Lakeside

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

To rent

$2,958

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

Income to keep rent under 30%: $59,160 a year
50% of Lakeside renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent

To buy

$54,780

a 20% down payment on the median home

With 10% down: $27,390
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

$1,479/mo median rent

Rent is pretty middle of the road, at $1,479 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 $273,900. Not a steal, but not intimidating either.

Median home value $273,900 · 50% of renters cost-burdened

Job market

4.1% county unemployment

Unemployment in Clay County is 4.1%, close to the national average of 4.3%. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.

Clay County (county-wide)

Safety

242 violent crimes per 100k, whole jurisdiction

Lakeside doesn't have its own police department, so there's no crime rate for it alone. The figures shown are for the Clay 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 675/100k · Policed by Clay County Sheriff's Office (county-wide rate) · 2025 data

Getting around▲ 10% above US

29 min average commute

Commutes run about average, at 28.6 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; 14% work from home.

How workers get to work

Drive alone

77%

Work from home

14%

Carpool

6.9%

Other

2.0%

Walk

0.6%

Climate

Summers are hot and humid, with highs regularly hitting 91°F, and winters are mild, with lows rarely dropping below 49°F. Rainfall is regular throughout the year.

Average month

High °FLow °FPrecip (in)

30-year averages, 1991–2020

Education & workforce▼ 34% below US

24% bachelor's degree or higher

College degree attainment runs below average at 24%. That tends to reflect a more trade and working-class economy, which can be great or limiting depending on the industry.

Schools

11 public schools inside the boundary

There are 11 public schools inside the boundary and 2 private schools. The student-to-teacher ratio is 16:1, 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 Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve (29 miles away). There are 5 national parks and sites within a day's drive.

Bottom line

Lakeside's strongest point is home prices that remain within reach; the main tradeoffs are commute times longer than most cities and hot summers. A year of median rent ($1,479/mo) equals 22% 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.

See all the data for Lakeside →·All Florida cities →