AlturasFL
A town of 4,581, settled in 1913.
Is Alturas a good place to live?
Alturas earns a D, ranked 553rd of 634 in Florida, mostly because of health and schools. Residents are less healthy than 93% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Its schools rank behind 88% of the state's. One bright spot: a typical home costs about $166K, 2.5 years of the Lakeland metro’s $66K median household income. On walkability, just 56 of Florida’s 776 towns do worse. Surveyor's Lake Schoolhouse is on the National Register of Historic Places.
99% of working residents leave Alturas for work
Where Alturas’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Alturas grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Florida), ordered by how far Alturas is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Alturas: who provides what
Alturas is unincorporated, so Polk County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 17, 2025.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Alturas.
Alturas trades lower home prices for longer drives to work, has more 90° days than nearly all U.S. towns and sends most of its workers to Bartow and beyond.
Alturas earns a D for health
19% of adults report frequent physical distress in Alturas, above both the Florida town median (15%) and the median of U.S. towns (14%). 19% of Alturas adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance. Alturas beats the Florida average on 0 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 20.
| Alturas | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 15% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 13% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 14% | 8.1% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 16% | 17% |
| What stands out | Alturas | FL |
|---|---|---|
| More smokers | 19.4% | 12.4% |
| More adults with COPD | 11.2% | 7.2% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 17.5% | 12.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Alturas earns a D for schools
Its public schools are run by the Polk school district. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alturas Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 274 | B |
| Family Life Homeschool PrivateLargest high schoolGrades K–12 | Grades K–12 | 18 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within FL on state tests and graduation
Most working residents commute out of Alturas
Alturas has 420 jobs for its 1,780 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Most working residents leave Alturas for work: only 1% work in town. 16% of residents live below the poverty line in Alturas, against 11% in Florida’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. The average trip to work in Alturas is 30 minutes.
| Alturas | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 16% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.4% | 5% | 8% |
| Median household income | $70,000 | $73,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Alturas faces a high natural-hazard risk, led by hurricanes
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 71% of U.S. communities. Since 1998, 9 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Alturas.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Mild winters and hot summers in Alturas
The Bartow 1se weather station, 10 miles away, records that about 121 days a year reach 90°, more than in 98% of U.S. towns. January nights average 49.5°, milder than in 98% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 92.2°.
Alturas has warm winters and hot summers, with plenty of rain. Alturas’ January low is 50°F. Snow is almost unheard of.
| Alturas | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 50°F | 51°F | 22°F |
| July high | 92°F | 91°F | 85°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
| Alturas | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 8% | 3% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
A home in Alturas sells for about $380K at the median
Homes are within reach (A− for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 20 miles. At 2.5 years of the Lakeland metro’s $66K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 94% of Florida towns; that ratio is one input to its A− for cost of living.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Walt Disney World Resort and 23 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Alturas. Close and well known come first.
Big draw38 mi Theme parkWalt Disney World Resort
10 mi Theme parkLegoland Florida
9 mi GardenBok Tower Gardens
10 mi Theme parkCypress Gardens35 mi Theme parkFun Spot
39 mi Theme parkGatorlandPhoto credits
Walt Disney World Resort: Anthony Quintano from Westminster, United States, CC BY 2.0 · Legoland Florida: Jacob Montgomery, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bok Tower Gardens: Averette, CC BY 3.0 · Cypress Gardens: Bruchey at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Gatorland: The original uploader was Bobak at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.5
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Everything we know about Alturas
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Alturas
About 3 of every 100 Alturas residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Florida.
About Alturas
Census-designated place in Florida, United States
Alturas is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Polk County, central Florida, United States. Its population was 4,084 as of the 2020 census. Alturas has a post office with ZIP code 33820. The main road that runs through Alturas is Polk County Road 665A. Florida State Road 60 runs just north of the community.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 60 sq mi
- Elevation
- 174 ft
- ZIP code
- 33820
- Area code
- 863
Alturas’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Alturas.
| Town | FL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alturas | #553 | D | A− | — | D | D |
| Winter Haven | #607 | D− | C− | C | D | C− |
Alturas reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Alturas with a neighbor →
Questions about Alturas
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Alturas, FL a good place to live?
Alturas grades D overall, better than 9% of U.S. towns and #553 of 634 in Florida. It grades D for health and D for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Alturas, FL expensive?
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $166,000, 56% below the Florida typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.