On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Westlake is more historic than 6% of U.S. towns, #449 of 638 in Florida. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Westlake’s overall grade.
Few Florida towns list much on the Register (a typical Florida town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Westlake’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (33% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±1.0 points) is firm at this size.
Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Westlake’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The city was previously farmland known as the Seminole Improvement District that began in the early 1960s, but renamed Westlake when real estate development started in September 2014, after Minto Communities purchased 3,800 acres a year before (September 2013) for $51 million, and later bought an additional 200 acres in 2014. The City of Westlake officially became the 39th municipality in Palm Beach County on June 22, 2016. It was named, in part, as a nod to Weston in neighboring Broward County, a similar large-scale community planned by JMB Realty and the Arvida company in the 1980s, and because both cities have many artificial lakes. In November 2019, Wellington Regional Medical Center purchased 35 acres for $12.3 million to establish a presence in the community.
Westlake is more historic than 6% of U.S. towns, #449 of 638 in Florida. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Westlake?
0.0% of Westlake’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 2021.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2021
2021
