Inside the low-key ‘citrus capital’ which is now the fastest growing county in the US

Polk County, Florida, used to be known for its citrus groves. Now it is the fastest growing county in the US.

Last year, nearly 30,000 people moved to the county, located between Tampa and Orlando.

According to the US Census Bureau, this was the largest influx of incoming residents than any other county in America.

Nearly all of the growth in Polk County — about 88 percent — came from people moving from other parts of the U.S., rather than from abroad.

Many were looking for a cheaper place to live as housing costs have skyrocketed in the nearby Tampa and Orlando metro areas.

The so-called “citrus capital” produces more boxes of citrus than any other county in Florida, and has devoted tens of thousands of acres to growing millions of trees.

But orange groves are now being bulldozed to make way for homes and big shops as people arrive in droves.

And some residents are willing to commute up to an hour and a half to nearby major cities to live nearby.

Residents have even suggested that the new properties popping up in former citrus groves could one day merge Tampa and Orlando, creating something half-jokingly called “Orlampa.” AP News reported.

The migration – and the proliferation of properties – reflects a significant kind of growth seen across the country this decade: the rise of the outlying suburbs.

Marisol Ortega lives in Haines City, about 40 miles from her job in Orlando.

It can take an hour and a half to commute to work, but she says it’s worth it.

‘I love my job. I love what I do, but I also love coming back home and it’s quieter,” Ortega told the outlet.

Yeseria Suero and her family moved from New York to Polk County at the turn of the decade after falling in love with the pace of life and affordability during a visit.

Still, there were some cultural adjustments: restaurants closing early, barbecue and boiled peanuts everywhere, strangers talking to her in the supermarket.

Suero is now involved in the close-knit Latino community and her two boys are active in sports leagues.

“My children now say, ‘Yes, ma’am,’” she told AP News.

Polk County’s Latino population has grown from one-fifth to more than a quarter of the total over the past five years, driven by Puerto Rican migration from the island after 2017’s Hurricane Maria and then from New York during the pandemic.

The share of non-Latino white residents fell from 61 percent to 54 percent, and the county has become more educated and wealthier, according to the Census Bureau.

Marisol Ortega lives in Haines City, about 40 miles from her job in Orlando, but she says it’s worth the trip

Orange groves are now being bulldozed to make way for housing and big box stores as people arrive in droves (photo: the newly built The Brightly Apartments in Haines City)

In Polk City, a tongue-in-cheek sign pointing to what could one day be the heart of the sprawling Orlando and Tampa metro areas is seen installed by a private landowner

Polk County produces more boxes of citrus than any other county in Florida, and has devoted tens of thousands of acres to growing millions of trees

The rapid growth of outlying suburbs is an aftereffect of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Census Bureau, as rising housing costs pushed people further from cities.

Working remotely has allowed many Americans to do their jobs from home at least part of the week.

Peripheral communities on the outer edges of metropolitan areas had some of the fastest growing populations last year, AP News reported.

Those communities are mainly in the south, such as Anna on the edge of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area; Fort Mill, South Carolina, outside Charlotte, North Carolina; Lebanon outside Nashville; and Haines City in Polk County.

Recent extreme weather events and citrus diseases in Florida have also made it more attractive for some Polk County growers to sell their citrus groves to developers to build new homes or stores.

According to federal agricultural statistics, the number of citrus trees in the province has fallen over the past decade, from nearly 10 million in 2014 to 8.5 million this year.

“It hasn’t been a hasty conversion of citrus land for growth,” Matt Joyner, CEO of a grower group Florida Citrus Mutual, told AP News.

“But you definitely see it north and northeast of Polk.”