Lakeland is a
city in
Polk County, Florida, United States, located just outside
Tampa. According to the 2013
U.S. Census Bureau estimate, the city had a population of 100,710. Lakeland is a principal city of the
Lakeland–Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area (coterminous with Polk County), which had an estimated population of 623,009 in July 2013 based on data from the
University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research. It is twinned with
Richmond Hill,
Ontario,
Canada;
Imabari, Ehime, Japan;
Balti, Moldova;
Portmore, Jamaica; and
Chongming County, Shanghai, China as part of the Sister Cities program.