Accountant salary in Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL

Pay in Lakeland-Winter Haven against Florida and the US

Accountants at the 90th percentile earn $124,780, 2.5 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.6. The middle half of accountants in Lakeland-Winter Haven earns $61,050–$97,420. The mean ($83,570) is 9% over the median, so a group of high earners pulls the average up; price a typical hire from the median. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $36,370 wide, against $40,410 across Florida and $42,790 nationally: employers in Lakeland-Winter Haven pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an accountant here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $20,600 a year in pay and about $26,581 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $15,770 in pay. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $83,680 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in Lakeland-Winter Haven, and the Florida statewide median of $79,250 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Lakeland-Winter Haven

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $22,303 to the $76,820 median and brings it to $99,123 a year. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for accountants we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in Lakeland-Winter Haven

Of the 17 roles we track in Lakeland-Winter Haven, this one ranks #2 by median pay, after project coordinators ($94,720); marketing specialists come next at $76,630.

Measured against the US median, accountants rank #7 of the 17 roles we track in Lakeland-Winter Haven (-8.2%), between bookkeepers (-7.5%) and office managers (-8.5%). The typical role here is at -9.5%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Accountants hold 6.7% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Lakeland-Winter Haven, 7.9% across Florida and 9.1% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Florida

Across the 24 areas of Florida with data for this job, the median runs from $61,840 in Tallahassee to $84,570 in Naples-Marco Island, a gap of $22,730 a year. Of the 8 areas in Florida with more accountants than Lakeland-Winter Haven, 2 pay less: Tallahassee, FL ($61,840) and Palm Bay-Melbourne, FL ($75,860).

Lakeland-Winter Haven against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Lakeland-Winter Haven is #112 of 521 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job, with pay near the middle of the US range. Outside Florida, Fond du Lac and Greenville-Anderson pay just above Lakeland-Winter Haven and Decatur and Augusta-Richmond County just below. All four are within $110 a year of the median in Lakeland-Winter Haven. Of the three markets with about as many accountants, all three pay more.

Questions

Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.