Polk County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. Its county seat is Bartow and its largest city is Lakeland.
Polk County comprises the entire Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located in central Florida along the I-4 Corridor, Polk, along with the counties to the west, is sometimes considered a part of the Tampa Bay Area. However, some of its northeastern communities have closer ties to the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. Polk County lies at the geographic center of the Florida Peninsula. The center of population of Florida has been in Polk County since the 1960 census and at the 2010 U.S. census was located between Fort Meade and Frostproof.
Polk County is home to one public university, one state college, three private universities. One Fortune 500 company—Publix Super Markets (106 in 2012)—has headquarters in the county.
