Census-designated place · Marion County, Florida

Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida

Rainbow Lakes Estates is a census-designated place in Marion County, Florida, part of the Ocala, FL metro area. It has 3,762 residents. Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida has a quality-of-life score of 6 out of 100 (very low), ranking #14,760 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Florida it ranks #740 of 780 cities and towns. It ranks best on comfortable days (high), new business applications (high) and job growth (high). It ranks worst on injury deaths (high), rent as share of income (high) and rent-burdened households (high).

6Very low

Quality-of-life score: #14,760 of 15,651 cities and towns
Florida: #740 of 780 in FL
Population: 3,762 (2020-2024)
Land area: 16 mi²
Density: 237.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 1259450

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety21#12,354/15,637
Economy33#10,432/15,631
Housing13#13,075/14,977
Health16#13,172/15,609
Healthcare21#12,432/15,650
Environment48#8,057/15,453
Education10#14,151/15,649
Infrastructure10#14,038/15,650
Community11#13,931/15,651
Leisure & amenities22#12,259/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Marion County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Comfortable days · high33.0%
90/100Florida 32.4%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationMarion County value
New business applications · high18.6 /1k
86/100Florida 27.6 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauMarion County value
Job growth · high1.2%
81/100Florida 0.0%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataMarion County value
Time spent in the emergency room · low131 min
81/100Florida 158 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesMarion County value
High ozone days · low0 days
76/100Florida 0 daysUnited States 7 days2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyMarion County value
Depression · low22.7%
67/100Florida 18.0%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate

Weaknesses

Injury deaths · high165 /100k
2/100Florida 97 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMarion County value
Rent as share of income · high21.4%
8/100Florida 35.2%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071High uncertainty
Rent-burdened households · high34.8%
9/100Florida 60.1%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Hot days · high103 days
9/100Florida 102 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationMarion County value
Public libraries · low0.2 /10k
9/100Florida 0.2 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesMarion County value
Traffic deaths · high26.1 /100k
11/100Florida 15.3 /100kUnited States 12.3 /100k2020-2024National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationProvisional dataMarion County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
3,565 (2016-2020) → 3,762 (2020-2024)
+5.5%4 yearsCensus table B01003US 331,578,104 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
20.4% (2016-2020) → 34.8% (2020-2024)
+14 pts4 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.1% → 51.1%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.2× (2016-2020) → 3.2× (2020-2024)
+47%4 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Average commute timeWorsening
31.3 min (2016-2020) → 39.1 min (2020-2024)
+25%4 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
12.6% (2016-2020) → 7.6% (2020-2024)
−5 pts4 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.4% → 9.8%
Income inequality (Gini index)Worsening
0.324 (2016-2020) → 0.397 (2020-2024)
+22%4 yearsCensus table B19083US 0.482 → 0.483

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

There is not enough history to compare Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida over five years.

Cities and towns like Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

No place that looked like Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida five years ago has more measures that improved than declined, with a higher standing among its peers today.

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

3,762 residents (±1,041)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†
50–59†
40–49†
30–39†
20–29†
10–19†
Under 10†

Share of all residents, each sex

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B01001View table on data.census.gov

Race and Hispanic origin

3,762 residents (±1,041)

Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida
Florida share

White76%†2,870
Black9.8%†369
Hispanic or Latino7.8%†295

Education

2,826 residents (±873)

Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida
Florida share

No high school diploma21%†594
High school or GED33%†929
Some college25%†703

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,482 households (±451)

Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida
Florida share

Under $25k30%†441
$25k–50k20%†294
$50k–75k28%†421
$75k–100k6.9%†102
$100k–150k6.5%†96
$150k–200k7.9%†117
$200k or more0.7%†11

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B19001View table on data.census.gov

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,482 households (±451)

Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida
Florida share

Own90%†1,338
Rent9.7%†144

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B25003View table on data.census.gov

Rent paid

144 households (±102)

Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida
Florida share

Under $75011%†16
$750–1,00036%†52
$1,000–1,50033%†48

Home values

1,338 homes (±437)

Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida
Florida share

Under $150k44%†585
$150k–250k30%†405
$250k–400k14%†188

Age of homes

1,770 homes (±440)

Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida
Florida share

2010 or later4.4%†77
2000–20098.8%†156
1980–199949%†869

Size of homes

1,770 homes (±440)

Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida
Florida share

Studio0.0%0
1 bedroom1.8%†31
2 bedrooms29%†506

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,264 workers (±465)

Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida
Florida share

Drive alone85%†1,076
Carpool6.6%†84
Public transit0.0%0
Walk0.0%0
Bike0.0%0
Work from home8.2%†104
Other0.0%0

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B08301View table on data.census.gov

Time to get to work

1,160 workers (±436)

Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida
Florida share

Under 15 min2.9%†34
15–29 min29%†342
30–44 min36%†415

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Ocala, FL

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Marion County, the county holding most of Rainbow Lakes Estates's residents.

Marion County has 8,389 employer establishments, 203 for every 10,000 residents (0.82× the US rate of 248; 0.72× Florida's), with 101,916 paid employees at an average annual pay of $47,273. The Census Bureau also counts 40,715 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 8,389; 40,715 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 203; US 248 · Florida 282
Paid employees: 101,916
Average annual pay: $47,273; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Marion County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	795	19.3	0.93×About typical	8,610	$67,873	2,156
Specialty trade contractors	768	18.6	1.20×About typical	5,253	$51,567	2,903
Lessors of real estate	508	12.3	1.00×About typical	1,416	$43,810	3,807
Restaurants and other eating places	469	11.4	0.62×Fewer than typical	9,519	$22,061	160
Services to buildings and dwellings	441	10.7	1.59×More than typical	3,566	$39,900	3,886
Offices of physicians	291	7.1	1.09×About typical	3,810	$84,152	294
Construction of buildings	276	6.7	0.89×About typical	1,447	$64,610	1,288
Real estate agents and brokers	273	6.6	1.36×More than typical	509	$46,436	1,500
Building equipment contractors	250	6.1	1.01×About typical	2,227	$53,027	372
Landscaping services	247	6	1.71×More than typical	2,408	$41,356	1,372
Building finishing contractors	243	5.9	1.55×More than typical	894	$41,235	1,092
Offices of other health practitioners	243	5.9	0.97×About typical	1,293	$50,159	683

Rank places for an industry Open Marion County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 412,300 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

1.4KFY2017
0FY2024

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida, so they do not add up across cities.

Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida's figures are part of those of Marion County, FL and Levy County, FL ($17.1M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Rainbow Lakes Estates is mostly in Marion County.

See federal money in Marion County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Rainbow Lakes Estates, Florida is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).