Tampa

Once a major military city, Tampa sits on the Gulf Coast of Florida as the state’s third most populous city. While the city’s success was once driven by Fort Brooke and the bay’s port, today it is known for it’s booming technology sector as a popular place for start-up businesses. Much like the rest of Florida, Tampa is seeing a slew of new residents. But will the trend continue?

The Tampa metro area—part of the Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area—came to prominence with the rise of US Army outpost Fort Brooke, which was fought over in every war up until the Civil War, after which it was dismantled. The mid-1800’s saw economic prosperity due to the discovery of phosphate and the uptick in need for the port. Tampa became one of the largest cities in Florida by 1900 and hasn’t looked back. Today, Tampa is a vibrant area attracting more and more tech startups. In 2021, Forbes Magazine listed Tampa as the number one emerging tech cities in the U.S. Forbes estimates that 25% of tech jobs in Florida are now in Tampa. Tampa itself boasts on their website that Tampa Bay is the #2 city for small business employment and the #1 city for women-owned businesses in the country. High profile investors like Bill Gates and Jeff Vinik are putting billions of dollars into Tampa’s downtown redevelopment project, only drawing in more and more companies to the area. Aside from several Fortune 1000 companies in the area, smaller tech startups, like our friends at SiteZeus, call Tampa home.

These new companies are bringing jobs, and of course people, to the area like never before. The Tampa metro area has seen a nearly 200% growth rate since 1970 and is now the 18^th largest metro area in the country. On the map below, you can see the massive increases that many areas are experiencing, especially in the heart of Tampa.

However, unlike most tech areas of the country, Tampa remains relatively affordable in terms of housing. While median rents are higher than the national average, home values remain reasonable. If you calculate Median Housing Value and divide by Median Income, Tampa is the #147 most affordable city, with homes on average costing 4.5 times the median salary. The distribution can be seen on the map below.

Florida is certainly booming, Tampa very much benefiting from the influx of investments, people and jobs. Company friendly businesses laws, relatively low cost of living, and a desirable climate make Tampa a great place to start your business, but will the increase in profitability make Tampa unaffordable in the coming years?