Tampa vs St. Petersburg: which should you move to?
Tampa or St. Petersburg? Housing, rent, crime, climate, income, taxes and transit, side by side, from each city's own published figures. Written for someone deciding where to live, not for a ranking.
St. Petersburg
Tampa and St. Petersburg are two rows of one table: the same metro, the same Zillow series for June 2026, the same insurance band, the same 6.67% mortgage rate and the same Florida rules, so neither takes income tax, a single filer on $100,000 pays the same $13,449 in federal tax in each, and every gap below is a real one rather than a difference of method. St. Petersburg's typical home was $355,759 and Tampa's $380,283, and mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $2,742 a month against $2,906. Almost all of the $164 is the mortgage, because the two millages, 19.9197 and 19.8428, are within a tenth of a mill and the insurance is $390 in both. Against pay the order reverses: St. Petersburg households earn $73,048 against Tampa's $84,114, so its carry is about 45% of median income against 41%, and its rent is higher, $2,058 against $1,999. The climate is the same to a fifth of a degree. Crime is not: on the FBI's 2024 counts St. Petersburg had about 618 violent offenses per 100,000 against Tampa's 445, though it had 9 homicides in 2025 against 17. Choose Tampa for the higher household pay, Tampa General and Moffitt, the airport in the city and a city that is still growing. Choose St. Petersburg for a house about 6% cheaper a bridge away from the same jobs, a bus rapid transit line, Johns Hopkins All Children's and a lower sales tax, if you will buy on elevation first.
| Measure | Tampa | St. Petersburg | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| City population | 413,554 (2025) | 264,033 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Metro population | 3,418,895 (2025) | 3,418,895 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Five-year growth Growth is pressure on rents and roads as much as it is opportunity, so it is reported without a winner. | 7.3% (2020-2025) | 2.2% (2020-2025) | Not directly comparable |
What a home costs in each
The figures the two cities' rent-versus-buy and mortgage calculators run on, read from the same tables.
| Measure | Tampa | St. Petersburg | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benchmark home price MLS® HPI or equivalent benchmark. Lower is treated as the advantage, which is the buyer's view rather than the owner's. | $380,283 (June 2026) | $355,759 (June 2026) | St. Petersburg |
| Detached house benchmark Tampa and St. Petersburg publish a single house index rather than a composite, so the two rows repeat. | $380,283 | $355,759 | St. Petersburg |
| Apartment or condominium benchmark | Not published | Not published | Not directly comparable |
| Two-bedroom rent | $1,999/mo (median, June 2026) | $2,058/mo (median, June 2026) | Tampa |
| One-bedroom rent | $1,719/mo | $1,770/mo | Tampa |
| Two-bedroom rent against median income A year of two-bedroom rent as a share of the median household income below. A household paying the median rent out of the median income is a fiction, but it is the same fiction in both columns and it crosses currencies. | 28.5% of a year's income | 33.8% of a year's income | Tampa |
| Mortgage payment on the benchmark, 20% down 30-year amortization on American monthly compounding, the convention in both. | $1,957/mo at 6.67% | $1,831/mo at 6.67% | St. Petersburg |
| Price to household income Benchmark price divided by the median household income below. A ratio is comparable across currencies; the dollars are not. | 4.5× | 4.9× | Tampa |
| Property tax on the benchmark home The effective rate on market value, which is what the two rates have in common and what the Advantage column is decided on; the bills are in each city's own dollars. | $6,712/yr (1.765%, 2025) | $6,248/yr (1.756%, 2025) | St. Petersburg |
| Transfer tax on the benchmark home Compared as a share of the price. Where the seller pays it, it is a cost of leaving rather than arriving. | $2,662 (seller pays) | $2,490 (seller pays) | Even |
| Rent control A cap protects a sitting tenant and does nothing for the next lease, so neither column is simply better. | Forbidden by state law | Forbidden by state law | Not directly comparable |
Tampa: About 1.77% of what you pay for the house, which is lower than the 19.8428 mills Tampa is charged, and the difference is Florida's homestead exemption rather than any assessment lag. The state assesses at full market value and a purchase resets the assessment to the price. What there is instead is an exemption: $25,000 of taxable value comes off for every taxing authority and a second slice comes off for all of them except the Hillsborough County school board, which levies 6.3400 of the 19.8428. That second slice was $25,000 through the 2024 tax roll and has been adjusted for inflation every 1 January since, under the 2024 amendment to Article VII section 6 of the state constitution, so it is now somewhat more than $25,000. The figures here use the base amount, because the Department of Revenue sends the adjusted figure to the county property appraisers rather than publishing it. The difference is worth a few dollars a year on a bill, and the county property appraiser can tell you the amount in force. A homesteaded buyer's first-year bill is therefore about $6,712 on the $380,283 typical home value here. That 19.8428 is the figure Hillsborough County publishes for this taxing district rather than a total assembled here, and Tampa's own council sets 6.2076 of it. The exemption is not automatic: you file for it with the county property appraiser by 1 March of the year after you buy. The seller's tax bill is not a guide to yours. Save Our Homes caps a homesteaded property's assessed value at 3% growth a year, and that cap resets to full market value the January after the sale, so a long-tenured owner can be taxed on a fraction of what you will be taxed on for the same house. Ask the property appraiser what the assessment would be at your purchase price, not what the current bill is. St. Petersburg: About 1.76% of what you pay for the house, which is lower than the 19.9197 mills St. Petersburg is charged, and the difference is Florida's homestead exemption rather than any assessment lag. The state assesses at full market value and a purchase resets the assessment to the price. What there is instead is an exemption: $25,000 of taxable value comes off for every taxing authority and a second slice comes off for all of them except the Pinellas County school board, which levies 6.2930 of the 19.9197. That second slice was $25,000 through the 2024 tax roll and has been adjusted for inflation every 1 January since, under the 2024 amendment to Article VII section 6 of the state constitution, so it is now somewhat more than $25,000. The figures here use the base amount, because the Department of Revenue sends the adjusted figure to the county property appraisers rather than publishing it. The difference is worth a few dollars a year on a bill, and the county property appraiser can tell you the amount in force. A homesteaded buyer's first-year bill is therefore about $6,248 on the $355,759 typical home value here. That 19.9197 is the figure Pinellas County publishes for this taxing district rather than a total assembled here, and St. Petersburg's own council sets 6.4525 of it. The exemption is not automatic: you file for it with the county property appraiser by 1 March of the year after you buy. The seller's tax bill is not a guide to yours. Save Our Homes caps a homesteaded property's assessed value at 3% growth a year, and that cap resets to full market value the January after the sale, so a long-tenured owner can be taxed on a fraction of what you will be taxed on for the same house. Ask the property appraiser what the assessment would be at your purchase price, not what the current bill is.
How safe each city is, by the numbers it publishes
Police-reported figures for the most recent year each force or statistics agency has released. Rates describe a whole city or metro area, and the spread between neighbourhoods inside one city is usually wider than the gap between the two cities.
| Measure | Tampa | St. Petersburg | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Severity Index Statistics Canada's weighted index for the metropolitan area, where 100 is Canada in 2006. American cities have no equivalent series. | Not published | Not published | Not directly comparable |
| Violent crime per 100,000 | 376 (2025) | 502 (2025) | Tampa |
| Property crime per 100,000 | 1,465 (2024) | 2,059 (2025) | Tampa |
| Homicides Counts, not rates, and a single year in a small city moves a long way on chance alone. What each figure covers is under the table. | 17 (2025) | 9 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
Violent crime in the city fell from 2,031 offences in 2023 to 1,862 in 2024 and 1,553 in 2025 (TPD 2025 Annual Report), with homicides halving in 2025 to 17. Total crime fell 21.3% in 2025 and TPD reported a 22% mid-year drop the year before, so the direction over three years is clearly down, though the figures remain preliminary until certified under NIBRS.
What the rates cover: Computed: Tampa Police Department 2025 Annual Report counts 1,553 violent crimes (robbery, aggravated assault/battery, murder, sexual battery) in 2025, down from 1,862 in 2024 and 2,031 in 2023; divided by the 413,554 Vintage 2025 city population. FBI UCR-based 2024 figure for comparison: 1,817 offences, 445 per 100k. TPD notes Florida moved to NIBRS in 2022 and figures are preliminary until certified by FDLE and the FBI.
Homicides: City of Tampa, 2025: 17 homicides, a 52.8% drop from 36 in 2024 (FBI UCR 2024 count 36, 8.8 per 100k). Works out to about 4.1 per 100k in 2025. TPD calls it the lowest annual total in more than 50 years. One January 2026 FOX 13 report quoted 19; the 52.8% figure in TPD's annual report is consistent with 17.
Down, and clearly so in 2025. On the FBI CDE's annual totals violent offenses were 1,622 in 2022, 1,519 in 2023, 1,642 in 2024 and 1,325 in 2025, about 618, 573, 618 and 502 per 100,000 on each year's Vintage 2025 population, so 2025 was 19% below 2024 after three flat years. Property offenses fell from 7,052 in 2023 to 6,528 in 2024 and 5,437 in 2025, down 17% in the last year, with motor vehicle theft more than halved from 917 in 2023 to 407. The department's own figures agree in direction and nearly in count: it reported overall crime down 16% in 2025, 175 robberies against a five-year average of 224, and 406 auto thefts against an average of 735 (Patch). The CDE counts were read on 1 October 2026 from a feed last refreshed on 15 September and can still be revised.
What the rates cover: Computed: 1,325 violent offenses (murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) in the FBI Crime Data Explorer's summarized data for the St. Petersburg Police Department (ORI FL0521400) in calendar 2025, divided by the 264,033 Vintage 2025 city population. On the CDE's own agency population of 269,098 the rate is 492. That is close to Boston's 507 and Jacksonville's 514, above Tampa's 375.5 (on the Tampa Police Department's own counts) and Miami's 359, and almost four times Port St. Lucie's 130. The department reports to the CDE as annual totals rather than month by month, and the CDE carries a full year for each of 2022 to 2025 and nothing for 2021.
Homicides: 9 murders and nonnegligent manslaughters in 2025 in the FBI CDE, about 3.4 per 100,000 on the city population, against Tampa's 17 (4.1), Orlando's 10 (3.0) and Port St. Lucie's 4 (1.5). The department's own count, announced in January 2026, is 10 homicides, which it called the fewest since 1967, when the city had six, and 44% fewer than the 18 of 2024 (Patch, reporting the St. Petersburg Police Department). The CDE series is 16 in 2022, 13 in 2023, 18 in 2024 and 9 in 2025.
Winters, summers and what the weather can do to a house
| Measure | Tampa | St. Petersburg | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| January mean | 16.7 °C | 16.8 °C | Not directly comparable |
| July mean | 28.8 °C | 28.8 °C | Not directly comparable |
| Precipitation a year | 1,176 mm | 1,185 mm | Not directly comparable |
| Snowfall a year | 0 cm | 0 cm | Not directly comparable |
| Sunshine a year | Not published | Not published | Not directly comparable |
NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (USW00012842): January mean 62.0 F, July mean 83.8 F (August is the warmest month at 84.0 F), annual precipitation 46.30 in, annual snow normal 0. About 30 of those inches (762 mm) fall June through September. Sunshine hours are not part of the 1991-2020 normals product and were not verified.
Hazards: Hurricanes and storm surge are the defining hazard: Helene's surge in September 2024 flooded coastal Tampa Bay neighborhoods, then Milton made landfall near Siesta Key on October 9, 2024 as a Category 3, and 2024 alone generated 10,261 NFIP flood claims and about $1.1 billion in payouts in Hillsborough County. Flood insurance is effectively required in much of the city and has grown costlier under NFIP Risk Rating 2.0; summer heat indices above 100 F and daily lightning storms are routine from June to September.
NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for St. Petersburg Albert Whitted Airport (station USW00092806), the downtown waterfront airport about a mile east of the city's center, which is the station the brief names and has full temperature and precipitation normals: January mean 62.2F, July mean 83.8F, annual mean 74.7F, 46.65 in of precipitation. The airport's normals carry no snowfall, so the 0.0 in of snow stored here is the normal at the St. Petersburg cooperative station (USC00087886), at the same coordinates in NCEI's listing. August is the warmest month by two tenths of a degree at 84.0F, with a mean high of 89.8F; January's mean low is 55.3F. August (8.39 in) and July (7.49 in) are the wettest months, and June through September bring 29.33 in, 63% of the year; November (1.46 in) is the driest. The normals count 70.9 days a year at 90F or above, none at 100F and 0.1 nights at or below freezing. Converted here to 16.8 C, 28.8 C, 1,185 mm and 0 cm. The other stations bracket it: the cooperative station averages 62.1F in January and 83.9F in July with 52.48 in a year, and St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (USW00012873), about 10 miles north and away from the bay, 61.6F and 83.1F with 53.62 in and 94.1 days at 90F. St. Petersburg's year is almost Tampa's (Tampa International's 62.0F and 83.8F); its January is level with Port St. Lucie's (62.3F), warmer than Orlando's (60.6F) and six degrees colder than Miami's (68.6F). Sunshine is not stored: Current Results' US city table, the source and 1961-1990 basis of the other US profiles' sunshine hours, lists Tampa (2,927 hours, at Tampa International) and no St. Petersburg station, and the 1991-2020 normals do not include sunshine; the city's nickname, the Sunshine City, rests on a Guinness record of 768 consecutive sunny days from 1967 to 1969 (Wikipedia), not on a measured annual total.
Hazards: Storm surge is the defining hazard, and 2024 showed how much of the city sits low. Hurricane Helene passed offshore on 26 September 2024 on its way to a Big Bend landfall, and the National Ocean Service tide gauge at St. Petersburg, the longest record in Tampa Bay, dating to 1947, measured 6.31 ft above mean higher high water, far above its previous record of 3.97 ft in Hurricane Elena in 1985 (National Hurricane Center). Twelve people drowned in the surge in Pinellas County, two of them in St. Petersburg and nine on the barrier islands from St. Pete Beach to Indian Rocks Beach, and Helene destroyed at least 419 homes in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties and did major damage to at least 18,512 structures (NHC). Albert Whitted recorded a gust of 82 mph that day. Two weeks later, on 9 October, Hurricane Milton came ashore at Siesta Key, about 35 miles south, as a Category 3; its track spared the bay a surge but not the rain or the wind. Albert Whitted measured 18.54 in (471 mm) on 9 October, the wettest day in its record since 2010, and the NHC gives the airport 18.88 in for the storm and a gust of 88 kt (101 mph); a volunteer gauge near the city recorded 20.40 in, the highest storm total anywhere in Milton's path. Milton tore most of the fabric roof off Tropicana Field (NHC) and toppled a construction crane onto a downtown office building that housed the Tampa Bay Times (Bay News 9). The Rays played the 2025 season at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa and returned on 6 April 2026 after repairs (Wikipedia). Wikipedia notes that neither storm made landfall in the city and that the last hurricane to strike it directly was in 1921. Heat is long rather than extreme: 70.9 days a year at 90F or above on the normals and none at 100F (37.8 C); Albert Whitted recorded 128 such days in 2024, the most in its record since 2010, and 94 in 2026 through 28 September. Frost is almost unknown on the waterfront: one night at 32F (0 C), on 18 January 2018, since 2010, and a lowest reading of 36F in 2026 on 1 February.
What people earn and what the government takes
| Measure | Tampa | St. Petersburg | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $84,114 USD (2024) | $73,048 USD (2024) | Tampa |
| Unemployment rate | 4.7% (June 2026) | 4.8% (July 2026) | Tampa |
| Sales tax | 7.5% | 7% | St. Petersburg |
| Top marginal income tax Federal plus provincial or state. The American figure leaves out payroll taxes and the cost of health insurance, both of which a Canadian household covers through the tax it pays here. | 37% | 37% | Even |
| Income tax on $100,000, single filer Tampa and St. Petersburg sit under one province's or state's income tax, so the two cells describe the same tax and any difference between them is one of method rather than of tax. Florida levies no income tax, so both cells are the federal bill on $100,000 and they agree to the dollar. The Advantage column is Even for that reason, and the essay below says the same thing. | $13,449 USD | $13,449 USD | Even |
BLS counted 1,583,300 nonfarm jobs in the MSA in December 2025, up 0.9% over the year, with education and health services (+4.2%) and leisure and hospitality (+2.0%) leading and the May 2025 mean hourly wage of $31.96 sitting below the US average of $33.54. The largest industries by employment in the metro in 2024 were health care and social assistance, retail trade, and professional, scientific and technical services (Census ACS via Data USA).
Main sectors: Health care and social assistance, Finance, insurance and professional services, Retail and leisure/hospitality, Port, logistics and defense (Port Tampa Bay, MacDill AFB), Higher education and research (USF, Moffitt).
Florida has no state income tax, estate tax or inheritance tax. Property tax is the main local levy; homesteaded owners get a $50,000 exemption and the Save Our Homes 3% annual assessment cap, which means long-time owners pay much less than a new buyer of the same house.
BLS counted 1,559,600 nonfarm jobs in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA in August 2026 (not seasonally adjusted, preliminary), up 14,200 or 0.9% on the year. Private education and health services added the most (+9,700, or 3.8%, to 264,400), then professional and business services (+6,000, or 2.1%, to 288,800) and construction (+1,600, to 99,600), while information lost 1,700 (-5.6%, to 28,600) and federal employment 1,000 (to 30,900). The city's own employment picture is a headquarters town's: the ten principal private employers in its 2025 financial report, led by Raymond James (4,800), Johns Hopkins All Children's (2,800), Power Design and Jabil (1,700 each), employ 17,837, or 12.5% of the 147,705 people working in the city, against 20,300 for the 2016 list, which then included HSN, FIS and Bayfront Medical. Much of the commercial activity is in the Gateway area in the city's north, which it shares with Pinellas Park (Wikipedia). Unlike Port St. Lucie, most residents work in their own county: 14% of the city's workers (20,739 of 144,736) worked outside Pinellas County in 2024, 21.3% worked from home, and the mean commute for the rest was 25 minutes, with 5% spending an hour or more (ACS 2024 1-year, B08007, B08013, B08301 and B08303).
Main sectors: Finance and insurance: Raymond James, headquartered in the city and its largest private employer with 4,800 staff, Franklin Templeton (1,200) and the credit union service organization PSCU (800), in a metro with 142,400 financial activities jobs in August 2026, Health care: Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital (2,800 staff), BayCare's St. Anthony's Hospital (1,437), HCA (1,350) and Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital, in a metro sector (private education and health services, 264,400 jobs) that added 9,700 jobs over the year, Manufacturing and engineering: Jabil, the electronics manufacturer headquartered in the city (1,700), Catalent Pharma Solutions (800) and Power Design, an electrical contractor (1,700), Utilities: Duke Energy Florida, headquartered in the city (1,250 staff), Tourism, arts and sports: the Dali Museum, the Pier, seven miles of public waterfront parks, the Rays at Tropicana Field and the IndyCar Grand Prix on downtown streets (leisure and hospitality, 167,300 metro jobs).
Property tax is the local levy that matters. Tax Foundation puts Florida's effective property tax rate on owner-occupied homes at 0.78%, and a homestead exemption takes as much as $50,000 off a permanent residence's taxable value, with the Save Our Homes limit on how fast its assessment can rise (Florida Department of Revenue). A St. Petersburg home paid 19.9197 mills for 2025 on the Pinellas County Tax Collector's published total, of which the city's own rate is 6.4525; a little above Tampa's 19.8428 in the same layer. On 17 September 2026 the City Council voted 6 to 2 to keep the city rate at 6.4525 mills for fiscal 2027, the rate it has levied since fiscal 2025, which is above the 6.3854-mill rolled-back rate and so needed a two-thirds vote; rising taxable values, about $39.3 billion, bring the city about $14.8 million more (St Pete Catalyst). Zillow's typical home value for the city was $355,759 in June 2026, down 3.9% on the year, and its typical rent $2,058; the bills, insurance and flood exposure that follow from them belong to the housing layer.
Whether you need a car
| Measure | Tampa | St. Petersburg | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| System | HART (Hillsborough Area Regional Transit) buses, the TECO Line Streetcar between downtown and Ybor City, and HART's MetroRapid and on-demand HARTFlex services | Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA), the countywide agency formed in 1984 from the St. Petersburg Municipal Transit System and the Central Pinellas Transit Authority: more than 34 bus routes including two express routes to Tampa, the Central Avenue and Suncoast Beach trolleys, and the SunRunner, Tampa Bay's first bus rapid transit line, which opened on 21 October 2022 from downtown St. Petersburg along First Avenues North and South to St. Pete Beach every 15 minutes (Wikipedia). The Cross-Bay Ferry between downtown St. Petersburg and downtown Tampa ran seasonally for eight seasons until its operator's contract ended after 2025, and PSTA bought two vessels in June 2026 to restart it (Wikipedia). There is no passenger rail: CSX's freight branch ends at a small yard northwest of downtown, the line into downtown having been abandoned in 2008. | Not directly comparable |
| Commute by public transit | 1.2% (2024) | 2.1% (2024) | St. Petersburg |
| Walk or cycle to work | 3.4% (2024) | 2.9% (2024) | Tampa |
| Airport | Tampa International Airport (TPA), 24,811,007 passengers in calendar 2025 (+0.22% on 2024), 27th busiest US airport, 635 daily flights, Southwest the largest carrier at 24% (TPA Fact Sheet, June 2026). | St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (PIE), owned by Pinellas County about 9 miles north of downtown, handled a record 2,794,067 passengers in 2025, 13.6% more than 2024's 2,458,674, almost all of them on Allegiant Air, which uses it as an operating base (Wikipedia). Most of the city's air travel goes through Tampa International Airport (TPA), about 16 miles to the northeast across the Howard Frankland Bridge, which handled 24,811,007 passengers in 2025 (TPA, as in Tampa's profile). Albert Whitted Airport on the downtown waterfront serves general aviation. | Not directly comparable |
HART carried about 11.94 million unlinked trips in 2025 (APTA Transit Ridership Report, Q4 2025). The 2.7-mile TECO Line Streetcar, fare-free since 2018, carried 1,323,715 riders in 2024, its record year.
PSTA carried 10,441,618 unlinked trips in 2025 on the National Transit Database's monthly ridership file (Federal Transit Administration), 8,888,290 of them on its buses and 769,551 on the SunRunner, with the rest on vanpools, demand-response service and a ferry. That is a little below the 11.94 million HART carried in Hillsborough (Tampa's profile, from APTA) for a county with less than two-thirds of Hillsborough's population, and well below PSTA's own peak of 14.6 million in 2014; ridership fell to 9.1 million in 2022 and has recovered to about 10.4 to 10.5 million in each of 2024 and 2025. The SunRunner carried 1,036,048 trips in 2023, its first full year, and 769,551 in 2025.
Health care, schools and what each city is like
Health care
Care is paid for through employer plans, ACA marketplace plans, Medicare and Medicaid; Florida has not expanded Medicaid, so low-income adults without children often fall into the coverage gap, and out-of-pocket costs depend entirely on the plan. Tampa General Hospital (the USF Health teaching hospital, ranked the top hospital in the Tampa Bay region by U.S. News for 11 straight years through 2026-2027, with OB-GYN ranked fifth nationally in 2025-2026), Moffitt Cancer Center (an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center), AdventHealth Tampa, St. Joseph's and the James A. Haley VA are the major hospitals; specialist waits are usually weeks rather than months but vary by insurer network.
Education
The University of South Florida (about 48,700 students across Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee in 2025-26, an AAU member since 2023) and the private University of Tampa anchor higher education, with Hillsborough Community College for two-year programs. Schools are run by a single county district, Hillsborough County Public Schools, the seventh-largest in the US, whose 40-day enrollment fell 3.9% to 213,513 in 2025-26 as families took state vouchers and charters; it runs 42 magnet schools (about 17,500 students in 2024-25) with admission by lottery, so the school you get depends as much on the choice application as on the address.
Living there
Tampa is a flat, hot, car-first city where a 26-minute average commute hides the reality that I-275 and the Howard Frankland Bridge back up daily and transit carries about one commuter in a hundred. The walkable parts are concentrated: the Riverwalk, Hyde Park, Seminole Heights and Ybor City, with the streetcar linking downtown to Ybor for free. Flood zone and elevation now matter as much as school zone when picking a house, after Helene's surge in 2024 showed which streets go under; summers mean afternoon lightning storms and heat indices over 100 F from June into September.
Health care
Care is paid for through employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, and Florida is one of the ten states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (KFF). Florida's uninsured rate was 10.9% in 2024 (2,509,782 of 23,038,464), against 8.2% nationally, on the ACS 2024 1-year estimates; the City of St. Petersburg's was 7.3% (19,374 of 263,881), below Port St. Lucie's 9.9%, Pinellas County's 9.0% and the metro's 10.0%. The city is the county's hospital center. Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital, the city's oldest, on the site of a five-room hospital of 1910, is Pinellas County's only Level II trauma center and has a Level III regional perinatal intensive care center and the Bayflite helicopter program (Wikipedia). Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, founded in 1926 and part of Johns Hopkins Medicine since 2011, has 259 beds and a Level I pediatric trauma center (Wikipedia). BayCare's St. Anthony's Hospital and HCA's hospitals are also among the city's ten largest private employers (City of St. Petersburg). This file did not verify a wait time figure for primary or specialist care.
Education
Pinellas County Schools, the countywide district, is shrinking: it reported more than 3,000 fewer students in 2025-26 than a year earlier (Bay News 9), its schools were 68% full against 87% ten years before, and in February 2026 the board voted to close two schools, Cross Bayou Elementary in Pinellas Park and Disston Academy in Gulfport, at the end of the 2025-26 year and to merge others (FOX 13). In higher education the city has the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, a downtown campus of about 6,500 students; Eckerd College, a private liberal arts college founded in 1958; St. Petersburg College, founded in 1927, a state college with four of its eleven campuses and centers in the city; and the Poynter Institute, the journalism school that owns the Tampa Bay Times (Wikipedia). Stetson University's law school is next door in Gulfport.
Living there
St. Petersburg is the smaller and older half of Tampa Bay's urban core: a city of 264,033 on the southern tip of the Pinellas peninsula, with more water than land inside its limits, connected to Tampa by the Gandy and Howard Frankland bridges and to Bradenton by the Sunshine Skyway. It was a railroad town before it was a resort (the Orange Belt Railway arrived in 1888 and the town was incorporated in 1892) and a retirement town for most of the twentieth century; its median age is still 43.0, the second-oldest of the Florida cities here after Port St. Lucie, though Wikipedia notes a younger turn since the Great Recession. Downtown is the draw, with the Dali Museum, the rebuilt Pier, seven miles of public waterfront parks, more than 600 murals and the Rays at Tropicana Field, who returned in April 2026 after Hurricane Milton tore off the roof but will leave: Hillsborough County voted 5 to 2 on 28 August 2026 to put $796 million toward a $2.3 billion stadium in Tampa for 2029 (WUSF). Its economy is a set of headquarters (Raymond James, Jabil, Duke Energy Florida) and hospitals (Johns Hopkins All Children's, Bayfront). The numbers set it apart from its Florida neighbors. It grew only 2.2% from 2020 to 2025 and lost residents in the year of the 2024 storms, in a county that is now losing people. Its median household income, $73,048, is $11,066 below Tampa's; its violent crime rate, 502 per 100,000 in 2025, is higher than Tampa's but falling, and its nine homicides were the fewest the police department has counted since 1967. It has the highest transit share of the Florida cities here outside Miami, at 2.1%. And it learned in 2024 what living in Tampa Bay costs: a record surge from Helene, which drowned twelve people in the county, and 18 inches of rain from Milton two weeks later.
Where each city wins, and where it loses
Both cities price in US dollars, and for once the two headlines are not only the same kind of figure but two rows of one table. Tampa and St. Petersburg are both municipalities in this site's Tampa Bay layer, which prices all twenty-four on Zillow's typical home value for June 2026, taxes each on the total its county publishes, insures each on one surge-banded figure and finances each at Freddie Mac's August rate of 6.67%, so nothing in the gap below is a difference of method. Tampa's typical home was $380,283, 2.1% below a year earlier, and St. Petersburg's $355,759, 3.9% below, in a layer where twenty-three of the twenty-four fell; St. Petersburg's is about 6% below Tampa's. Against local pay the order reverses: the headlines are 4.5 times the City of Tampa's 2024 median household income of $84,114 and 4.9 times St. Petersburg's $73,048. At 20% down, Tampa's $304,226 loan costs $1,957 a month and St. Petersburg's $284,607 loan $1,831. A homesteaded buyer's first-year property tax is about $6,712 in Tampa, 1.77% of the price on Hillsborough's published 19.8428 mills, against $6,248 in St. Petersburg, 1.76% on Pinellas's 19.9197, and insurance is the same $390 a month in both, the layer's band for a coastal address, neither including flood. The three lines come to about $2,906 and $2,742, a $164 gap of which $126 is the mortgage and the rest the tax, roughly 41% and 45% of local median income. Rent runs the other way. Zillow's observed rent index was $1,999 in Tampa and $2,058 in St. Petersburg in June 2026, about 29% and 34% of median income, and the layer estimates a condominium fee of $700 a month in both, a figure no authority publishes for either city.
No year covers both cities on the same definitions, and on every figure that can be set side by side St. Petersburg reports more violent and property crime and fewer homicides. St. Petersburg's 2025 figures are the FBI's Crime Data Explorer counts: 1,325 violent offenses, 502 per 100,000 on the Census estimate of 264,033, and 5,437 property offenses, 2,059. Tampa's 2025 figure is the Tampa Police Department's own count, 1,553 violent crimes, about 375.5 per 100,000 on 413,554 residents, preliminary until certified under the FBI's incident-based system. The FBI's 2024 counts are the closest like-for-like: Tampa had 445 violent and 1,465 property offenses per 100,000, and St. Petersburg 1,642 violent offenses, about 618 on that year's estimate, and 6,528 property offenses, about 2,455. Homicide is the count least changed by definitions, and there St. Petersburg is lower: 9 in 2025 on the FBI's count, about 3.4 per 100,000, and 10 on its department's, which called it the fewest since 1967, against 17 in Tampa, about 4.1 and the lowest there in more than 50 years. Both are falling. Tampa's violent count has dropped every year since 2023 and its total crime fell 21.3% in 2025. St. Petersburg's violent offenses fell 19% in 2025 after three flat years and its property offenses 17%, with motor vehicle theft down from 917 in 2023 to 407. The St. Petersburg counts were read on 1 October 2026 and can still be revised.
The two climates are the same to within a fraction of a degree, and what set the two shores apart in 2024 was water. January averages 16.7 C at Tampa International and 16.8 C at Albert Whitted Airport on St. Petersburg's downtown waterfront, 62.0F against 62.2F, and July 28.8 C at both, 83.8F, with August the warmest month in each at 84.0F. Tampa gets 1,176 mm of rain a year and St. Petersburg 1,185 mm, about 30 in of Tampa's and 29.33 in of St. Petersburg's from June through September, and neither has snow in the normals or a measured sunshine figure; St. Petersburg's nickname, the Sunshine City, rests on a Guinness record of 768 consecutive sunny days in the late 1960s. St. Petersburg's normals count 70.9 days a year at 90F or above and 0.1 freezing nights, though its waterfront station recorded 128 such hot days in 2024. Tampa's profile describes heat indices above 100 F and daily lightning storms from June into September. Then the storms. Helene passed offshore on 26 September 2024 and put 6.31 ft of water above mean higher high water on the St. Petersburg tide gauge, the highest in a record that began in 1947 and far above Elena's 3.97 ft in 1985. Twelve people drowned in the surge in Pinellas County, two of them in St. Petersburg, at least 419 homes in Pinellas and Hillsborough were destroyed, and Hillsborough County generated 10,261 flood insurance claims and about $1.1 billion in payouts that year. Milton came ashore at Siesta Key as a Category 3 two weeks later and spared the bay a surge, but Albert Whitted recorded 18.54 in (471 mm) of rain on 9 October and the storm tore most of the roof off Tropicana Field. Neither storm made landfall in St. Petersburg, and the last hurricane to strike it directly was in 1921.
The two cities share one labor market, so the differences are in who lives in each rather than in the jobs. On every federal table they are the same metro: BLS put July 2026 unemployment at 4.8% for Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, not seasonally adjusted, and at 4.2% inside the City of St. Petersburg, and the metro had 1,559,600 nonfarm jobs in August, 14,200 or 0.9% more than a year earlier, with private education and health services adding the most. Tampa's base is the port, MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa General, USF and Moffitt, and finance and insurance. St. Petersburg's is a set of headquarters, Raymond James, its largest private employer with 4,800 staff, Jabil, Duke Energy Florida and Power Design, and its hospitals, Johns Hopkins All Children's and Bayfront. Most of its residents work on their own side of the bay: 14% of the city's workers worked outside Pinellas County in 2024 and 21.3% worked from home. Households in the two cities do not earn the same. Median household income was $84,114 in the City of Tampa in 2024 and $73,048 in St. Petersburg, $11,066 less, against $78,275 across the metro. St. Petersburg is the older city, with a median age of 43.0 against 35.8, and the more owner-occupied, 62.1% of its homes against 50.0%. Florida takes no income tax in either, so $100,000 pays the same $13,449 in federal tax for 2025. Sales tax is 7.5% in Hillsborough and 7% in Pinellas, where the Penny for Pinellas runs to the end of 2029, so a purchase across the bay costs half a cent more on the dollar. Property tax and insurance come to about $11,392 a year on Tampa's typical home and $10,928 on St. Petersburg's.
Neither is a city to live in without a car, and St. Petersburg is the less car-bound of the two. In 2024, 2.1% of St. Petersburg's workers commuted by transit, almost all of them by bus, and 2.9% walked or cycled, against 1.2% and 3.4% in Tampa; 65.6% of St. Petersburg's workers drove alone. The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority carried 10,441,618 trips in 2025, 769,551 of them on the SunRunner, the bay's first bus rapid transit line, which runs every 15 minutes from downtown St. Petersburg to St. Pete Beach, and it runs two express routes to Tampa. HART carried about 11.94 million across Hillsborough, a county with about two-thirds more people, and its 2.7-mile TECO Line streetcar, fare-free since 2018, carried a record 1,323,715 riders in 2024 between downtown and Ybor City. Neither city has passenger rail. The bay is the commute: the Gandy and Howard Frankland bridges carry it, Tampa's profile notes that I-275 and the Howard Frankland back up daily, and the Cross-Bay Ferry between the two downtowns ran for eight seasons until its operator's contract ended after 2025, with PSTA buying two vessels in June 2026 to restart it. Tampa International, which handled 24,811,007 passengers in 2025 on 635 daily flights, serves both and is about 16 miles from downtown St. Petersburg. St. Pete-Clearwater International, about 9 miles north of downtown, handled a record 2,794,067, almost all of them on Allegiant.
Florida has not expanded Medicaid, so coverage in both runs through an employer or marketplace plan, Medicare or Medicaid, and Tampa's profile notes that low-income adults without children often fall into the gap. Florida's uninsured rate was 10.9% in 2024 and the City of St. Petersburg's 7.3%, below Pinellas County's 9.0% and the metro's 10.0%; Tampa's profile gives no city rate. The two cities divide the region's hospitals between them. Tampa General, the USF Health teaching hospital, has been ranked the top hospital in the Tampa Bay region by U.S. News for 11 straight years through 2026-2027, and Moffitt is an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center. St. Petersburg has Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital, Pinellas County's only Level II trauma center, and Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, with 259 beds and a Level I pediatric trauma center. Tampa's profile puts specialist waits in weeks; St. Petersburg's verified none. Both county districts are shrinking. Hillsborough County Public Schools enrolled 213,513 in 2025-26, 3.9% fewer than a year earlier as families took vouchers and charters, and admits to its 42 magnets by lottery. Pinellas County Schools reported more than 3,000 fewer students in 2025-26, its schools were 68% full against 87% ten years before, and in February 2026 its board voted to close two schools. The University of South Florida spans both, about 48,700 students across Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee, with about 6,500 on its downtown St. Petersburg campus; St. Petersburg also has Eckerd College, St. Petersburg College and the Poynter Institute, and Tampa the University of Tampa and Hillsborough Community College.
What people underestimate is how little either city's figure says about one address, because the two carry the same insurance line and very different streets. The $390 a month is the layer's band for a coastal Tampa Bay address, inside the $3,900 to $5,500 a year its source gives for a St. Petersburg single-family house with wind cover, and it excludes flood, which is a separate policy priced on the elevation certificate. Inside Tampa the ground runs from nine feet above the bay in the Channel District to forty-nine in Seminole Heights. In St. Petersburg the City assessed 13,494 parcels after Helene and recorded 5,189 with major damage and 146 destroyed, a condominium building counting as one parcel, and its assessments found water in thousands of homes along the bay and almost none inland. That matters beyond the premium: FEMA's substantial improvement rule treats any repair or improvement costing half the structure's market value or more as new construction, which can force a full elevation on what looks like an ordinary repair. The tax rules are the same in both. Florida takes $25,000 off every levy for a homestead and a second slice off all but the school district's, Save Our Homes caps the assessment's growth at 3% a year and resets it on a sale, and the exemption has to be filed by 1 March of the year after you buy; without it the bill is about $7,546 on Tampa's typical home and $7,087 on St. Petersburg's. Tampa's council sets 6.2076 of its 19.8428 mills and St. Petersburg's 6.4525 of its 19.9197, a rate it kept for fiscal 2027 on a 6 to 2 vote. Both sellers pay the 70-cent documentary stamp on the deed, about $2,662 and $2,490, and both buyers 0.55% of the loan, about $1,673 and $1,565. And the two are moving apart in size. Tampa grew 7.3% from 2020 to 2025. St. Petersburg grew 2.2% and lost 1,822 residents in the year that took in the 2024 storms, in a county that lost 11,834, and the Rays, back at a repaired Tropicana Field since April 2026, have a $2.3 billion stadium in Tampa approved for 2029.
Better here
- City median household income was $84,114 in 2024, $11,066 more than St. Petersburg's $73,048, so the carry is about 41% of it against 45%.
- On the FBI's 2024 counts violent crime ran 445 per 100,000 and property crime 1,465, against about 618 and 2,455 in St. Petersburg.
- Tampa General has been the region's top-ranked hospital for 11 straight years through 2026-2027, and Moffitt is an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center.
- Zillow's observed rent index was $1,999 in June 2026, about 29% of median income, against $2,058 and 34% in St. Petersburg.
- Tampa International, which handled 24,811,007 passengers in 2025, is in the city; from downtown St. Petersburg it is about 16 miles across the Howard Frankland.
- The city grew 7.3% from 2020 to 2025, against 2.2% in St. Petersburg, which lost residents in 2024-25.
Worse here
- Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $2,906 a month on the June 2026 typical home, $164 more than St. Petersburg's $2,742 at the same 6.67% rate.
- There were 17 homicides in 2025, about 4.1 per 100,000, against 9 and about 3.4 in St. Petersburg.
- Sales tax is 7.5% in Hillsborough against 7% in Pinellas.
- Only 1.2% of workers commuted by transit in 2024, against 2.1% in St. Petersburg, and I-275 and the Howard Frankland back up daily.
- Helene and Milton produced 10,261 flood insurance claims and about $1.1 billion in payouts in Hillsborough County in 2024, and flood cover is effectively required in much of the city.
- Hillsborough County Public Schools enrolled 3.9% fewer students in 2025-26 than a year earlier, and its 42 magnets admit by lottery.
Choose Tampa if
- you work at Tampa General, Moffitt, USF, MacDill or the port and want to live on that side of the bridges
- you want the larger and younger city, with a median age of 35.8 rather than 43.0
- you want the streetcar, Ybor City and the Riverwalk, and the airport in your own city
- you will buy on elevation, and Tampa's higher ground is where you want to look
The Tampa guide · Neighborhoods · Tampa rent vs buy · Tampa mortgage calculator
Better here
- Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $2,742 a month on the June 2026 typical home, against $2,906 in Tampa at the same 6.67% rate.
- There were 9 homicides in 2025 on the FBI's count, about 3.4 per 100,000, and 10 on the department's, its fewest since 1967, against 17 in Tampa.
- 2.1% of workers commuted by transit in 2024, against 1.2% in Tampa, and the SunRunner runs every 15 minutes from downtown to St. Pete Beach.
- Johns Hopkins All Children's has a Level I pediatric trauma center, and Bayfront is Pinellas County's only Level II trauma center.
- Sales tax is 7% against 7.5% in Hillsborough, and the city's uninsured rate was 7.3% in 2024 against Florida's 10.9%.
- Most residents work on their own side of the bay: 14% of workers commuted out of Pinellas County in 2024 and 21.3% worked from home.
Worse here
- City median household income was $73,048 in 2024, $11,066 below Tampa's, so the typical home is 4.9 times it against 4.5.
- Violent crime was 502 per 100,000 on the FBI's 2025 counts and about 618 in 2024, against 445 in Tampa on the FBI's 2024 file, and property crime about 2,455 against 1,465 that year.
- Helene put a record 6.31 ft of surge on the city's tide gauge in 2024, and the City recorded 5,189 of the 13,494 parcels it assessed with major damage and 146 destroyed.
- Zillow's observed rent index was $2,058 in June 2026, about 34% of median income, against $1,999 and 29% in Tampa.
- The population fell by 1,822 in 2024-25 in a county that lost 11,834, and the Rays are leaving for a stadium in Tampa in 2029.
- Pinellas County Schools enrolled more than 3,000 fewer students in 2025-26, its schools were 68% full, and its board voted to close two.
Choose St. Petersburg if
- you want a house about 6% cheaper than Tampa's typical home in the same job market
- you work downtown at Raymond James, Duke Energy Florida, All Children's or Bayfront, or from home
- you want a downtown of museums and seven miles of public waterfront parks, and a bus rapid transit line to the beach
- you will read the elevation certificate and the City's Helene assessment before the price
The St. Petersburg guide · Neighborhoods · St. Petersburg rent vs buy · St. Petersburg mortgage calculator
Tampa or St. Petersburg, in short
Is Tampa or St. Petersburg cheaper to live in?
St. Petersburg to own, by about $164 a month, and Tampa to rent, though against local pay Tampa is cheaper on both. The two figures come from one layer and net directly: Zillow's typical home value for June 2026 was $380,283 in Tampa and $355,759 in St. Petersburg, both priced at 6.67% with 20% down. The mortgage is $1,957 against $1,831, property tax about $6,712 a year against $6,248, and insurance the same $390 a month, so the three lines come to about $2,906 and $2,742, roughly 41% and 45% of each city's median household income, $84,114 and $73,048. Neither includes flood. Zillow's observed rent index was $1,999 in Tampa and $2,058 in St. Petersburg. Neither city levies income tax, and sales tax is 7.5% in Hillsborough against 7% in Pinellas.
Is Tampa or St. Petersburg safer?
Tampa, on violent and property crime, and St. Petersburg on homicide, though no year covers both on the same definitions. On the FBI's 2024 counts Tampa had 445 violent and 1,465 property offenses per 100,000 and St. Petersburg about 618 and 2,455. For 2025 St. Petersburg's FBI counts give 502 and 2,059, and Tampa's own preliminary count about 375.5 violent crimes per 100,000. Homicides were 9 in St. Petersburg on the FBI's count, about 3.4 per 100,000, and 17 in Tampa, about 4.1, each city's lowest in decades. Both are falling: St. Petersburg's violent offenses dropped 19% in 2025 and Tampa's total crime 21.3%. The St. Petersburg counts, read on 1 October 2026, can still be revised.
Do Tampa and St. Petersburg share a job market?
Yes. They are one metro, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, where BLS put July 2026 unemployment at 4.8%, not seasonally adjusted, and counted 1,559,600 nonfarm jobs in August, 0.9% more than a year earlier. The employers differ by shore: Tampa has the port, MacDill, Tampa General, USF and Moffitt, and St. Petersburg Raymond James, Jabil, Duke Energy Florida, All Children's and Bayfront. The households differ more. Median income was $84,114 in Tampa and $73,048 in St. Petersburg in 2024, St. Petersburg's residents are older, with a median age of 43.0 against 35.8, and its workers mostly stay in Pinellas, with 14% commuting out of the county and 21.3% working from home. The Gandy and Howard Frankland bridges and two PSTA express routes connect the two, and PSTA bought two vessels in June 2026 to restart the Cross-Bay Ferry.
Which side of the bay is more exposed to storms?
Both, and the insurance figure here does not tell them apart: each city is budgeted at $390 a month, the layer's band for a coastal address, and neither figure includes flood. Helene's surge in September 2024 reached 6.31 ft above mean higher high water at the St. Petersburg tide gauge, a record since 1947, drowned twelve people in Pinellas County and generated 10,261 flood claims in Hillsborough. The City of St. Petersburg assessed 13,494 parcels afterward and recorded 5,189 with major damage. What decides a house's exposure is its elevation rather than its city: Tampa runs from nine feet above the bay in the Channel District to forty-nine in Seminole Heights, and St. Petersburg's assessments found water along the bay and almost none inland. Ask for the elevation certificate and a flood quote, and allow for FEMA's substantial improvement rule, which treats a repair costing half the structure's market value as new construction.
Where the figures come from
Housing figures are the ones behind each city's calculators, dated on those pages. The rest are listed here with the date they were retrieved. See the methodology for how facts, estimates and opinion are kept apart.
- Tampa, FL Population (2025), citing US Census Bureau PEP Vintage 2025 · Every City in the USA (compiling US Census Bureau) · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth
- Resident Population in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL (MSA), TMAPOP · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (US Census Bureau data) · retrieved Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth
- Florida Metropolitan Statistical Areas, 2025 Estimate · Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research · retrieved Supports: Metro population
- Tampa Police Department Annual Report 2025: Strength in Partnerships · City of Tampa · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend, Property crime rate
- Tampa crime drops in 2025, outpacing national trend: TPD · FOX 13 Tampa Bay · retrieved Supports: Crime trend
- Tampa police sees drop in homicides, violent crime for 2025 · WTSP 10 Tampa Bay · retrieved Supports: Homicides
- Tampa, St. Pete homicides, other crimes drop to lowest level in 50+ years · FOX 13 Tampa Bay · retrieved Supports: Homicides
- Tampa Police Release Mid-Year Crime Stats Showing Significant Reductions · City of Tampa · retrieved Supports: Crime trend
- Tampa, FL Crime Rates: Stats & Map (FBI UCR 2024 data) · AreaVibes · retrieved Supports: Property crime rate, Homicides, Violent crime rate
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00012842 Tampa International Airport (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall
- Milton misses worst-case scenario, devastates Florida · Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Flooding the zone · UF Warrington College of Business · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- FEMA Exercises Borrowing Authority for National Flood Insurance Program · FEMA · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Tampa, FL profile, ACS 2024 1-year · Census Reporter (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- ACS 2024 1-year tables B08301 and B19013 for Tampa city and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- Unemployment Rate in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL (MSA), TAMP312URN · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (BLS LAUS data) · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- What is the unemployment rate in the Tampa, FL area right now? · USAFacts (BLS data) · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL: Southeast Information Office · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- Occupational Employment and Wages in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL, May 2025 · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL · Data USA (Census ACS) · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- TIP 25A01-12: Hillsborough County Surtax Rate Update · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- 2025 Tax Brackets · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (citing APTA Transit Ridership Report Q4 2025) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- TECO Line Streetcar · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- TPA Fact Sheet: Activity Report, Calendar Year 2025 · Tampa International Airport / Hillsborough County Aviation Authority · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Tampa General Is the Top-Ranked Hospital in the Tampa Bay Region for the 11th Year in a Row, According to U.S. News & World Report · Tampa General Hospital via PR Newswire · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Tampa General again named the top hospital in Tampa Bay; OB-GYN rises to No. 5 in the U.S. · USF Health · retrieved Supports: Health care
- State University System of Florida 2025-2026 Matrix · Florida Board of Governors · retrieved Supports: Education
- HCPS data shows total county enrollment has declined since last year · Plant City Observer · retrieved Supports: Education
- 2024 Annual Report, Growth Management · Hillsborough County Public Schools · retrieved Supports: Education
- Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places of 50,000 or More (all states, SUB-EST2025) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth, Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend, Character, St. Petersburg city 258,358 (April 2020 base), 262,655 (2022), 264,921 (2023), 265,855 (2024) and 264,033 (2025); Pinellas County 948,563; Clearwater 114,364; national and Florida ranks and the 92 cities of 250,000 or more
- Annual Resident Population Estimates and Components of Change for Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas and Their Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (CBSA-EST2025-ALLDATA) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth, Character, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA 3,175,282 (April 2020 base) and 3,418,895 (2025) and its components of change; Pinellas County's 2024-25 loss of 11,834, its births, deaths and migration
- 2024 Gazetteer Files: Places (national) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: point, City population, Climate normals, Airport passengers, Character, St. Petersburg city: 61.804 sq mi of land, 73.661 sq mi of water, internal point 27.762727, -82.644131
- St. Petersburg, Florida (history, geography, economy, arts, education, transportation) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate normals, Climate hazards, Main sectors, Labour market, Transit system, Education, Character
- Crime Data Explorer summarized agency data, St. Petersburg Police Department (FL0521400): violent crime, property crime, homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson, 2021-2025 · FBI · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend, Character
- St. Pete Crime Rates Declined In 2025: Police · Patch · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend, Character, 10 homicides in 2025 against 18 in 2024, the fewest since 1967; overall crime down 16%; 175 robberies and 406 auto thefts against five-year averages of 224 and 735
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00092806 St. Petersburg Albert Whitted Airport (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Climate normals, Climate hazards, January 62.2F, July 83.8F and August 84.0F and the monthly highs, lows and rain from the monthly series, which carries no snowfall normal for this station, and annual mean 74.7F, precipitation 46.65 in, 70.9 days at 90F, 0.0 at 100F and 0.1 nights at freezing from dataset=normals-annualseasonal-1991-2020 for the same station
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USC00087886 St. Petersburg (cooperative station) (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Annual snowfall, Climate normals, 0.0 in of snow (monthly and annual), January 62.1F, July 83.9F, 52.48 in of precipitation
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00012873 St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Climate normals, January 61.6F, July 83.1F, 53.62 in of precipitation, 94.1 days at 90F
- NCEI data search, normals-monthly-1991-2020 stations within 28.0N to 27.6N and 82.85W to 82.45W · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Climate normals, the stations with 1991-2020 normals in and around the city, including USW00092806 and USC00087886 at 27.7628N, 82.6261W
- Global Historical Climatology Network daily summaries, St. Petersburg Albert Whitted Airport (USW00092806), 2010-2026 · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, 18.54 in on 9 October 2024 and a 101.1 mph gust; an 82.1 mph gust on 26 September 2024; 128 days at or above 90F in 2024 and 94 in 2026 through 28 September; 32F on 18 January 2018, the only reading at or below freezing since 2010; 36F on 1 February 2026
- Average Annual Sunshine in US Cities · Current Results (NCDC Comparative Climatic Data, 1961-1990) · retrieved Supports: Sunshine hours, Climate normals, Tampa 2,927 hours; no St. Petersburg station
- Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Helene (AL092024) · NOAA National Hurricane Center · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, Character, 6.31 ft above MHHW at the St. Petersburg tide gauge (record since 1947; previous record 3.97 ft in Elena, 1985); 12 drowned in Pinellas County, 2 in St. Petersburg; at least 419 homes destroyed and 18,512 structures with major damage in Pinellas and Hillsborough
- Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Milton (AL142024) · NOAA National Hurricane Center · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, Character, Landfall at Siesta Key as a Category 3; Albert Whitted storm total 18.88 in and gust 88 kt; maximum storm total 20.40 in at a CoCoRaHS site near St. Petersburg; Tropicana Field's fabric roof ripped off
- Tropicana Field roof damaged by Hurricane Milton, downtown St. Pete crane snapped · Bay News 9 · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Tropicana Field (Milton damage, 2025 season at Steinbrenner Field, return on 6 April 2026) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, Character
- A new Rays stadium in Tampa gets clinching Hillsborough County approval · WUSF · retrieved Supports: Character
- ACS 2024 1-year tables B19013, B25003 and B08301 for St. Petersburg, Tampa and Port St. Lucie cities, Pinellas County, the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA, Florida and the US · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share, Character
- ACS 2024 1-year tables B08007 (place of work), B08013 (aggregate travel time) and B08303 (travel time to work) for St. Petersburg city and Pinellas County · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- ACS 2024 1-year table B01002 (median age) for St. Petersburg, Tampa, Port St. Lucie, Jacksonville, Miami and Orlando cities, the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA and the US · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Character
- ACS 2024 1-year table B27001 (health insurance coverage) for St. Petersburg city, Pinellas County, the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA, Florida and the US · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA (LAUMT124530000000003), St. Petersburg city (LAUCT126300000000003) and Pinellas County (LAUCN121030000000003), not seasonally adjusted · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- Current Employment Statistics, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA: total nonfarm (SMU12453000000000001), construction (SMU12453002000000001), supersectors (SMU1245300xx00000001), retail trade and federal government (SMU12453009091000001) · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- FY2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, Statistical Section: Principal Employers · City of St. Petersburg (filed with the Florida Auditor General) · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market, Health care, Character, Raymond James & Associates 4,800, All Children's Health 2,800, Power Design 1,700, Jabil Circuit 1,700, St. Anthony's Hospital 1,437, HCA Hospital 1,350, Duke Energy 1,250, Franklin Templeton 1,200, Catalent 800, PSCU 800; 17,837 or 12.45% of 147,705; the 2016 list of 20,300
- Discretionary Sales Surtax Information for Calendar Year 2026 (DR-15DSS) · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: Sales tax, Pinellas 1%, February 1, 1990 to December 31, 2029
- Penny for Pinellas: frequently asked questions · Penny for Pinellas (Pinellas County) · retrieved Supports: Sales tax, first approved in 1989 and in effect from 1990; renewed on November 7, 2017 for 2020-2029 with 83% support; tourists and seasonal visitors estimated to pay a third
- Florida Tax Rates & Rankings · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000, Tax notes
- 2026 Tax Brackets and Federal Income Tax Rates · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- Millage rates levied for 2025 taxes · Pinellas County Tax Collector · retrieved Supports: Tax notes, St Petersburg real estate total 19.9197 mills, of which the city 6.4525 (as carried in lib/metro-tampa/market.ts)
- St. Pete keeps property tax rate unchanged · St Pete Catalyst · retrieved Supports: Tax notes, 6.4525 mills for fiscal 2027 adopted 6-2 on 17 September 2026, above the 6.3854 rolled-back rate
- St. Pete holds property tax rate steady · St Pete Catalyst · retrieved Supports: Tax notes, taxable values of about $39.3 billion; ad valorem revenue up about $14.8 million; 6.4525 mills since fiscal 2025
- Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) and Observed Rent Index (ZORI), city files, June 2026 · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: Tax notes, St. Petersburg $355,759, down 3.9% year over year, and rent $2,058, as carried in lib/metro-tampa/market.ts
- Monthly Module Adjusted Data Release, complete monthly ridership with adjustments and estimates (Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, NTD 40027) · Federal Transit Administration, National Transit Database (via data.transportation.gov) · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership, Transit system
- Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (history, routes, SunRunner, Cross-Bay Ferry) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit system
- St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (location, owner, airlines, annual passenger traffic 2024 and 2025) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions · KFF · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Health care, Main sectors
- Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Health care, Main sectors
- Pinellas County School Board considers closing schools due to low enrollment · Bay News 9 · retrieved Supports: Education
- Pinellas County Schools move forward with closures, consolidations as enrollment declines district wide · FOX 13 · retrieved Supports: Education
- Final 2025 millage rates by taxing district · Hillsborough County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Published totals of 19.8428 for Tampa, 19.5319 for Temple Terrace, 18.2926 for Plant City and 18.2515 for the unincorporated county, Every component behind them, including the 0.5583 library services levy Temple Terrace and Plant City are outside and the 0.5000 transit authority levy Plant City is outside, A county General Purpose MSTU of 4.6163 paid in the unincorporated area in place of a municipal rate
- Table 1: Comparison of Taxes Levied, county and municipal governments, fiscal years 2024-25 and 2025-26 · Florida Department of Revenue, Property Tax Oversight · retrieved Supports: Independent confirmation of each municipality's own adopted 2025-26 levy in both counties
- Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 2020 to 2024 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved Supports: 2020 census counts and 2024 estimates for each municipality, Tampa at 414,547 and St. Petersburg at 267,102; Indian Shores at 1,190
- Hurricane Helene storm surge and Pinellas County flooding, September 2024 · Latent Insurance, on National Weather Service and Pinellas County data · retrieved Supports: The largest storm surge on record for St. Petersburg, over six feet in the city and more than seven on the barrier islands, Thousands of Pinellas homes flooded, many of which had never flooded before, St. Petersburg single-family homeowners insurance of roughly $3,900 to $5,500 a year with wind coverage, and higher on the barrier islands
- Home insurance in Tampa, Florida: 2026 rates · InsuranceQuotes · retrieved Supports: Tampa homeowners insurance averaging about $2,400 a year in 2026, A Tampa Bay range of roughly $3,285 to $5,100 across Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey · Freddie Mac · retrieved Supports: 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 6.67%
- Documentary stamp tax · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: 70 cents per $100 on a deed, in every county except Miami-Dade, which charges 60 cents plus a 45-cent surtax, 35 cents per $100 on a promissory note or other written obligation to pay money
- Governmental leasehold intangible personal property tax and the non-recurring intangible tax on mortgages · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A non-recurring intangible tax of 2 mills: 0.2%, on the obligation secured by a mortgage on Florida real property
- Property tax exemptions and additional benefits · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A $25,000 homestead exemption applying to all taxing authorities and a second slice, $25,000 in the 2024 base year and adjusted for inflation each 1 January since, applying to all but the school district, The Save Our Homes assessment limitation of 3% or the change in CPI, whichever is lower, Portability of up to $500,000 of accrued Save Our Homes benefit to a new homestead, The 1 March filing deadline
- Chapter 2023-17, Laws of Florida: preemption of rent control · The Florida Senate · retrieved Supports: The repeal of the referendum exception that had allowed a local rent control ordinance in a declared housing emergency
- 2025 Gazetteer files: places, Florida · United States Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: A land area of 61.806 square miles and a water area of 73.659 square miles for St. Petersburg city
- Helene_Damage_Assessment_Data, one point per parcel assessed after Hurricane Helene · City of St. Petersburg, ArcGIS Online · retrieved Supports: 13,494 parcels assessed after Hurricane Helene, 5,189 of them recorded as major damage and 146 as destroyed, A record per parcel rather than per home, with no description published for the layer
- Substantial improvement · Federal Emergency Management Agency · retrieved Supports: Substantial improvement is any reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition or other improvement whose cost equals or exceeds 50 percent of the market value of the structure before the start of construction, The category also covers structures that have sustained substantial damage, whatever repair work is actually carried out