Unfortunately, Tampa and the Tampa Bay area frequently rank among the lowest regions in the country on various indexes (such as transportation, pedestrian safety, etc.). Florida and the Bay area have never ranked high on education surveys, and the area received another major diss today with the release of the Daily Beast's second annual "America's Smartest (and Dumbest) Cities."
One saving grace for the area's leaders is that, according to the website, Tampa isn't even the dumbest city in Florida. No, that dubious honor is reserved for the good folks on the east side of I-4, Orlando.
You can check the front page of the survey to learn what criteria the site uses to rate the 55 cities, which are listed in descending order from smartest (#1) to dumbest (#55). Note that there are plenty of Florida cities crowding the bottom. Here's how the study ranked the Bay area:
This article appears in Oct 21-27, 2010.