Tampa Bay ranked third amongst six Southeastern cities in the most recent economic assessment conducted by Tampa Bay Partnership. The scorecard measured Tampa Bay against Dallas, Jacksonville, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, and Atlanta. Raleigh-Durham performed best while Atlanta bottomed out the list.
The rankings resulted from each city’s performance in six categories: Employment and Workforce; Income and Productivity; Housing; Education; Transportation; and Innovation. The results reflect economic performance from Fall 2009, an update from the springtime scorecard.
This time around, Tampa Bay most improved in the Income and Productivity category. Tampa Bay ranked first in Average Wage Growth and rose to second amongst the group in Per Capita Personal Income.
Tampa Bay also improved in areas of Transportation with less Vehicle Miles Traveled (maybe due to unemployment?) and improved Transportation Investment Per Capita (maybe due to TBARTA). Upcoming transportation projects in Tampa, specifically the Crosstown connection to I-4 will further impact this category.
Unsurprisingly, Tampa Bay declined in the Housing category partly due to a 6% decrease in Single Family Home prices. Home prices in this region now average $143,500. In addition to a low ranking in home buying, Tampa Bay hit bottom in Rental Affordability. Despite the grim figures, Florida real estate seems to be stabilizing according to Tampa Bay Partnership.
The Tampa Bay region generally showed hopeful improvements and its middle of the pack score is an assessment that normal growth patterns might return to Tampa again. You can read the Regional Economic Scorecard from Tampa Bay Partnership here.
