As the fastest growing industry segment in the Tampa Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), our financial and professional services businesses have year-over-year employment gains of 3.9 percent and an average workforce of 230,000.

With business-friendly government and community support, low cost of living, and enviable quality of life, choosing Tampa Bay just adds up.

Industry Highlights

• Fortune 500 firm Raymond James is headquartered in Pinellas County, as is Franklin Templeton.
• Johnson & Johnson announced plans to open its North American shared service headquarters in Tampa in 2015, creating 500 new high wage jobs. The world’s largest health care company joins Bristol-Myers Squibb, which opened its North America Capability Center here in 2014.
• DTCC originally selected Tampa as the site of a redundant operations center with 300 jobs a few years after September 11th impacted the New York financial markets. Now, a decade later, the site stands as a fully-integrated business operations unit with 650 staff and counting, who are conducting finance, legal, human resources, audit, marketing, and IT operations. Executives cited a knowledgeable workforce, educational resources, affordable cost of living, and support from local government as key factors in their decision to grow operations here.
• Citi manages 32 international locations and is at the forefront of its cybersecurity and anti-money laundering (AML) functions from its Tampa campus. Citi employs more than 5,000 here and announced significant growth plans in 2016, thanks to the excellent talent it continues to find in Tampa Bay.
• Headquartered in Tampa Bay since 1986, SouthEast Personnel Leasing provides human resource services, including personnel management, payroll, workers compensation claims, unemployment insurance claims and risk management for other companies. SouthEast Personnel’s revenues are large enough that if it were a publicly traded firm, it would earn a top 10 spot among all publicly traded firms in the Tampa Bay area.

Manufacturing has a long history in Tampa Bay, where it is a source of innovation for a wide range of industries. The region has the second largest base of manufacturing employment in Florida, and is home to the global headquarters of Jabil, along with more than 2,800 other manufacturing firms employing nearly 62,000 people. From precise military specifications to the creation and development of medical devices and manufacturing in highly regulated industries, our businesses are advancing modern manufacturing technology and making an impact across the globe.

Tampa Bay’s manufacturing sector also plays a key role in attracting investment from overseas. Close to 500 foreign-owned companies representing more than 40 nations have established successful operations here. In 2016, yacht manufacturer Bertram announced plans to locate its global headquarters in Tampa.

Leading manufacturing companies in the region:

• Acoustiblok
• Amalie Oil Company
• Bausch + Lomb
• Bertram Yachts
• BIC Graphic USA
• Bosch
• Chromalloy Castings
• CONMED
• Cott Beverages
• Covidien
• Custom Cable
• GE Energy
• Gerdau
• Jabil
• James Hardie
• Johnson Controls
• Leggett & Platt Adjustable Beds
• Lidworks
• Masonite
• Mettler Toledo
• Monin
• Mosaic
• PACA Foods
• Seaway Plastics Engineering
• Tampa Tank and Florida Structural Steel
• TSE Industries
• Welbilt

Tampa Bay has emerged as a driving force behind the state’s fast-growing life sciences industry, which includes more than 7,000 companies and supports more than 131,000 jobs.

In recent years, globally renowned corporations, such as Bristol-Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson have chosen Tampa as the site for major North American operations. They joined a stellar list of life sciences companies in the area, including Quest Diagnostics, Covidien, HealthPlan Services, Synergy Health, Smart Science Labs, LifeLink, Biologics Development Services, Xcelience, Alps, Bausch & Lomb Surgical, Baxter Healthcare, Bovie Medical Corporation, Oscor, Halkey Roberts, and Unilens Corp. Tampa Bay's talented workforce, strong university presence, pro-business climate, and quality of life have made it easier than ever to locate and expand a life sciences company here.

The Tampa Bay region is gaining a global reputation as a growing hub for research and development. USF Health, University of Tampa College for Natural & Health Sciences, USF St. Petersburg College of Marine Science, Draper Labs, Eckerd College, St. Petersburg College, SRI St. Petersburg, Bayboro Harbor Research District, and Hillsborough Community College Health Sciences and Nursing programs all contribute to the region’s research and innovation capabilities and train the next generation of scientists, doctors, and technicians.

Florida is ranked third in the nation for high-tech establishments, and the Florida High Tech Corridor, anchored by the Tampa Bay region, has been named one of the top tech job hot spots in the United States. Holding 20 percent of the state’s IT positions, Tampa is ranked among the Top Ten Best American Cities to Work in Tech, according to SmartAsset.

In the past five years, local IT jobs have grown at nearly twice the rate of overall average job growth and are projected to increase by 10 percent over the next five-year period. We have quickly become a hub for IT companies of all shapes and sizes, and there doesn’t seem to be any stopping our growth in the industry. 

Florida’s software and computer systems design and integration industry is one of the largest in the U.S., with nearly 12,600 firms. The Tampa metro area ranks...

• #1 in Florida in terms of the concentration of .NET developers, data warehousing specialists, and Hadoop developers.
• #1 in Florida and tenth in the U.S. for the number of computer network architects employed.
• #2 for NoSQL developers and e-commerce professionals.
• #3 for PHP developers.

Tampa Bay is home to 19 corporate headquarters with over $1 billion in annual revenue, seven of which are Fortune 1000 companies. Almost 500 foreign-owned companies representing more than 40 nations are established in our community.

Companies operating here enjoy low labor costs, favorable corporate tax policies, no personal income tax, and stable, pro-business leadership. Collaboration between state and local government and industry has resulted in effective development packages, targeted financial incentives, expedited permitting, and streamlined regulatory processes. These conditions have made Tampa Bay an ideal place for companies such as Raymond James, Jabil, Tech Data, The Penny Hoarder, Home Shopping Network, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, Citigroup, Amazon, SouthEast Personnel Leasing, USAA, and Welbilt.

We are home to MacDill Air Force Base and two, four-star Combatant Commands: U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) and U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Thirty-eight additional mission partners operate from MacDill AFB, in addition to specialized security and intelligence firms.

Tampa Bay has one of the largest veteran workforces in the nation, and our business community takes pride in our military workforce of roughly 92,000. Locally, a $14 billion military industry has developed around areas like cybersecurity and IT, intelligence and analysis, training and simulation, and advanced manufacturing. Defense-focused education programs ensure the students of today are trained for the jobs of tomorrow.

Each May, we host the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC), a three-day event presented by the Special Operations Research, Development and Acquisition Center (SORDAC) and the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) that identifies the top priorities and business opportunities available through USSOCOM acquisition programs.