Metro Life Score

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL

Compiled byPlainCompare Editorial, PlainCompare Editorial Team · Updated May 16, 2026

49.0
Life Score / 100: B-
Grade (curved): #208
of 387 metros: 46%
of metros outranked

Data updated May 2026

Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census

The verdict

Tampa ranks #208 of 387 US metros, ahead of 46% - carried by its environment (89/100) and held back most by rent (9/100).

89
strongest: Environment: 88
then: Schools: 9
weakest: Rent: 7
weighted dimensions

Where Tampa sits among all US metros

Composite Life Score vs the national field

49 46th percentile higher than 46% of 387 US metros

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source PlainCompare composite of BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA data · May 2026

How the score is built

Reading the Tampa Life Score

Tampa's composite score of 49.0 out of 100, a grade of B-, places the metro at rank #208 of 387, ahead of 46% of US metros. The strongest inputs are Environment (89/100) and Schools (88/100), which pull the composite upward, while Rent (9/100) and Cost of Living (18/100) drag it downward. (How the weighting works.)

BEA RPP 100.9 (rent-RPP 125.8). BLS median salary $68,404, 1,402,180 jobs (Retail Salespersons, Registered Nurses, General and Operations Managers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,977/mo (studio $1,593).

FBI UCR (FL): 210 violent, 1030 property/100K. NCES: 17.8:1 ratio, 17.9% charter. DOL infant childcare $10,505/yr. EPA: 81 Superfund sites (FL). Ranks #205-#211 below.

Dimension detail

How Tampa scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 18/100 (20%)

Wages 47/100 (20%)

Rent 9/100 (15%)

Safety 83/100 (15%)

Schools 88/100 (10%)

Childcare 46/100 (10%)

Environment 89/100 (10%)

Key Data Points

100.9

Cost Index (RPP)

$68,404

Avg Median Salary

$1,977

2BR Fair Market Rent

210

Violent Crime/100K (FL)

17.8:1

Student-Teacher Ratio

$10,505

Infant Childcare/yr (FL)

Superfund Sites (FL)

1,402,180

Total Employment

Crime, schools, childcare, and environment data shown at state level where metro-specific data is unavailable.

Compare Tampa With...

Tampa vs Wildwood Compare → Tampa vs Jacksonville Compare → Tampa vs Tallahassee Compare → Tampa vs Waterloo Compare → Tampa vs Paducah Compare →

Ranking Context

Tampa outranks 46% of U.S. metros.

Rank	Metro	Score	Grade
#205	Bloomington, IL	49.1	B-
#206	Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT	49.2	B-
#207	Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI	49.2	B-
#208	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL	49.0	B-
#209	Erie, PA	48.9	B-
#210	Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, FL	48.9	B-
#211	Ocala, FL	48.7	B-

FL Metro Scores

Wildwood-The Villages, FL A+ 71.6 Jacksonville, FL B+ 59.0 Tallahassee, FL B 54.9 Sebring, FL B 54.8 Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL B 52.8 Homosassa Springs, FL B- 51.0

Using Tampa's Life Score

Tampa is a regional baseline, not a neighborhood reading, use it to shortlist, then dig into the dimensions that matter to you.

Its strongest dimension is environment (89/100) and its weakest is rent (9/100) - weigh those against your own priorities. How the score is built
Put Tampa head-to-head against another metro before you decide, every dimension, side by side. Compare metros
See where Tampa lands on the national rankings for cost, safety, pay and more. Browse rankings

Scores summarize federal data at the metro level; crime, schools and cost vary widely within a single metro.

Explore more

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Tampa's biggest strengths? ▼

Tampa's strongest dimensions are Environment (89/100), Schools (88/100), Safety (83/100). Environment is top-tier nationally.

What are Tampa's weakest areas? ▼

Tampa's lowest-scoring dimensions are Rent (9/100), Cost of Living (18/100), Childcare (46/100). Rent weighs heavily on the composite.

How expensive is Tampa compared to the national average? ▼

Tampa's Regional Price Parity is 100.9 (0.9% more than national); rent RPP 125.8.

What is the average salary in Tampa? ▼

Tampa median salary: $68,404, 1,402,180 jobs. Top: Retail Salespersons, Registered Nurses, General and Operations Managers.

How is the life score calculated? ▼

Tampa's 49.0/100 blends 7 federal-data dimensions - see our methodology page for the weighting.

Research Guides

Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, and EPA. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare Editorial

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

All federal data sources used on this page

U.S. Census Bureau ACS - multi-dimension demographic + housing + income aggregates for cross-area comparison. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
BEA Regional Economic Accounts - GDP, personal income, employment by state and metro. bea.gov/data/regional
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) - wage estimates for comparable-area indexing. bls.gov/oes
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) - crime statistics for safety-score component. fbi.gov/ucr
NCES Common Core of Data - public-school quality indicators by area. nces.ed.gov/ccd
EPA AirNow + Air Quality System (AQS) - air-quality measurements by area. epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data
HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR) - county and metro housing-cost indicators. huduser.gov/datasets/fmr

Every figure on PlainCompare is loaded directly from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OEWS, NCES, DOL, EPA, and the Census Bureau, no number is typed in by an editor. This metro's Life Score is computed directly from the 7 federal sources cited above. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.