The City of Tampa’s Economic Dashboard is a tool used by current and prospective residents, business owners, property owners, and developers in determining the general economic environment of the City of Tampa and the region. The City has experienced transformational changes throughout the past decades, which accelerated in most recent years thanks to the partnerships between the private and public sectors, including developers, hospitals, universities, Chambers of Commerce, the Economic Development Council, and other stakeholders. The Economic Dashboard, while not related to specific projects, can be used to determine how the aggregate impact of the projects and City initiatives to support local businesses reflect on the wellbeing of our residents and businesses.
Tampa’s Economic Scorecard utilizes reliable private and publicly available data sources such as the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics to report impartial data on a regular basis to provide a snapshot of the economic vitality of the City and the region. The quarterly data updates also provide the users with the ability identify trends on the 47 economic indicators used in this tool.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Using the dashboard
Can I use the dashboard on my mobile device?
Yes. The dashboard is fully functional on mobile devices and also available on the Tampa Mobile App.
Can I see the dashboard in a different language?
Yes. Use the Google Translate feature on the page footer to choose a language. Please note that translations might have some inconsistencies due to Google Translate limitations.
General questions about the data
What date is the data from?
Each value shows the latest data available for each indicator. Usually, they will provide information for the latest quarter of the year. However, this is contingent on the update schedule of the data providers, so some of the indicators may lag more than others.
When is the data going to be updated?
The dashboard is automatically updated approximately 15 days after the end of every quarter. Return soon if you don’t see an indicator up to its latest value. The updates are contingent on the publishing schedule of the data providers.
Where is the data coming from?
All data comes from nine different sources, of which seven are private or proprietary data (Dealroom, Alignable, JLL, Dewey Data, Safegraph, Data Axle, and Lightcast), and two are publicly available data sets (the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics).
What does each indicator mean?
Use the “About the data” button on the right top corner of the page to see a table with descriptions about all indicators in the dashboard. You can also use the list of variables available in the next section of this document.
What geography is the data from?
Although most tabs are consistent in the scale, they provide data in geographies can range from city level, county, MSA, census tract, ZIP code, real estate submarket, or city subdivision, depending on the source and level of disaggregation. See the indicator headlines or the “About the data” page for more details.
What is the baseline of comparison for each indicator?
The default baseline tracking the variation for all indicators is the previous quarter. For example, if the latest data available is Q4 2023, the baseline will be Q3 2023, providing the value of the quarter-to-quarter change. To account for seasonality, users can change the baseline to the same quarter of the previous year by using the toggle option on the top of each tab. This will base the value, color and direction of the trend pill items on that baseline. However, note that the main value of each indicator won’t change since they will always showcase the latest data available.
How can I use this data?
For more information about how these indicators can be used and interpreted, click on the “About the data” button on the top right of the screen. The third column (Insights and Use Cases) provides helpful notes about how city leaders and their partners can use these metrics to make decisions.
Questions about specific indicators
Where do the benchmark cities in the Jobs tab come from?
This is a short list of cities considered as benchmarks for Tampa that were provided by the Tampa Development & Economic Opportunity team during the early stages of the project.
How is the automation risk calculated?
The Lightcast Automation Index measures the risk of an occupation for automation. It is presented on an index with a base of 100. Occupations with a score above 100 have a greater-than-average risk of automation, and occupations with a score below 100 have a lower-than-average risk of automation. It uses four different measures: % of time spent on high-risk work, % of time on low-risk work, number of high-risk jobs in compatible occupations, and overall industry automation risk. For more information, see Lightcast's documentation.
How was the living wage calculated in the Jobs tab?
The living wage was calculated based on MIT's Living Wage Calculator, where Tampa's living wage for one adult without children is $17.89 per hour or $37,211.2 annually.
How do I find a neighborhood in the Real Estate tab?
Real Estate data doesn’t necessarily match political or neighborhood boundaries. Use the drop-down list in the Real Estate tab to choose from the JLL submarkets available and use the map to the right to visualize the extent of the areas.
Where does the number of businesses in the city come from?
These are businesses of any size with addresses in Tampa as collected by Data Axle from secretaries of state, county courthouses, utility providers, departments of revenue, departments of taxation, local business and legal journals, and other sources that record new business transactions.
Why can’t we see all founding round sizes in the Startup tab?
Unfortunately, not all funding round sizes are disclosed. Therefore, there might be an inconsistency in the number of funding rounds and the number of funding rounds for which size is available in the bar chart in the Startups tab.
For inquires contact Javier Marin, Director Economic Opportunity, 813-274-8812, javier.marin@tampagov.net