Tampa Is One Of The Best Cities To Start A Business In 2024

The greater Tampa Bay area is certainly a great place in the country. One of them, according to WalletHub, is that Tampa is one of the best cities in which to start a business.

"It’s especially important to live in a city that provides an environment where new businesses can thrive, with enough capital, workers and customers to keep it going long-term,” Analysts Cassandra Hope states. An important point detailed in this report as the landscape of entrepreneurship in this country has changed a bit post-pandemic.

So, to understand where people should be in order to have great chances of starting a business, 19 different metrics were studied here. They were then arranged into three categories: business environment, access to resources, and business costs.

All types of industries are applicable to this ranking. Everything from the restaurant industry to the technology industry was considered.

Overall, Florida finished as a great place to be if you are interested in starting a business.

In fact, Tampa finished as the number two city. Finishing just behind Orlando, Tampa's business environment helped catapult it up to the top of the list. Rounding out the entire top 10 is St. Petersburg.

As previously stated, the Sunshine State seems to be a breeding ground for great new businesses to open their doors. Five of the top 10 cities to start a business in 2024 are here in Florida. After Tampa and Orlando, you will find Jacksonville at number four, Miami at number five, and St. Pete at 10.

WalletHub references the low corporate tax rates that allow companies to retain more of their revenue as an appealing point. They also said, "The monetary benefits of Tampa are evident in the fact that the city scores very high on the Entrepreneurial Activity Index, which indicates that there is a large number of startups in the city, and those startups have a high survival rate."

There was only a four-point differential between Tampa's score ranking and St. Petersburg's. In fact, both areas were high-scoring performing metros for the overall business environment. What's fascinating about this category is that only Austin, Texas scored better. Florida cities claimed six of the seven top spots in the entire country for business environment conditions.

In addition to Tampa and St. Pete, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, and Hialeah all ranked among the top seven business environment cities.

According to Infrastructure Report Card, there are 617,000 bridges in the United States. Outlets such as Attractions of America and Mr. Hudson have each come up with lists of the most beautiful bridges. Two of them call Florida home.

A bridge can be a historical landmark in addition to a pathway that connects communities. Certain bridges, like the Golden Gate in San Francisco, draw thousands of tourists each year. People plan trips around visiting this site and taking in its incredible views. Unsurprisingly, the Golden Gate Bridge is either #1 or #2 on each of the aforementioned lists.

The bridge that it shares the top spot with is famous for its ability to walk or bike over. The Brooklyn Bridge connects Brooklyn Heights to Manhattan via six lanes. Many charity-driven bike rides also cross here as it offers unique perspectives into New York City without any tollways.

In Florida, American Road and Transportation lists over 12,000 bridges in the Sunshine State (though not all of them are in functional condition). There are two however, that stand above the rest. One is architecturally astounding. The other feels like a gateway into a mysterious paradise.

"American bridges are often designed with looks to match their engineering ingenuity," Mr. Hudson explains.

What's fascinating about bridges in America, is they are constructed of different materials and serve different purposes. For example, the final and tenth selection in Attractions of America's feature is the Benson Bridge, Multnomah Falls, in Oregon. This is a foot traffic bridge that is only 45 feet long. It allows visitors to walk 105 feet above the Lower Multnomah Falls cascade

Let's take a look at the two most beautiful bridges in Florida.

Connecting St. Petersburg to Terra Ceia, this bridge is 4.1 miles long. This stunning bridge over Tampa Bay is often lit up with colors that highlight the skyline. Furthermore, since 2018, there has been a Skyway 10K race that closes the bridge each year.

This two-lane bridge is technically part of Route 1. It's a magical gateway into the Florida Keys. Mr. Hudson points out, "the Seven Mile Bridge usually has space for sightseers to park up and admire the Florida Keys." In 1982, a heavy renovation made the lanes wider, allowing for a safer and more comfortable drive. The last annual seven-mile bridge run took place this past April.