Moving to Tampa

Defence & national security

MacDill Air Force Base, US Central Command, US Special Operations Command, SOFWERX, CAE, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, RTX

MacDill is the only US installation hosting two four-star combatant commands, and it anchors a large contractor ecosystem in simulation, intelligence and special-operations support. Most of the government-facing work requires US citizenship and a security clearance, which rules it out for most new arrivals — plan around it rather than counting on it.

Finance, insurance & shared services

Citi's Tampa campus, JPMorgan Chase, Raymond James across the bay in St Petersburg, MetLife, USAA, Syniverse

Tampa is one of the country's larger back-office and operations centres for financial services, built on cheap floor space and no state income tax. These are genuine career-track roles rather than call-centre work, and they are the single most accessible professional employer for a newcomer without a clearance.

Healthcare & cancer research

Tampa General Hospital on Davis Islands, Moffitt Cancer Center, AdventHealth, BayCare, USF Health

Moffitt is one of a small number of National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centres in Florida and is building a large new campus in Pasco County. Tampa General sits on its own island beside downtown and is the region's academic and trauma hospital.

Port, logistics & energy

Port Tampa Bay, TECO Energy, Mosaic, CSX, Amazon and Publix distribution

Port Tampa Bay is Florida's largest port by tonnage and by land area — bulk cargo, fuel, fertiliser and cruise, which is a very different profile from Fort Lauderdale's passenger-and-petroleum Port Everglades. It is also why the phosphate and fertiliser industry is a visible part of the regional economy.

Higher education

University of South Florida, University of Tampa, Hillsborough Community College, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine

USF is a large public research university whose medical school moved downtown into the Water Street district, deliberately tying the university to the new central business area. It is the main pipeline for local technical and clinical hiring.

Tourism, sport & hospitality

Busch Gardens, Seminole Hard Rock, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Lightning and Rays, Visit Tampa Bay, the cruise terminals at Channelside

Less dominant than in Orlando or Miami but a large employer, and the reason downtown and Ybor have the bar and restaurant density they do. The Rays' long-running stadium question is a live local argument that affects the St Petersburg side more than Tampa's.

Neighborhood · North-east of downtown

A National Historic Landmark District of brick cigar factories, wrought-iron balconies and social clubs built by Cuban, Spanish, Italian and Afro-Cuban workers from 1885 — and home to a protected population of free-roaming chickens.

Local tip: Go on a weekday to see it as a neighbourhood rather than a nightlife strip. The Ybor City Museum State Park includes a restored cigar worker's casita, and the free TECO streetcar runs from here to downtown and Channelside.

Landmark · South Tampa, along Hillsborough Bay

Four and a half miles of continuous waterfront balustrade said to be the longest unbroken sidewalk in the world, with the bay on one side and South Tampa's grandest houses on the other.

Local tip: It is the city's default running and cycling route and it is genuinely lovely at dawn. It also floods — this is the Gasparilla parade route and the stretch that takes water in a surge event, which tells you something about the geography.

Neighborhood · Downtown, along the Hillsborough River

A continuous two-and-a-half-mile riverside path linking the museums, the arena, the convention centre and the new Water Street district — the reason downtown Tampa became walkable within a decade.

Local tip: The free TECO streetcar covers the same corridor and links downtown to Ybor. Sparkman Wharf at the eastern end is the outdoor food-hall stop; the Tampa Bay History Center next door is the best single explanation of why this city looks the way it does.

Food · Ybor City and West Tampa

La Segunda Central Bakery has baked Cuban bread since 1915 with a palm frond laid along the loaf; the Columbia, opened 1905, is the oldest restaurant in Florida; and West Tampa's unmarked windows sell deviled crabs and café con leche to people who already know.

Local tip: Buy the bread before ten or it is gone. The Columbia is worth doing once for the tiled dining rooms rather than for the food; the better everyday eating is the Cuban and Puerto Rican places along Columbus Drive in West Tampa.

Culture · Tampa Heights, north of downtown

A 1910 streetcar maintenance building on the river turned into a food hall and workspace, and the anchor of a neighbourhood of restored bungalows that went from derelict to central in about ten years.

Local tip: Walk the river path south from here to the Riverwalk, or north into Seminole Heights for the bungalow streets and the independent restaurant strip on Florida Avenue — the two best walkable neighbourhoods in the city are stitched together this way.

Nature · Apollo Beach, southern Hillsborough County

The warm-water discharge canal of a power station has become a federally designated manatee sanctuary — from November to April several hundred manatees pack into it, watched from a boardwalk, entirely free.

Local tip: It only opens in the cold months and closes when the water warms, and the best days are the coldest ones. There is a stingray touch tank and a butterfly garden alongside, and almost nobody outside the county thinks to go.