The Tampa Bay metro area had the 13th biggest population growth over the year ended July 1, 2015 among 392 metro areas in the U.S., based on data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The Tampa Bay area or Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area increased by 57,412, pushing Tampa Bay’s population to 2,975,225, nearly three million, as of July 1, 2015.
Among Florida metro areas, the Tampa Bay area posted the third biggest growth, behind the Miami metro area, which ranked 7th and the Orlando metro area, which ranked
TOP 30 METRO AREAS by GROWTH
| Ranking | Metro Area | Population | Growth in |
| by | as of | Population | |
| Growth | July 1, 2015 | from 2014 to 2015 | |
| 1 | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas | 6,656,947 | 159,083 |
| 2 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas | 7,102,796 | 144,704 |
| 3 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Georgia | 5,710,795 | 95,431 |
| 4 | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona | 4,574,531 | 87,988 |
| 5 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania | 20,182,305 | 87,186 |
| 6 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, California | 13,340,068 | 85,671 |
| 7 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Florida | 6,012,331 | 75,231 |
| 8 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-Virginia-Maryland-West Virginia | 6,097,684 | 63,793 |
| 9 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington | 3,733,580 | 60,714 |
| 10 | Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida | 2,387,138 | 60,409 |
| 11 | San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, California | 4,656,132 | 60,152 |
| 12 | Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colorado | 2,814,330 | 58,474 |
| 13 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida | 2,975,225 | 57,412 |
| 14 | Austin-Round Rock, Texas | 2,000,860 | 57,395 |
| 15 | San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas | 2,384,075 | 51,285 |
| 16 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, California | 4,489,159 | 50,444 |
| 17 | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, North & South Carolina | 2,426,363 | 47,186 |
| 18 | Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nevada | 2,114,801 | 45,655 |
| 19 | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Oregon-Washington | 2,389,228 | 40,621 |
| 20 | Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, Tennessee | 1,830,345 | 36,435 |
| 21 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Massachusetts-New Hampshire | 4,774,321 | 34,936 |
| 22 | San Diego-Carlsbad, California | 3,299,521 | 33,821 |
| 23 | Raleigh, North Carolina | 1,273,568 | 30,533 |
| 24 | Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade, California | 2,274,194 | 29,315 |
| 25 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minnesota-Wisconsin | 3,524,583 | 28,927 |
| 26 | Jacksonville, Florida | 1,449,481 | 28,477 |
| 27 | Columbus, Ohio | 2,021,632 | 24,324 |
| 28 | Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida | 701,982 | 22,749 |
| 29 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California | 1,976,836 | 22,488 |
| 30 | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | 1,358,452 | 20,833 |
By pace of population growth, the Tampa Bay area ranked 40th, with a growth rate of 2%.
TOP 20 METRO AREAS by GROWTH RATE
| Ranking | Metro Area | Growth Rate |
| 1 | The Villages, Florida | 4.3% |
| 2 | Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, South & North Carolina | 3.5% |
| 3 | Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida | 3.3% |
| 4 | Midland, Texas | 3.3% |
| 5 | Odessa, Texas | 3.3% |
| 6 | Greeley, Colorado | 3.2% |
| 7 | Austin-Round Rock, Texas | 3.0% |
| 8 | Bend-Redmond, Oregon | 2.9% |
| 9 | Punta Gorda, Florida | 2.8% |
| 10 | Fort Collins, Colorado | 2.7% |
| 11 | North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida | 2.7% |
| 12 | Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort, South Carolina | 2.6% |
| 13 | Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida | 2.6% |
| 14 | Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Florida | 2.6% |
| 15 | College Station-Bryan, Texas | 2.6% |
| 16 | Raleigh, North Carolina | 2.5% |
| 17 | St. George, Utah | 2.5% |
| 18 | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas | 2.4% |
| 19 | Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina | 2.4% |
| 20 | Provo-Orem, Utah | 2.4% |
WHY ARE MORE PEOPLE COMING to the TAMPA BAY AREA?
1. Good weather
Many people in northern states no longer want to suffer long cold months. They want to be outdoors for most days of the year.
2. Employee relocation
We often get residential real estate inquiries from professionals who are being reassigned to companies or institutions in the Tampa Bay area.
3. Job opportunities
The Tampa Bay area and other large Florida metro areas are fast becoming hubs of information technology and biotechnology businesses. Over the past years, companies have been relocating and expanding in the area. These have been attracting millennials and other professionals to Tampa Bay.
4. Housing affordability
Home prices have gone up, but many homes are still affordable to a lot of people.
5. Affordable cost of living
Over the past few years, Tampa’s average cost living index (COLI) has been the lowest among Florida’s metro areas and among the lowest in the country, based on data from the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER).
6. Access to top-rated Gulf beaches, theme parks and other water forms such as lakes and rivers
Residents don’t have to spend a lot of time and money to travel to beautiful beaches, lakes and rivers.
7. Availability of a lot of waterfront homes
There’s something about views of the water from one’s own abode, and something even more gratifying when one can just walk to one’s boat and enjoy the water.