Charting Tampa Bay's sapphic dating scene

A woman wearing glasses smiles while holding hands and dancing with another woman, other woman can be seen dancing in the background in front of a stage Credit: Photo by Dave Decker

Tampa Bay’s sapphic dating scene may feel tiny, but even in our little lesbian pond, there are still plenty of fish.

There are likely between 100,000 and 145,000 LGBTQ+ identifying women and nonbinary adults currently living in the Tampa Bay metro area. Excluding those married or in domestic partnerships, that leaves somewhere between 55,000 and 85,000 in the sapphic dating pool.

These are scientific calculations, but life and love are anything but scientific. The stats are based on the most recent data from the Williams Institute (2021) and Gallup (2024). Some who identified as straight or cis may have changed teams since then. And some of those partnered couples are bound to have broken up.

Of course, we can’t speak to how many of these people have dated your ex (TBH the number is probably higher than you think). But even if it feels like you’ve exhausted your options, you most likely haven’t.

Here are a few examples of how many single sapphics Tampa Bay has. Poly folks, check out the graphs below for even more possibilities.

🏟️ All the estimated single Gen Z and Millennial sapphics could sell out Raymond James Stadium (75,000 seat capacity)—a note for the next Chappell Roan tour.

🚚 If the 8,000 single GenX and Boomer sapphics moved in together on the same day, the line of U-Hauls would stretch bumper-to-bumper from Ybor City to St. Pete Beach.

🌉 The 4,000 estimated single senior sapphics holding hands could stretch across the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

Credit: Chart by Jack Spatafora; Data: Williams Institute, Gallup