The magazine polled 30 of the country’s national leading site consultants, who selected Nashville, Atlanta, Charlotte and Dallas for the top four spots on the list, respectively.
Tampa landed in a four-way tie for the fifth spot with Richmond, Kansas City and Houston.
This is the first time Tampa has ever made the list.
“The city’s favorable tax climate, highly skilled workforce, direct foreign investment, and quality of life are some of the reasons it stood out,” Tampa officials said in a news release.
Mayor Jane Castor said, “The milestone is a reflection of the momentum our community has built together. We’re creating an environment where businesses thrive, families succeed and big ideas feel right at home.”
The greater Tampa Bay area is home to 19 corporate headquarters with more than $1 billion in annual revenue, seven of which are Fortune 1000 companies, according to Global Tampa Bay, a regional collaboration between the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council, Pinellas County Economic Development and the Pasco Economic Development Council.
Major companies with corporate headquarters or large facilities in Tampa include Kforce, Bristol Myers Squibb, Amazon, Citigroup and USAA.
Last year, 29 companies chose to expand or move to the Tampa Bay area, bringing in a record $273 million in investment for fiscal year 2025, according to the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council, Bay News 9 reported.
This growth came despite back-to-back hits by hurricanes Helene and Milton in late 2024.
“People were taking a pause, re-evaluating Tampa, re-evaluating Florida as a whole,” Mitchel Allen, senior vice president for the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council, told Bay News 9. “I think what they saw is our resiliency to get back on our feet, really push forward, and so businesses started to come back to us and say we are ready to make the move.”
Among the most notable companies moving to Tampa, Catalent, Inc., which has operated a 500,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in St. Petersburg, announced in September that it plans to open a new state-of-the-art global headquarters across the bay, according to a news release.
Wagamama, a global restaurant brand known for a modern take on Asian cuisine, moved its U.S. headquarters from New York City to Tampa at the end of the year.
In October, German tech firm TeamViewer announced plans to move its U.S. headquarters from a Clearwater office park to more than 26,000 square feet in an 18-story office tower under construction in Midtown Tampa, Tampa Bay Business Journal said.
Defense contractor Orion Edge said in November that it’s relocating its headquarters to Tampa and investing $20 million in the area during the move, Tampa Bay Business & Wealth reported.
And Norwegian company AquaFence, which makes flood barricades, recently said it’s considering Tampa for the home of its U.S. headquarters, Fox 13 reported.