TAMPA, Fla. — A recent study shows the job market in Tampa and St. Petersburg to be one of the fastest growing in the nation.

The study, performed by ADP Research, looked at payroll data of more than 400,000 people between the ages of 20 and 29, spanning from January 2025 to January 2026. Toward the top of the list —Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater.

According to ADP’s data, the Tampa-St. Petersburg and Clearwater region is second on the list. ADP compared 53 U.S. metro areas with populations of at least one million residents. They focused on three characteristics: wages, hiring rates, and affordability.

Just last year, Tampa-St. Pete and Clearwater ranked 26th, making one of the biggest leaps from last year.

In fact, the hiring rate rose from 2.6% to 3.4%, representing one of the fastest paces, a promising outlook for recent graduates at the University of South Florida.

Spectrum News spoke with an associate professor at USF’s Muma College of Business to learn more. Each year, the school performs a state of the region event tracking key indicators when it comes to the job market such as wages, hiring and job growth. That professor tells us they consistently find that Tampa Bay does well in healthcare, technology and financial services. Those three sectors, he says, are contributing to Tampa’s fast hiring rate.

“That is driven by new industries moving, new businesses moving to the Tampa Bay area, which we find in our State of the Region report all the time,” said Shivendu Shivendu, associate professor in the School of Information Systems at USF Muma College of Business. “Tampa Bay’s growth is growth of new businesses moving into the area, and that is making hiring rates increase.”

The study also takes in affordability and cost of living of a region, which has certainly been a talking point for locals here throughout the Tampa area.

According to data collected, the average salary in Tampa-St. Pete for someone between the ages of 20 and 29 is about $49,817.

Other Florida cities did not fare as well in the rankings. Orlando fell out of ADP’s top 10, where it placed last year. Jacksonville and Miami also took a dip.