In 2004, Creative Tampa Bay commissioned a study “to determine how the Tampa Bay region ranked in attracting the young, well-educated workforce that will be the economic driver of the future.” Three years later, two major national financial publications have come out with their studies. The result is not good if you’re under 35 here in the Bay area.
Local Effort
First, let’s look back at the report from Creative Tampa Bay (pdf).
INSIGHTS:
• Tampa Bay’s share of the important 25 to 34 year-old population is relatively much smaller than most large metropolitan areas, ranking 47th out of the top 50 areas.
• Educational attainment for 25 to 34 year-olds in Tampa Bay lags far behind its counterparts in the U.S.’s top 50 largest metropolitan areas. The educational level has improved in the last decade, but just managed to keep pace with the national trend.
• Tampa Bay’s benchmark regions, particularly Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, and Nashville, have more young adults and have gained more 25 to 34 year-olds (while Tampa Bay lost them).
• Tampa Bay attracts more young adults from 35 of the 50 largest metropolitan areas than it loses. The largest share comes from New York, but generally, Tampa Bay loses population to larger metro areas in the South, particularly its benchmark regions.
Ouch. The study didn’t paint a rosy picture of the young professional climate here.
National Image
The “Best Cities” reports from Kiplinger’s is not kind. Tampa Bay is not on it’s list top 50 Smart Cities to Live from 2006. It’s also not on the top 5 Best Cities for Young Singles. Cost of living, salary levels, and other quality of life measurements went into these lists - so it’s not really a surprise that Tampa Bay didn’t make the cut. However, if you are over 65, then Tampa Bay is the place to be:
Florida has many fine places to spend a restful retirement. But if you don’t define retirement as golf, white belts and canasta, then Tampa Bay is the place to go to kick-start a second (or third) act. Says Katee Tully, a recent transplant to the area: “This is a rich, fertile place for people who are reinventing themselves.”
Sigh. Yes, we still live in God’s waiting room.
Okay, so what about the venerable Forbes magazine? It’s list should be better right?
Nope. Dead last.
In their survey of Best Cities for Young Professionals, Tampa came in at #40 out of 40. With that placement, Forbes provided an in-depth review of just why Tampa is so far down the list. I normally don’t like to quote so much material from a source, but they did a great job with the bad news:
Sunshine most of the year and beaches nearby make Tampa a good place to live or have a second home, but neither counts for much in the eyes of those looking to climb the corporate ladder.
Tampa came in last on our list of cities best for young professionals. Behind Detroit. Behind Indianapolis.
The main reason? It’s just a slightly older person’s town. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Tampa sits second-to-last among cities ranked for the number of those aged 20 to 35 and last for how many people in that demographic have never been married.
Digging a bit deeper, just over a quarter of Tampa’s housing stock is comprised of investment and second home buyers, according to Moody’s Economy.com. Snowbirds and out-of-towners don’t do much for young professionals looking to let loose. On the business side, Tampa tied Detroit and Indianapolis for third-to-last in the number of 400 best big businesses and 200 best small businesses that call the city home. This significantly hampers Tampa’s ability to attract top-flight grads and young professionals, as our graduate tracking metric indicates.
“Behind Detroit.” The truth hurts, eh?
Now to be fair, the methodology could be a bit biased:
Our list was compiled by tracking where the graduates of top universities across the country ended up 10 years after commencement; where the best business opportunities exist; which cities had the most young and unmarried people; and which cities paid young professionals the best. … The goal: to determine which cities offer such strong opportunities for young professionals that they’re willing to pick up and move across the country for them.
We’re Working on It
It’s not for lack of trying.
Eric Sturm’s TampaOptions.com has been compiling a list of local events for the young professional community — if you’re not on his mailing list, sign up today. Eric even wrote a book entitled Access Tampa Bay, with information on more than 700 organizations - volume two will have 2,500.
To be sure, the people behind Creative Tampa Bay started the right push - they prompted the Tampa Chamber of Commerce to create Emerge Tampa, they helped form Verve, their energy caused more people to act through groups like the Tampa Jaycees, Avante Garde, and other groups.
Additionally, the Creative Tampa Bay study identified things our community leaders could do to rectify the problems.
OPPORTUNITIES:
• Work to improve the region’s central city – downtown Tampa.
• Build vibrant, connected places so that street life is palpable.
• Capitalize on the variety of Tampa Bay’s regional assets. Connect the dots.
• Increase educational attainment.
• Improve marketing materials and websites to showcase active lifestyles, diversity, and the young adult culture.
Now, we’ve started down the list. Well, some of them. Although, in truth, not much has really happened on the list.
Membership in both Emerge and the Jaycees has declined significantly and Verve no longer exists. Young professional groups have simply not gained strength.
So, if you’re a young professional how does this make you feel? Are you ready to pack your bags for Austin or Atlanta? Boston or Minneapolis?