St. Pete is teeming with talent, drawn by the city’s thriving economy and outstanding quality of life. We’re among the top 20 cities that are pulling in Gen-Zers and our metro leads as a destination for millennials, with the highest net gain in the country of movers aged 27-42.
Find your team in St. Pete
In recent years, St. Pete has morphed from a haven for retirees into one of the hottest destinations for young professionals. Pouring in from all over the country, younger workers are choosing St. Pete as home, creating a robust workforce for the city’s private and public sectors. With a growing pool of top-notch talent, St. Pete is seeing a surge of creativity and innovation across companies and the community.
St. Pete benefits from a highly engaged and diverse workforce.
St. Pete’s talent pool is replenished each year by the 30,000+ graduates from the dozens of colleges and universities within 100 miles of the city. There are more than 100,000 students enrolled at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg College, Hillsborough Community College, the University of Tampa, and Eckerd College alone.
The region’s colleges and universities are preparing students like never before.
St. Pete’s outstanding quality of life is a huge draw for talent, including people who grew up or went to school here, employees relocating with their company, and new and experienced professionals looking for their next move to an appealing location.
While housing costs have risen as St. Pete has grown in popularity, the area is significantly more affordable than many areas of the country, particularly larger cities like New York, Boston, and Chicago. Employees of all ages benefit from no state income tax and one of the country’s lowest tax rates overall. Affordability, a welcoming atmosphere, and gorgeous sunny days make St. Pete an easy decision for many folks.
The ability to move key people was an important consideration for Dynasty Financial Partners when executives visited St. Pete in advance of the company’s 2019 relocation.
Dynasty CEO Shirl Penney told Forbes,
“We focused on the impact such a move might have on our people and their families, including budget considerations, and on our ability to continue attracting the best and brightest in our industry.”
Botkeeper CEO founder Enrico Palmerino was interested both in attracting new talent and in capitalizing on existing talent.
“St. Pete was more artistic, romantic, and appeared to be going through a major boom that would be attractive for employees looking to relocate—this could only assist in my recruiting efforts,” he said.
In terms of talent already in St. Pete, he added,
“When you are building a company you want to build in a place where the talent pool is growing and where the market isn’t over saturated. Next you look at the population age to gauge the potential workforce, and Tampa Bay also has benefited from a migration of people out of Miami and up to Tampa Bay. With this migration have come a lot of engineers that were a part of the Miami crypto boom, which is a great pool to pull from for machine learning and AI engineering.”
Once you’re here, it’s not surprising to learn that people in their 20s and 30s are choosing the region as the place to launch and develop their careers.
Tampa Bay’s colleges, universities, and workforce programs are continually working to anticipate employers’ next needs and are partnering with local businesses to design programs that give employees the skills they need.
The Bellini Center for Talent Development at the University of South Florida’s Muma College of Business gives students access to career programming integrated into the curriculum beginning freshman year. The program emphasizes both the hard and soft skills needed for employee success. The Bellini Center also partners with employers to develop customized programs for internships and entry level opportunities.
Other centers within the university focus on specific skills and industries.
St. Petersburg College’s Workforce, Community & Corporate Partnerships Office provides on-site and custom training. Programs include AWS certification, introduction to entrepreneurship for emerging technologies, CompTIA Security+ certification, mechatronics for advanced manufacturing, and Lean Six Sigma, to name a few. SPC’s dedicated team of business relationship managers connect businesses with talent.
Florida Polytechnic University works with industry partners on capstone projects, internships, career days, and cutting-edge research. CareerSource Hillsborough Pinellas, Tampa Bay’s local workforce development board helps companies grow through staff development and training, as well as recruitment, at no cost to the employer. And the St. Pete Chamber‘s Hire the St. Pete Way workforce and talent development initiative convene’s the area’s top commerce, education, and government leaders
St. Pete prioritizes giving employers what they need to attract, recruit, retain, and develop the team members that will help their companies grow.
New companies. New opportunities. New news.
In a recent ADP Research analysis, the Tampa-St. Pete-Clearwater region landed the #2 spot among 53 major U.S. metros..
Find out how the St. Pete EDC can help you grow here.
Search articles, case studies, and more
We’re here to help
President & CEO
Contact for site selectors and companies considering relocation to or expansion in St. Pete
Business Recruitment Manager
Contact for general inquiries and initial exploration of St. Pete as a business location
Chief of Staff
Contact for CEO, Board, committees
Visit us in St. Pete
The St. Pete EDC is located at 111 2nd Ave NE, Ste. 610, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. Parking is available in the Plaza LAZ lot located next to the building; use GPS for 221 1st St N, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, which is near the entrance located on 1st Street N. between 2nd and 3rd Avenues.
Parking is $5/hour for the first 3 hours and $20 thereafter; it is a card payment facility only (no cash). Visitor parking is on the 1st and 4th floors; please note there is no handicapped access from the parking garage above the first floor.
There is also surrounding street parking; pay with ParkMobile or in the Sundial Garage located 2 blocks away.
Connect to St. Pete
We’ll put you in touch with the people, places, and programs you need to explore St. Pete as a new location for your business.
General Inquiries
