A study by KPMG found Tampa to be the least expensive place for business among cities with populations of more than two million.
A release accompanying the study cited “very competitive labor costs along with moderately-low office/industrial leasing and sales tax costs” as significant factors in the determination.
The study compared each city's resources against average business costs in the four largest U.S. metropolitan areas (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas-Fort Worth). The average of the four was represented as a benchmark cost index, set at 100.
Tampa's cost index was found to be 96.0, suggesting business costs are 4.0% lower than the national baseline level.
The top five list of lowest-cost cities as calculated by the study was rounded out by Atlanta (with a cost index of 96.3), Miami (97.0), Baltimore (97.1), and Dallas-Fort Worth (97.7).
The five most expensive cities were San Francisco (104.1), New York (102.0), Los Angeles (101.4), San Diego (100.9), and Boston (100.8).