Tampa's economy keeps growing

It might not be host to a major tech conference like South by Southwest, but the greater Tampa Bay metro area is about as economically productive as Austin, home to the hipster summit, according to the latest available data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Tampa Bay’s economy churned out more than $146 billion in gross domestic product in 2017. That’s about a percentage point behind Austin’s productivity. Among metropolitan statistical areas in the Southeast, only Atlanta ($386 billion), Miami ($345 billion) and Charlotte ($174 billion) posted larger GDPs. Nationwide, the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA ranks 26th in productivity, just ahead of Indianapolis and a few spots in front of Nashville.