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Tampa unveiled an online tool on Thursday that will help city and Hillsborough residents watch and monitor its financial numbers.
The city's Economic Dashboard was launched to help people understand where the city is at any given time, in real time.
And because not all data is city-specific, some data includes all of Hillsborough County. Some data includes all of the Tampa Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties.
Tampa officials say it is the first interactive online tool where people can view the general economic environment of the region in real-time.
City officials say the city's economy itself is growing "exponentially" because of strong partnerships between the private and public sectors, including developers, hospital systems, universities, the chambers of commerce, the Economic Development Council and other stakeholders.
"From our strengths to our weaknesses — that is what we want our new Economic Dashboard to show," says Mayor Jane Castor in a news statement. "Our staff is excited to have this tool at their fingertips to assist in our decision-making and we believe other local governments, business organizations, foundations, and community groups will find it useful too."
The Economic Dashboard uses nine private and publicly available data sources, such as the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It also uses data from paid subscriptions — companies that have less public data or privately collected data.
The city did not hide the bad and the ugly under the good.
Nicole Travis, Tampa's Development and Economic Opportunity administrator, said the data is transparent so "users will find a clear picture of the state of Tampa’s economy – from population demographics, rent-burden on small businesses, poverty levels and consumer spending."
Some key statistics that can gleaned from city's Economic Dashboard:
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