Survey: Florida CEO confidence slips from record high

Florida CEOs have lowered their expectations for hiring, sales and capital spending in the third quarter, pulling a statewide business confidence index down from its record high.

The Florida Council of 100’s quarterly CEO Index fell 10 points to 96, compared with 106 in the second quarter, the organization announced Tuesday. Still, the reading remained above the 91 points recorded a year earlier and edged past the national score of 94.

The Florida CEO Index is The Florida Council of 100’s quarterly measure of business confidence, modeled after the national CEO Economic Index released by Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit and lobbying group the Business Roundtable. The survey captures Florida CEOs’ expectations for sales, capital investment and employment over the next six months, the release says.

Hiring remained Florida’s strongest advantage over the national results this quarter, the survey says. While the state’s employment index registered 89, down from 100 in the second quarter, that is 31 points above the national reading of 58.

“Florida’s business leaders remain confident in opportunities to invest and grow,” Florida Council of 100 Chair George LeMieux says in the statement. “Hiring expectations remain particularly strong relative to the nation, and investment expectations are substantially higher than a year ago.”

The decline follows a quarter in which Florida’s index reached its highest level since the council launched the measure in 2025. The index stood at 98 in the first quarter before climbing to 106 in the second. Readings above 50 indicate expansion, the council says.

Florida’s third-quarter results showed different patterns across the three measures:

• Sales: The index fell to 104 from 118 in the second quarter, the largest quarterly decline among the categories in the survey. It remains higher than last year’s reading of 100 but trailed the national score of 129.
• Capital investment: The index slipped to 96 from 99, matching the national reading. Investment expectations showed the strongest annual improvement, rising 11 points from 85.
• Employment: The hiring index dropped 11 points from the second quarter but remained slightly above its year-earlier reading of 87.

While Florida CEO’s overall confidence has declined, the national CEO index moved in the opposite direction, rising three points to 94. That narrows Florida’s lead over the national averages from 15 points in the second quarter to two points in the third. The national improvement was driven primarily by stronger hiring plans, according to the Business Roundtable, which conducts that survey.

Founded in 1961 at the request of Florida’s then-Gov. Farris Bryant, the Florida Council of 100 is a nonpartisan business organization made up of prominent business and community leaders that represents more than 200 companies employing more 1.3 million Floridians, the organization says. It is headquartered in Tampa.

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