St. Petersburg Economy

St. Petersburg residents work mostly in education and health care, professional and business services, retail, tourism and finance, the same mix the city's growth districts are built around.

In the ACS 2020-2024, 22.1 percent of employed St. Petersburg residents worked in educational services, health care and social assistance, 16.4 percent in professional, scientific, management and administrative services, 11.4 percent in retail trade, 11.0 percent in arts, entertainment, recreation, lodging and food service, and 10.2 percent in finance, insurance and real estate (ACS 2020-2024, DP03). Manufacturing employed 7.3 percent and construction 4.8 percent (ACS 2020-2024, DP03).

The city's median household income is $75,192 and per capita income is $51,961 (ACS 2020-2024, DP03). Of St. Pete residents 16 and older, 64.6 percent are in the labor force, and the ACS unemployment rate is 4.7 percent (ACS 2020-2024, DP03).

The City of St. Petersburg's districts page describes Downtown, the Gateway area and a series of business and arts districts. Downtown holds the Innovation District with the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital and Research Center, Bayboro Harbor's marine institutions and a museum district of seven institutions (City of St. Petersburg, About the Districts). The Gateway area in north St. Pete is home to Raymond James Financial and Jabil and, by the city's count, more than 2,700 businesses and 60,000 employees (City of St. Petersburg, About the Districts).

Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg, averaged 441,425 jobs at 40,998 establishments in 2025, with an average annual pay of $70,854.

Those are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages totals for all Pinellas employers, public and private (BLS QCEW, Pinellas County 2025 annual). The 2025 average was 6,255 jobs, or 1.4 percent, below 2024 (BLS QCEW, Pinellas County 2025 annual). Private employers accounted for 399,233 of the jobs, at an average annual pay of $70,757 (BLS QCEW, Pinellas County 2025 annual). The QCEW counts jobs by county, not city, so it covers St. Petersburg together with Clearwater, Largo and the rest of Pinellas County.

Financial activities paid the most among the large private groups, $117,385 a year on average, but also shed the most jobs, down 2,665 or 8.3 percent from 2024 (BLS QCEW, Pinellas County 2025 annual). Construction was the main gainer, up 1,478 jobs or 6.0 percent (BLS QCEW, Pinellas County 2025 annual). Leisure and hospitality paid the least of the groups below at $37,729 (BLS QCEW, Pinellas County 2025 annual).

For a more current read, the BLS metro summary for Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater shows a preliminary September 2026 unemployment rate of 4.7 percent and 1,559.6 thousand nonfarm jobs, 0.9 percent above a year earlier (BLS, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater economy at a glance). The metro figures cover a wider area than Pinellas County.

The Pinellas County Public School District tops Pinellas County Economic Development's 2025 employer list with 13,210 employees, and Publix, Walmart, Raymond James and All Children's Health Systems lead its private list.

Pinellas County Economic Development's 2025 ranking, prepared by FloridaCommerce from Data-Axle data, lists Publix at 7,575 employees, Walmart at 4,676, Raymond James and Associates at 4,600 and All Children's Health Systems at 3,865 among private employers (Pinellas County Economic Development, Top Employers). On the combined public and private list the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has 5,124 and the City of St. Petersburg 3,855 (Pinellas County Economic Development, Top Employers). Further down the private list are St. Anthony's Hospital at 2,113, Jabil at 1,987 and Bayfront Health St. Petersburg at 1,747 (Pinellas County Economic Development, Top Employers).

The Digital Towns St. Petersburg top employers guide sorts that list into employers based in the city and those elsewhere in the county, and explains where the counts come from.

Downtown St. Petersburg, the Gateway area and the Innovation District are among the districts the city describes on its economic development pages, and downtown's Intown redevelopment district shows how much property value has risen there.

The Intown Community Redevelopment Area covers nearly 643 acres of downtown, from the Renaissance Vinoy Hotel to Tropicana Field; its assessed real property value rose from a base of $107.88 million to $3.77 billion in 2024 (City of St. Petersburg, Intown CRA). The city and Pinellas County together put $20,301,583 of tax increment into the district in FY2026 (City of St. Petersburg, Intown CRA).

St. Petersburg also has three Florida Main Street districts, the only city in Florida with three by the city's account: Deuces Live on 22nd Street South, the Grand Central District and the EDGE District (City of St. Petersburg, About the Districts). Other districts on the city's list are Skyway Marina in the south, Tyrone near the beaches and the Warehouse Arts District (City of St. Petersburg, About the Districts).

A practical caution: the city's districts page still links a 2018 downtown demographics file and a July 2019 downtown projects map, (City of St. Petersburg, About the Districts), so its project list is worth checking against the city's current project pages and the Digital Towns downtown redevelopment guide.

In 2026 the city selected two proposals to redevelop the Historic Gas Plant District, which includes the Tropicana Field site.

Mayor Kenneth T. Welch selected the Pinellas County Housing Authority and The Burg Bid proposals for the site after public comment (the city's news item is dated July 2, 2026), judging them against the community's priorities of jobs, housing, economic opportunity and the promises made when the land was first acquired (City of St. Petersburg, Historic Gas Plant District). The city will negotiate and bring agreements to City Council, and a final agreement must be approved by City Council before ground can be broken (City of St. Petersburg, Historic Gas Plant District). The Burg Bid proposal will also go through the city's Community Benefits Agreement Program (City of St. Petersburg, Historic Gas Plant District).

In the county job data, 2025 brought fewer finance, retail and hospitality jobs and more construction jobs than 2024 (BLS QCEW, Pinellas County 2025 annual). The St. Petersburg Tropicana Field guide follows the stadium repairs and the Gas Plant plan in detail.

Four Digital Towns guides cover the St. Petersburg economy in depth: top employers, major employers, downtown redevelopment and Tropicana Field.

• Who employs the most people in St. Pete and Pinellas County: the St. Petersburg top employers guide, built on the 2025 county ranking.
• An earlier overview of the employer base and its main sectors: the St. Petersburg major employers guide.
• How downtown is redeveloped and paid for: the downtown redevelopment guide, covering the Intown and Intown West redevelopment areas and tax increment.
• What happens at the stadium and the Gas Plant site: the St. Petersburg Tropicana Field guide.

For the people behind the income and job figures, the St. Petersburg demographics hub compares the city with Pinellas County, and the government budget guide covers the city's own finances.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, for St. Petersburg against the BLS 2025 Pinellas QCEW file and metro summary, the ACS 2020-2024 DP03 table, the county top employers list and three City of St. Petersburg economic development pages.