Tampa, Florida: Town Guide

Tampa is a Hillsborough County city of 114.487 square miles of land and 63.575 square miles of water.

Those Census figures come from the 2024 place gazetteer for Tampa city (Census gazetteer), and they explain why so much of Tampa life happens at the shoreline: more than a third of the city's total area is water. Hillsborough County government is based in downtown Tampa, at 601 E. Kennedy Blvd. (Hillsborough County).

Most long-distance visitors arrive by air. Tampa International Airport stands at 4100 George J. Bean Pkwy., Tampa, FL 33607, and its site carries the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority name (Tampa International Airport).

The Tampa transportation section goes further on getting around the city, with guides on Tampa International Airport, the Port of Tampa, I-4 and I-275, the Selmon Expressway and the Gandy, Howard Frankland and Courtney Campbell crossings, and the Tampa places section describes neighborhoods such as Hyde Park, Seminole Heights, Tampa Heights and Davis Islands.

Tampa had an estimated 401,618 residents with a median age of 35.9 in the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 2020-2024 5-year estimates.

In the same ACS release, 19.4 percent of Tampa residents were under 18 and 13.7 percent were 65 or older (ACS 2024 DP05 table for Tampa). Median household income was $75,475, and Tampa workers averaged a 24.8 minute trip to work (ACS 2024 DP03 table for Tampa).

Housing in Tampa splits almost evenly between owners and renters: 50.3 percent of occupied homes were owner occupied and 49.7 percent were rented (ACS 2024 DP04 table for Tampa). The city counted 182,425 housing units, 166,278 of them occupied. The median value of an owner-occupied Tampa home was $420,400, and median gross rent was $1,701 a month.

These Tampa numbers are five-year averages covering 2020 through 2024, each with a margin of error in the Census tables, so they describe the 2020 to 2024 period rather than the city today. The Tampa demographics and real estate sections break the figures down further.

Mayor Jane Castor leads Tampa's executive branch, and a seven-member Tampa City Council chaired by Alan Clendenin writes city law from City Hall at 315 East Kennedy Blvd.

Castor is the 59th Mayor of the City of Tampa. A former Tampa Police Department officer who became the city's first female chief of police in 2009, she was elected mayor by Tampa residents in 2019 (Office of the Mayor).

Three Tampa council seats are elected citywide and four by district. As of October 2026 the members are Alan Clendenin (chairman, District 1 at-large), Guido Maniscalco (District 2 at-large), Lynn Hurtak (District 3 at-large), Bill Carlson (District 4), Naya Young (District 5), Charlie Miranda (District 6) and Luis Viera (District 7, CRA vice chair) (Tampa City Council). The council office is on the 3rd floor of City Hall, 315 East Kennedy Blvd, phone 813-274-8131, open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For general questions and service problems, the City of Tampa lists its contact point at 306 East Jackson Street, phone (813) 274-8211 (City of Tampa). One practical note for anyone following Tampa council business: the council page warns that the Agenda Online address has changed and that old bookmarks no longer work, and it posts notices such as the regular council agenda for October 15, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the City of Tampa website.

The Tampa government section covers the mayor, the council districts, the city budget and how Hillsborough County government divides work with the city, and the Tampa civic engagement section explains public comment and voting.

The Tampa Riverwalk is the easiest starting point, with four parks, four museums and attractions from The Florida Aquarium to Armature Works listed along it by the City of Tampa.

The City of Tampa lists Cotanchobee Park, Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park and Water Works Park along the Riverwalk, with the Glazer Children's Museum, the Henry B. Plant Museum, the Tampa Bay History Center and the Tampa Museum of Art as its museums (Tampa Riverwalk). The same page names Sparkman's Wharf, the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa Theatre and the Tampa Convention Center, and its On The Water list includes the Pirate Water Taxi and the Riverwalk Boating Company.

Ybor City has its own state park. Ybor City Museum State Park is open Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day, and charges $4 per person, with children 5 and younger free (Ybor City Museum State Park). Because the Ybor museum is closed Monday and Tuesday, a weekday Ybor walk is best planned for later in the week.

The Tampa parks, landmarks, places, events, sports and recreation sections each have their own guides, from the Riverwalk and Bayshore Boulevard to the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and ZooTampa at Lowry Park.

Tampa is in the last year of Mayor Jane Castor's second term while the city rebuilds its water and sewer system under the $3 billion PIPES program approved in 2019.

In the 2026 State of the City address, posted May 5, 2026 and delivered at the new Fair Oaks Park in East Tampa, the city said Castor had one year remaining in her second term (2026 State of the City). Fair Oaks Park is a $34.7 million recreation complex designed for all ages. The same address reported that PIPES has replaced more than 78 miles of aging Tampa water lines and rehabilitated over 200 wastewater pipes, with upgrades underway at the David L. Tippin Water Treatment Plant, which the city says is now celebrating 100 years.

Street work is part of the Tampa picture too. The address cited record paving in 2025, expansion of the Green Spine Cycle Track, enhanced ferry service across the bay and continued extension of the Riverwalk, plus a new Tampa Fire Rescue station in New Tampa. Major stormwater improvements are underway along Manhattan Avenue.

City government itself is under review: the Tampa City Council page links a Charter Review Advisory Commission (Tampa City Council page). The Tampa future section and the real estate section's development guides follow these projects.

Hurricane evacuation zones and alerts for Tampa come from the Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Office of Emergency Management, reached at (813) 272-6600, which runs the HCFL Alert notification system.

The Hillsborough County emergency management page lets Tampa residents find an evacuation zone by address and download printable zone maps, register for special needs disaster assistance, and sign up for HCFL Alert, the county's official mass notification system, also offered in Spanish as Alerta HCFL (Hillsborough County Emergency Management).

Flood insurance in Tampa is cheaper because of the city's floodplain work. FEMA lists the City of Tampa (community 120114) in the National Flood Insurance Program at Community Rating System class 5 since October 1, 2019, worth a 25 percent premium discount inside the special flood hazard area and 10 percent outside it (FEMA NFIP community status). The flood maps in effect for Tampa date from October 7, 2021, so an older Tampa flood zone letter may be out of date.

The city is also building flood projects. The 2026 State of the City address pointed to MacDill 48, completed in 2024, which pairs flood mitigation with public green space, and to wastewater pump station upgrades meant to prevent overflows (City of Tampa). The Tampa safety and weather sections hold the step-by-step storm guides.

Each Tampa section goes deeper than this profile, and the table below maps common Tampa questions to the key fact and the section that answers it.

Tampa also has sections on schools, utilities, the economy and industries, healthcare, the environment, wildlife, native plants, agriculture and weather, each with its own guides.