The Tampa Bay area is a major metropolitan area surrounding Tampa Bay on the Gulf Coast of Florida in the United States. It includes the main cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. It is the 17th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, with a population of 3,175,275 as of the 2020 U.S. Census.
A satellite image of the Tampa Bay area taken from NASA's Landsat 8 satellite in November 2019
Downtown Tampa
St. Petersburg
Downtown Lakeland (Lake Mirror)
Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater inflow into the bay is the Hillsborough River, which flows into Hillsborough Bay in downtown Tampa. Many other smaller rivers and streams also flow into Tampa Bay, resulting in a large watershed area.
Tampa's waterfront, 1890.
Port Tampa, c. 1900.
Facilities at Port Tampa Bay from Davis Islands, downtown Tampa at left
The Sunshine Skyway from its southern approach, St. Petersburg in the distance.