Tampa, Florida, USA downtown city skyline over the Hillsborough River – Courtesy: Shutterstock – Image by ESB Professional
News Flash! There’s more to Florida than just Miami.
While Miami is certainly the most well-known city in the Sunshine State for a number of reasons, people often forget about the other big cities that make Florida—well, Florida.
Despite its extensive laundry list of cool places to dine, explore, party, celebrities, mansions, and more, Miami really got its name because of the immigrants who settled there between the 1950s-70s.
Coincidentally, Tampa, the central Florida gulf coast city that recently unseated Miami on the 2021 Best Cities in America list by Resonance Consultancy, also got its name from those who settled back in the day.
The tourism and economic development agency releases its shortlist for the top cities in America every year based on factors such as population, infrastructure, leisure activities, workforce, and more. And for the first time in the lists’ history, Miami was unseated by Tampa.
The data points used to determine the order of the list came from Google, Facebook, real-estate-housing sites, leisure review platforms, and even federal crime rate databases.
Disclaimer: while Tampa was named the best city in Florida, it should also be known that its ranking encompasses the entire Bay area including, St. Petersburg and Clearwater.
Last year, Tampa finished 30th on the list, lagging behind other Florida powerhouses Miami (9) and Orlando (18), but this year it jumped eight spots to land at No. 22—three spots ahead of Miami.
Tampa’s biggest attractions include Ybor City, Riverwalk, Florida Aquarium, and if you include St. Pete and the surrounding area, the beach, Busch Gardens, and the home of the championship-winning Buccaneers and Lightning.
“In Tampa, the natural and built environments are as in sync as Brady and The Gronk,” says the report.
The city also boasted an incredibly low crime rate that ranked 8th in the nation.
Also making the list were Sarasota County’s North Port (36), Orlando (41), Cape Coral (49), Jacksonville (54), Palm Bay (58), Lakeland (92), and Deltona (96).
Case in point, the Sunshine State rocks, and Florida Insider wants our readers to know that the little guys should never be overlooked. Regardless of where you want to visit in the state, there is no shortage of fun to be had, sites to see, beaches to sink your toes into; Florida is just that unique.
To see the whole list click here.
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Melissa’s career in writing started more than 20 years ago. Today, she lives in South Florida with her husband and two boys.
