This area includes most of the Tampa Bay bayfront, aside from the far southern portion which lies in Manatee County.

[2][3] The MSA was first defined in 1950 as the Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida Standard Metropolitan Area, and included Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

[4] The OMB has designated Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo, and Pinellas Park as the principal cities of the MSA.

[9] When the Spanish first arrived in the area of Tampa Bay, they encountered people of the Safety Harbor culture.

Petersburg–Clearwater MSA based on the 2010 U.S. Census:[18] Incorporated municipalities and Census-designated places in the Tampa Bay area with more than 10,000 population.

In general, the communities farthest from the coast have more extreme temperature differences, both during a single day and throughout the seasons of the year.

As a gateway to the Florida High Tech Corridor, Tampa Bay is home to many information technology firms along with many business services providers.

The presence of cutting-edge research in the region is vital to technology transfer, which enables innovative ideas discovered in academia to achieve commercialization in the marketplace.

Researchers at the University of South Florida's Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing Research Center (NNRC), H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and the Center for Ocean Technology at USF's College of Marine Science are researching how to use nanotechnology for a myriad of targeted uses including drug delivery, mechanized microsurgery, customized laser microchips, ways to turn sunlight into electricity, purifying water, storing hydrogen in small nanotubes, designing and developing marine sensors using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and curing cancer.

In 2008 the area's construction based boom was brought to a sudden halt by the financial crisis of 2007–2010, and by 2009 it was ranked as the fourth worst performing housing market in the United States.

It is the largest air station in the United States Coast Guard, operating HC-130H Hercules aircraft and MH-60T Jayhawk helicopters with principal missions focused on search and rescue, counternarcotics interdiction, and homeland security.

Stetson University has campuses in Gulfport and Tampa, while Thomas M. Cooley Law school is located in Riverview.

Long established communities, particularly those near the bay such as Cuban influenced Ybor City, Old Northeast in St. Petersburg, and Palma Ceia and Hyde Park in Tampa contain historic architecture.

"[32][33] In a single year, the economic impact of the cultural institutions in the Tampa Bay area was $521.3 million, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers study.

[citation needed] In 2004, 5.6 million people attended plays, musical performances, museum exhibits, and other cultural institutions in Tampa Bay, supporting 7,800 jobs.

[citation needed] The Tampa Bay area is noted for its beaches, with the warm, blue gulf waters and nearly 70 miles of barrier islands from North Pinellas south to Venice.

[35] Sports attractions, in addition to the teams listed below, include professional quality golf courses, tennis courts, and pools.

Ybor and the Channel District in Tampa, downtown St. Petersburg, and the beaches all along the coast all attract a vibrant nightlife.

The Tampa Bay Area is home to three major professional sports teams: the Buccaneers (NFL), Rays (MLB), and Lightning (NHL).

The Toronto Raptors made Tampa their temporary home prior to the 2020–21 NBA season during the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitated by restrictions on travel between Canada and the United States that were in effect.

The Tide's home games were played at St. Petersburg Catholic High School, and the Gunners were a travel team.

[40] The Pirate Water Taxi, also operating since 2016, has several stops along the waterways in the vicinity of Tampa's downtown area and Channelside District.

In 2013, HART also began operating a Bus rapid transit system called MetroRapid that runs from Downtown Tampa to the University of South Florida.

On July 1, 2007, an intermodal transportation authority was created to serve the seven-county Tampa Bay area.

Both of these highways, which are built to limited access freeway standards, are toll roads as is the connecting junction between the Selmon Expressway and Interstate 4.