July 28, 2026 — Tampa Bay (Gulf Coast) new business activity

Tampa Bay's seven counties recorded 4,120 new active businesses in the week of July 7 to 13, 2026, the second busiest week of the last three months.

The week before this one is a poor yardstick. State offices were closed around the July 4 holiday, so only 1,618 new businesses were recorded, far below every other week in the last three months. Measuring against that number would show a jump of more than 150%, and that would describe the holiday rather than the economy. The comparisons that hold up point the same direction: against the same week a year ago the region is up 37.9%, and it sits above a typical recent week of about 3,501.

One detail is worth knowing before anyone works this list. A single registered agent service is named on 18.47% of the week's new businesses, and a second is named on 9.47%. Together they account for more than a quarter of everything filed in the region. These are commercial services that let an owner living anywhere in the country register a Florida company at the service's own Florida address. The company is real, but the address on the record is a service counter. It is not a storefront to visit, and it is usually not where the owner works.

That pattern shapes the map. Pinellas County shows the largest count at 1,828, ahead of Hillsborough at 1,162, and inside Pinellas a single city, St. Petersburg, carries most of the total. The busiest registered agent addresses sit in St. Petersburg, so the county order reflects where paperwork is addressed more than where businesses are opening their doors. Hillsborough is the better read on new businesses that list a local address of their own. Pasco added 348, Sarasota 324, Manatee 307, Hernando 118, and Citrus 33.

What formed is spread across many trades rather than piled into one. Professional services led at 15.9% and property holding companies followed at 15.8%, with construction and trades at 7.7% and retail at 6.2%. Two groups ran clearly ahead of their normal pace: transportation and warehousing reached 188 against a usual week near 122, and retail reached 255 against a usual week near 167. Limited liability companies made up 78.5% of the week, and another 369 records were trade names registered by owners already in business.

Very little decline over the past 13 weeks even though a spike this past week held the average up.

The bold line is the 13-week average. Read it for the longer trend. The thin line is each week's count, which swings week to week.

• 2025-26
• 2024-25
• 2023-24
• 2022-23
• 2021-22

New business formation usually runs highest around Mar and is quietest around Nov, holding near 12,500 a month across the years.

Each line is one year, ending at the current month on the right, so you can read the past year left to right. New Year's Day is left out because the state office is closed, so almost no businesses register that day.

Professional Services grew the most this week, 389 more (up 145.1%). Several smaller sectors also grew.

Pinellas led the region this week with 1,828 new filings. Gains were broad, with 6 other counties also up from the week before.

• Monin, a French flavoring maker, plans to buy 70 acres at the Zephyrhills Airport Industrial Park and build a manufacturing plant there. The company expects to invest more than $100 million and create 100 jobs. A plant of this size on 70 acres pulls in site and earthwork crews, commercial general contractors, industrial electricians, and process piping and equipment installers first. Once it runs, it buys packaging, pallets, freight and cold storage, uniforms, safety supplies, and staffing help for 100 jobs. Pasco Economic Development Council, 2026-07-13
• Hernando County won a $13.6 million federal grant from the Economic Development Administration to build roads, drainage, utilities, and electrical service across about 600 acres at the Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport and Technology Center. The county wants the site to draw aircraft maintenance, air cargo, and aerospace manufacturing. Opening 600 acres starts with road building, drainage, underground utility, and electrical contractors, plus surveying and civil engineering. The tenants that follow need hangar and metal building contractors, machine shops, tooling suppliers, freight forwarders, and the accounting, insurance, and IT firms every new plant hires. Hernando County Government, 2026-07-22
• St. Petersburg added a net 2,012 housing units in 2025, a 40% increase in housing production over 2024. Under the city's housing plan, 1,091 homes are complete and 2,452 more are in progress toward a goal of 3,200. With 2,452 homes still in progress, framing, concrete, roofing, plumbing, electrical, and finish trades have committed work ahead of them, along with the surveyors, architects, and building material suppliers who feed those jobs. Finished units then pull in landscaping, property management, cleaning, and insurance. City of St. Petersburg, 2026-06-25
• The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority bought two vessels, the Bay Breeze and the Clipper, for a future Tampa Bay ferry service, using a $4,863,280 federal grant. The boats travel through the Panama Canal to Fort Lauderdale for refurbishment, painting, and upgrades before coming to Tampa Bay for testing. Refitting two passenger vessels is work for marine repair yards, marine electricians and mechanics, painters, and upholstery shops. A running ferry then needs dock and terminal contractors, ticketing and payment vendors, cleaning crews, and licensed marine staff. Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, 2026-06-22
• Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is building a $507 million hospital in North Port that is set to open in 2028. It will stand nine stories with 100 beds at first and room to grow to 208, next to a three-story medical office building. A $507 million hospital carries years of work for structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing contractors, plus medical gas, imaging, and specialty equipment installers. The three-story medical office building beside it creates leasing demand for physician practices, labs, imaging centers, and pharmacies, and each of those tenants hires local build-out, billing, and cleaning services. Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, 2026-06-17
• Hillsborough County commissioners approved vacating 48,317 square feet, about 1.11 acres, of Tanner Road right-of-way in East Lake Orient Park. The petitioners asked for it so parcels could be combined under EastGroup Properties to add two warehouses. Two new warehouses mean site work, paving, tilt-wall concrete, roofing, dock equipment, fire protection, and electrical work. Once they are leased, the tenants need forklifts and racking, security and alarm systems, janitorial service, and freight and logistics providers. Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, 2026-06-09
• The Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority adopted a $767.7 million work program covering the 2027 through 2032 budget years. About 83% of it, roughly $635 million, goes to enhancement and capacity projects, including the South Selmon capacity project, the Whiting Street project, East Selmon phase 1 construction, and a refresh of the reversible express lanes. A $767.7 million road program is six years of contracts for heavy civil and bridge builders, paving and striping crews, guardrail and barrier installers, and traffic signal and toll technology vendors. It also feeds steady work to engineering, surveying, materials testing, and traffic control firms. Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority, 2026-06-24
• Manatee County began widening 63rd Avenue East from two lanes to four on July 14, 2026. The project runs about 1.12 miles between US 301 and Tuttle Avenue, should take about two years, and adds bike lanes, sidewalks, street lighting, and new traffic signals. Two years of work on 1.12 miles keeps grading, paving, concrete, signal, and lighting contractors busy, along with the traffic control and survey firms that support them. Businesses along the corridor tend to buy signage and marketing help during a long road project to keep customers coming in. Manatee County Government, 2026-07-08
• Manatee County approved $6.18 million in Tourist Development Tax money for a beach renourishment and recovery project on Anna Maria Island. It covers the central beach segment from about 79th Street North in Holmes Beach to 5th Street South in Bradenton Beach, plus Cortez Beach and Coquina Beach, with construction set for November 2026 through March or April 2027. A $6.18 million renourishment is direct work for dredging contractors, marine survey firms, heavy haulers, and the crews that rebuild dune walkovers and sea oats. It also protects the hotels, restaurants, rental managers, and beach vendors whose season depends on that sand. Manatee County Government, 2026-06-17
• Citrus County signed a $16.4 million grant agreement with the Florida Department of Commerce to rebuild the sanitary sewer system in the Riverhaven and Homosassa area along Halls River Road. The money covers pipe replacement, pipe lining, manhole repairs, and lift station upgrades to stop overflows during high water. A $16.4 million sewer rebuild is direct work for underground utility contractors, pipe lining crews, pump and lift station suppliers, and the restoration crews that repave and re-sod afterward. In the smallest county in the region, a project this size is a meaningful share of the year's construction work. Citrus County Board of County Commissioners, 2026-05-12

This was a busy week in Tampa Bay, and the growth against last year is real. The practical work is separating the rows you can act on from the ones you cannot. More than a quarter of the week's new businesses list a commercial registered agent's address, mostly in St. Petersburg, so a route built off raw city counts would send someone to a mail counter. Hillsborough and the outer counties give a cleaner picture of businesses opening in a real location. The strongest openings this period are in construction and the trades that follow it, and the cited projects show why: a $507 million hospital in North Port, 2,452 more homes in progress in St. Petersburg, a $767.7 million road program in Hillsborough, 600 acres of airport land being opened in Hernando, and a $16.4 million sewer rebuild in Citrus. Suppliers, contractors, insurance agents, and bookkeepers who sell into that chain have both a bigger pool of new companies than a year ago and a clear list of projects those companies will be working on.

Counts cover new business records with an active status in the seven Tampa Bay counties, using the date the state recorded the filing. We wait about two weeks after a week ends for the state to finish recording filings, so these counts are complete. The registered agent shares come from the agent named on each record in the same set of filings. A registered agent is the person or company that agrees to accept legal mail for a business, and commercial agent services list their own address, so those records show the service's location rather than the owner's. Industry groups come from what each business reported, and a small number of records are not classified and stay in the totals. Every development below links to the government office or the organization that published it.

Frequently asked questions

Why not compare this week to the week before it?

The week before covered the July 4 holiday, when state offices were closed for part of the week. Only 1,618 new businesses were recorded, far below any other recent week. Comparing to it would show a jump of more than 150% that reflects the holiday closure and not real growth. The same week last year is the fair comparison.

Why does St. Petersburg show so many new businesses?

Two commercial registered agent services with addresses in St. Petersburg are named on more than a quarter of the region's new businesses this week. Those services accept legal mail on behalf of owners who can live anywhere. The companies are real, but the St. Petersburg address belongs to the service, not to the business, so the city total is much larger than the number of businesses actually operating there.

Which counties are the best read on real local activity?

Hillsborough, Pasco, Sarasota, Manatee, Hernando, and Citrus all show a normal share of records tied to commercial agent addresses. Their counts track closely with businesses that list an address of their own. Pinellas is the exception this week because of the agent services based in St. Petersburg.

What kinds of business formed the most this week?

Professional services led at 15.9% and property holding companies were close behind at 15.8%. Construction and trades came to 7.7% and retail to 6.2%. Transportation and warehousing and retail both ran well above their normal weekly pace, at 188 and 255 new businesses.