Tampa Bay (Gulf Coast) new business activity, week of June 23, 2026

Tampa Bay's seven counties logged 2,752 new business filings the week of June 23, a second straight down week.

Almost all of the week's decline came from two counties. Pinellas eased to 1,201 filings and Hillsborough to 794, together about 234 fewer than the week before. The rest of the region held steady or grew. Pasco rose to 250, and Sarasota was nearly flat at 254.

The cities told the same story. St. Petersburg and Tampa both slowed. Several smaller markets grew instead. Clearwater rose to 106, Bradenton to 105, and Wesley Chapel to 64. New Port Richey rose to 46, up about 24% from the week before. The fresh activity this week leaned toward the smaller Pasco and Manatee area markets.

By type of business, professional services stayed the largest group at 444 new filings. Construction and trades eased to 209, and healthcare grew to 152. Manufacturing rose to 29 off a small base. Finance and insurance saw one of the sharpest pullbacks, down to 149 from 206 the week before, and retail dropped to 131 from 167.

Very little decline over the past 13 weeks with a dip this past week pulling the average down.

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 11,500 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.

Management of Companies grew the most this week, 40 more (up 54.8%). Finance and Insurance dropped the most, 57 fewer (down 27.7%).

Pinellas led the region this week with 1,201 new filings. 1 other county also grew from the week before.

• Collins Aerospace, part of RTX, is putting $26.5 million into expanding its Largo plant in Pinellas County and adding more than 100 engineering and factory jobs building aviation radars and secure communications gear. A $26.5 million plant expansion means work for industrial and electrical contractors on the build-out and for precision machining and electronics suppliers. As the site adds more than 100 jobs, it also grows the pool of local accounting, IT, staffing, and security firms an aerospace operation hires. RTX (Collins Aerospace), 2026-05-11
• AdventHealth Carrollwood in Hillsborough County is building a $214 million expansion, a six story, 165,000 square foot patient tower with 64 beds, new operating and cardiac lab space, and a parking garage. A 165,000 square foot, $214 million hospital tower is a large commercial build. It feeds concrete, steel, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing trades, plus medical equipment installers and the parking garage contractor. Once open, the 64 new beds create ongoing demand for medical staffing, cleaning, laundry, and food service. AdventHealth Carrollwood, 2026-06-18
• Port Tampa Bay in Hillsborough County took delivery of two new post-Panamax container cranes as it expands its container terminal to about 100 acres, with a third deep water berth and an on-dock rail transfer facility. A container terminal growing to about 100 acres with a new berth and on-dock rail moves more cargo. That is direct work for trucking, warehousing, freight brokers, and third party logistics firms, plus the civil contractors and equipment crews that build and maintain the terminal. Port Tampa Bay, 2026-04-29
• Johns Hopkins All Children's marked a topping out milestone on its new 56 bed pediatric hospital under construction in Wesley Chapel in Pasco County, set to open in 2027. A new 56 bed pediatric hospital in one of the region's fastest growing markets means construction and trade work now, then medical staffing, facilities maintenance, cleaning, and food service once it opens in 2027. The nearby retail and personal services that serve visiting families stand to gain as the campus draws traffic. Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, 2026-05-08
• Sarasota Memorial opened its new Milman-Kover Cancer Pavilion in Sarasota, a 200,000 square foot outpatient cancer center with a breast health center, surgical oncology, infusion, and radiation services. A just opened 200,000 square foot cancer center needs to be staffed and run. That means medical staffing, sterile processing and cleaning crews, medical supply vendors, and building maintenance, plus the IT and billing services a busy outpatient center relies on. Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, 2026-06-12
• Manatee County commissioners took up a rezoning of about 9.97 acres in Palmetto to Planned Development Commercial, with a site plan for up to 57,064 square feet of retail and commercial shopping center space. A rezoning for up to 57,064 square feet of shopping center space sets up site work and commercial construction, then a wave of tenant build-outs. Fit-out contractors, signage, landscaping, security, and janitorial firms all get work, and the retailers and personal services that lease the space file to open. Manatee County Board of County Commissioners, 2026-06-04
• Manatee County held a public hearing on a development agreement for the roughly 1,155 acre Parrish Lakes master planned community near Parrish, raising the home count to as many as 993 homes alongside about 211,750 square feet of commercial space. A 1,155 acre community with up to 993 homes and 211,750 square feet of commercial space is years of work for homebuilders and every trade, from concrete and framing to roofing, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC. It also feeds surveyors, landscapers, and the real estate, insurance, retail, and personal services the new residents will use. Manatee County Board of County Commissioners, 2026-06-04

This was a quieter week, and most of the softness sat in Pinellas and Hillsborough while Pasco and several smaller cities grew. For anyone selling to new businesses, professional services is still the biggest fresh pool of prospects. The clearest concrete openings this period are in construction, health care, and logistics, and the cited projects show why. The port expansion points to freight and logistics demand. The AdventHealth, Sarasota Memorial, and Johns Hopkins projects point to medical construction and staffing. The Manatee approvals point to homebuilders and trades. Aim your outreach where the work is being created.

We count new business filings recorded with the state for the seven Tampa Bay area counties, Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota, for the business week shown. We wait about two weeks after the week ends for the state to finish recording all filings, so these counts are complete and accurate. The figures cover new company formations, fictitious name registrations, and related business filings.

Frequently asked questions

Was this a strong week for new business in Tampa Bay?

No. It was the second down week in a row, at 2,752 filings, 8.2% below the week before and 4.8% below the same week last year. Most of the drop was in Pinellas and Hillsborough, while Pasco and several smaller cities grew.

Where is the new work heading?

Health care, construction, and logistics show the clearest openings this period. A hospital tower in Tampa, a cancer center in Sarasota, a pediatric hospital in Wesley Chapel, a port terminal expansion, and two large Manatee County projects all point to steady demand for builders, trades, medical staffing, and freight and logistics firms.