NewBiz Alert Florida Insights
Florida New Business Formation Report: May 2026
By NewBiz Alert, from Florida Division of Corporations filings. How we built this.
Total formations, May 2026
64,272
down 5.0% MoM, up 8.9% YoY
Year-over-year change
+8.9%
vs 59,017 in May 2025
Trailing 12-month total
713,776
rising, vs 708,521 prior window
Property holding formations
8,584
+2.3% MoM, 13.4% of the named categories
Top regional YoY
Tampa Bay +19.4%
12,143 formations, 18.9% of state
Florida had 64,272 new businesses register in May 2026. That is down 5.0% from April but up 8.9% from a year ago. The year-over-year number is the better signal: Florida always forms fewer businesses from April into May, and 2025 followed the same step-down pattern. The last 12 months produced 713,776 total filings, ahead of the prior 12-month stretch at 708,521. Tampa Bay grew the fastest of any region year over year, up 19.4%. Property holding and asset-protection entities actually gained ground, adding 192 to reach 8,584, and the short-term-rental slice rose 5.3% to 577. The May pullback was spread across the whole state, not concentrated in one area.
- The year-over-year gain of 8.9% is the real direction signal. The 5.0% month-over-month drop follows the same April-to-May step-down Florida posted in 2025. That is normal spring seasonality, not a sign of trouble. The annual pace is still rising.
- May is the second month in a row below March's high of 72,462. This is the first two-month decline since late 2024. The 3-month moving average of 68,120.7 sits above May's 64,272, which reflects that pullback.
- Property holding and asset-protection was the only top-five category to grow month over month, up 192 to 8,584. The short-term-rental slice grew faster than that whole group, up 5.3% to 577. Businesses set up mainly to hold property rose 19.7% to 4,516.
- Tampa Bay grew 19.4% year over year, more than double the statewide rate and 10.5 points ahead of the state. Entities with a blank or out-of-state address grew fastest of all at 29.7% year over year, reaching 8,887, which is 13.8% of the total.
- Filing companies handled 14.7% of formations, with no single firm above 5.06%. The wide spread across many firms means the seasonal softening is real, not driven by one big batch filer. Compare industries to earlier months only as a general direction. We have been sorting businesses into named categories a little differently over time, which can make older months look lower than they really were.
Section 1
Statewide overview
Total formations
64,272
Month over month
-5%
-3,356 filings
Year over year
+8.9%
5,255 filings
3 month average
68,120.7
Trailing 12 mo
rising
Momentum
2x decline
decelerating-down
Florida formations peak in spring and step down into summer. March 2026 was the window peak at 72,462; the April-to-May decline repeats the 2025 April (61,310) to May (59,017) pattern. The 25-month window is too short for a precise multi-year seasonal index, so the seasonal read is directional. The year-over-year comparison strips this seasonality and shows +8.9%.
Florida had 64,272 new business formations in May 2026. That is down 3,356 from April (-5.0%) and up 5,255 from May 2025 (+8.9%). The year-over-year number is the right one to use. Florida forms fewer businesses every April-to-May, and 2025 followed the exact same step-down, going from 61,310 in April to 59,017 in May. The annual direction is up.
The last 12 months totaled 713,776 filings, ahead of the prior 12-month stretch at 708,521 by 5,255 filings. That matches the month-level year-over-year gain exactly, which confirms the annual pace is rising even as individual months move up and down around March's high of 72,462.
There is one thing to watch. April and May both fell below March, making this the first two-month decline in the 25-month data set since the late-2024 low, which bottomed at 42,758 before recovering to 62,757 in January 2025. Two down months in a row have not predicted a lasting decline in this data window, but it is worth checking against June. May is not a record high or a record low.
LLCs dominate the filings. Domestic LLCs held 86.2% share at 55,383 formations. Domestic profit corporations fell 12.8% to 5,021, a steeper drop than the overall month. The mix shifted toward asset-holding structures: the Property Holding and Asset-Protection category grew even as overall volume fell, and businesses set up mainly to hold property rose 19.7%.
Activity is spread across many industries and counties rather than concentrated in a few. The top five industries hold 57.3% of formations, and Southeast plus Tampa Bay together account for 55.3% of volume. No single industry or area dominates, but the activity clusters enough that targeting by industry and geography is worthwhile.
Industry mix (friendly categories)
When a business registers with the state, it reports what kind of work it does. We group that information into plain everyday categories. A business lands in the unlabeled group when its reported work does not match one of our named categories. Every business is still counted in the total.
Flagship signal: Property Holding & Asset Protection
8,584 holding entities (13.4% of formations)+2.3%, including 577 seasonal / short term rental holdings (6.7% of the bucket).
Property holding formations are fully sorted for May 2026. Property Holding was the only top-five category to grow month over month. The short-term-rental slice grew faster than the full category (5.3% vs 2.3%). The 577 short-term-rental figure is a portion of the 8,584 total, not added on top of it.
Industry mix
broad-based
how spread across industries
Top 5 industry share
57.3%
County mix
broad-based
how spread across counties
Out of state
5.1%
3,211 filings
Formations are spread across many industries and counties rather than piled into a few. The top five industries hold 57.3% of formations, and Southeast plus Tampa Bay together account for 55.3% of volume. No single industry or area controls the market.
Entity type mix
- LLC (domestic)55,383(86.2%)
- Corp (domestic profit)5,021(7.8%)
- FORL (label deferred)1,658(2.6%)
- DOMNP (label deferred)1,476(2.3%)
- FORP (label deferred)591(0.9%)
Top filing services
- NORTHWEST REGISTERED AGENT LLC5.06%
- REGISTERED AGENTS INC2.82%
- INC AUTHORITY RA1.65%
- ZENBUSINESS INC.1.48%
- LEGALZOOM USCA, INC.1.3%
Nearly 1 in 7 new Florida entities used a filing company to handle its legal mail. No single firm handled more than 5.06% of formations, so the May slowdown is not the result of one company stopping or starting a batch of filings.
Trending words in new names
Address named LLCs (a holding company tell): 2.4% of new names.
Industry by region
The same grid, read three ways: raw volume, what each region specializes in, and a bubble view that lets the eye compare across both axes at once.
Chart 1: Volume (absolute counts)
| Industry | Northwest Florida | North Central Florida | Northeast Florida | Central Florida | Tampa Bay | Southwest Florida | Southeast Florida |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Management of Companies & Enterprises | 280 | 128 | 360 | 1,416 | 1,901 | 452 | 4,013 |
| Professional, Scientific & Technical Services | 194 | 113 | 304 | 966 | 1,367 | 279 | 2,391 |
| Real Estate and Rental & Leasing | 186 | 93 | 229 | 703 | 929 | 279 | 1,522 |
| Administrative & Support and Waste Management & Remediation Services | 211 | 108 | 253 | 727 | 729 | 307 | 1,424 |
| Construction | 181 | 100 | 248 | 682 | 770 | 351 | 1,328 |
| Other Services (except Public Administration) | 133 | 88 | 197 | 565 | 602 | 190 | 1,184 |
| Health Care & Social Assistance | 99 | 69 | 124 | 440 | 617 | 174 | 1,369 |
| Transportation & Warehousing | 82 | 93 | 182 | 621 | 463 | 205 | 1,180 |
| Retail Trade | 94 | 63 | 146 | 447 | 522 | 179 | 1,011 |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | 82 | 46 | 94 | 316 | 358 | 102 | 650 |
New business counts by industry and region. A darker cell marks the stronger region for that industry.
Chart 2: Specialization (share within each region)
| Industry | Northwest Florida | North Central Florida | Northeast Florida | Central Florida | Tampa Bay | Southwest Florida | Southeast Florida |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Management of Companies & Enterprises | 18% | 14% | 17% | 21% | 23% | 18% | 25% |
| Professional, Scientific & Technical Services | 13% | 13% | 14% | 14% | 17% | 11% | 15% |
| Real Estate and Rental & Leasing | 12% | 10% | 11% | 10% | 11% | 11% | 9% |
| Administrative & Support and Waste Management & Remediation Services | 14% | 12% | 12% | 11% | 9% | 12% | 9% |
| Construction | 12% | 11% | 12% | 10% | 9% | 14% | 8% |
| Other Services (except Public Administration) | 9% | 10% | 9% | 8% | 7% | 8% | 7% |
| Health Care & Social Assistance | 6% | 8% | 6% | 6% | 7% | 7% | 9% |
| Transportation & Warehousing | 5% | 10% | 9% | 9% | 6% | 8% | 7% |
| Retail Trade | 6% | 7% | 7% | 6% | 6% | 7% | 6% |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | 5% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 4% | 4% | 4% |
Each region column is read on its own terms: a cell is the percentage of that region taken by the industry, so the shading shows what each part of Florida specializes in rather than its raw size. The darkest cell in a column marks the leading sector for that region.
Chart 3: Bubble matrix
| Industry | Northwest Florida | North Central Florida | Northeast Florida | Central Florida | Tampa Bay | Southwest Florida | Southeast Florida |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Management of Companies & Enterprises | |||||||
| Professional, Scientific & Technical Services | |||||||
| Real Estate and Rental & Leasing | |||||||
| Administrative & Support and Waste Management & Remediation Services | |||||||
| Construction | |||||||
| Other Services (except Public Administration) | |||||||
| Health Care & Social Assistance | |||||||
| Transportation & Warehousing | |||||||
| Retail Trade | |||||||
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation |
Circle area scales to the number of formations, so a large bubble is a busy pairing of industry and region, and the eye can compare across both the rows and the columns at once. Hover a circle for the exact count.
Government & policy
- Florida repealed its 2% state sales tax on commercial rent, plus county surtaxes of 0.5 to 1.5%, effective October 1, 2025, lowering occupancy costs for office, retail, and industrial tenants statewide. This coincides with continued professional-services and retail formation strength in May 2026. Holland & Knight: Florida HB 7031 Becomes Effective Oct. 1, 2025, 2025-07-01
- Florida's Protected Series LLC law (CS/SB 316), signed June 20, 2025, takes effect July 1, 2026, letting one parent LLC create multiple asset-isolated series, with real estate developers cited as a primary use case. The vehicle is available to property-holding entities formed ahead of the effective date. Holland & Knight: Florida Passes New Protected Series LLC Legislation, 2025-06-20
- Governor DeSantis signed HB 803 on May 8, 2026, exempting single-family residential projects valued under $7,500 from building permits effective July 1, 2026, and promoting private inspectors and faster permit review. This coincides with a slight month-over-month softening in construction formations in May 2026. WFSU News: A new Florida law will drop permits for low-cost home projects, 2026-05-08
- Florida's CHOICE Act (HB 1219), effective July 3, 2025, allows non-compete agreements of up to four years for employees earning above the county mean wage, excluding healthcare practitioners. The elevated enforceability for high-earning roles aligns with professional services remaining a top-growing formation category in May 2026. Holland & Knight: Enhanced Noncompetition Bill Becomes Law in Florida, 2025-07-14
- Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration announced a six-month moratorium on new Medicaid DMEPOS (durable medical equipment) supplier enrollment effective March 20, 2026, blocking new standalone DME providers from billing Medicaid. This coincides with the year-over-year decline in health care formation share in May 2026. Greenberg Traurig: Florida Announces Medicaid DMEPOS Supplier Enrollment Moratorium, 2026-03-25
- Florida Senate Bill 180, signed in 2025, prevents local governments from enacting land-use rules more restrictive than state standards, including post-storm building moratoriums. Orange County, Manatee County, Fort Lauderdale, and Naples are among the jurisdictions that challenged the law; a Senate bill to narrow its scope passed the Senate in early 2026 but had not cleared the House before the session ended. This backdrop aligns with continued real-estate and property-holding formation in May 2026. WGCU: Window closing to roll back Florida SB 180 home rule limits, 2026-02-27
Section 2
Region by region
Northwest Florida (Panhandle & Capital)
2,177 formations(3.4% of state)
Gulf County jumped 52.9% month over month, rising from 17 formations to 26, the largest percentage gain among northwest counties. Washington County followed at 46.2%, going from 26 to 38. Both are in the rural Panhandle interior, where a $13 million Florida Job Growth Grant Fund award announced in March 2026 targeted aerospace and maritime work in Bay and Gulf counties. Leon County, the region's second-largest county, fell 11.9% month over month, from 462 to 407.
Northwest Florida had 2,177 new formations in May 2026, up 7.4% year over year from 2,027 in May 2025. Month over month the region fell 3.3% from April's 2,251. Florida as a whole fell 5.0% over the same period, so the northwest held up a bit better than the state average.
Escambia County (Pensacola) was the second-busiest county at 405 formations, down only 1.9% from April. Bay County (Panama City) added 389 formations against April's 387, essentially flat. The bigger drop came from Leon County (Tallahassee), which fell 11.9% to 407 formations. Leon's economy is tied to state government and the legislative session, which ends in spring, and that likely contributed to May's softening.
Management of Companies led all industries in the region at 280 formations. Administrative and Support Services followed at 211, and Professional, Scientific and Technical Services came in third at 194. Real Estate and Rental and Leasing (186) and Construction (181) rounded out the top five. That mix reflects two sides of the region: a professional and government services base in Tallahassee, and a construction and real estate pipeline along the Emerald Coast.
The rural western Panhandle showed the clearest gains. Gulf County went from 17 formations in April to 26 in May, a 52.9% rise, the top percentage gain among northwest counties. Washington County rose 46.2%, from 26 to 38 formations. Holmes County added 7 formations for a 28.0% gain. The counts are small. All three moving up sharply in the same month is worth noting given the public investment announced for the area.
The region's 7.4% year-over-year gain is positive but below Tampa Bay's 19.4% and North Central Florida's 16.1%. Northwest Florida has a smaller formation base, and its growth rate runs close to the statewide 8.9% figure. The 7.4% gain is steady, not a surge.
Tourism and seasonal demand
Florida recorded 143.3 million visitors in 2025, a 0.2% increase over 2024, per Visit Florida data. Northwest Florida beach markets including Pensacola, Destin, Panama City Beach, and 30A are among the state's main Gulf Coast leisure destinations. Accommodation and Food Services formations totaled 1,861 statewide in May 2026. A regional breakdown for Northwest Florida specifically is not available in the data. Arts, Entertainment and Recreation and Retail together account for 176 formations in the region (82 and 94 respectively), a steady but modest footprint in smaller Panhandle markets.
Property holding and short term rentals
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing accounted for 186 formations in Northwest Florida, the fourth-largest industry category in the region. Florida's Protected Series LLC law (CS/SB 316), signed June 2025 and effective July 1, 2026, lets real estate investors hold multiple properties under one parent LLC with liability kept separate between each property. Coastal Panhandle markets including Destin, 30A, and Pensacola Beach are active short-term rental areas. Statewide, 577 formations carry the short-term rental flag, which is 6.7% of the 8,584 property-holding entities in May 2026. A regional breakdown for Northwest Florida is not available. Florida state law, in place since 2011, bars local governments from banning vacation rentals outright unless they had a local rule before June 1, 2011, so the Panhandle's short-term rental market faces less local regulation than markets such as Miami Beach.
Emerging counties: Gulf (+52.9%), Washington (+46.2%), Holmes (+28%), Gadsden (+3.3%).
Government & policy
- Governor DeSantis announced more than $13 million in Florida Job Growth Grant Fund awards for Bay and Gulf counties on March 3, 2026, including $6 million for a self-docking float dry dock at a Gulf County shipyard and $5 million for an aircraft engine repair station at the Panama City-Bay County Airport. Gulf County recorded a 52.9% month-over-month increase in new-business formations in May 2026, the largest percentage gain among all Florida counties with a minimum baseline of 10 formations. CBS12: $13M FL infrastructure grant targets aerospace, maritime projects, and workforce housing, 2026-03-03
- Triumph Gulf Coast gave initial approval to a $76 million grant (Project Maeve) to help build a 400,000-square-foot Birdon America shipbuilding facility at the Port of Pensacola, projected to create as many as 2,000 jobs (1,437 positions averaging $68,000 annually and 563 positions averaging $112,000 annually), with operations targeted to begin as soon as the third quarter of 2027. Fox10 TV (Pensacola Birdon grant announcement), 2026-02-01
- Florida repealed its 2% state sales tax on commercial rent (plus county surtaxes of 0.5-1.5%) effective October 1, 2025, reducing occupancy costs for office, retail, and industrial tenants statewide. This coincides with sustained growth in professional services and retail new-business formation in May 2026. Holland & Knight: Florida HB 7031 Becomes Effective Oct. 1, 2025, 2025-07-01
Corroboration
- Governor DeSantis announced more than $13 million in Florida Job Growth Grant Fund awards for Bay and Gulf counties on March 3, 2026, including $6 million for a self-docking float dry dock at a Gulf County shipyard and $5 million for an aircraft engine repair station at the Panama City-Bay County Airport. Gulf County recorded a 52.9% month-over-month increase in new-business formations in May 2026, the largest percentage gain among all Florida counties with a minimum baseline of 10 formations. CBS12: $13M FL infrastructure grant targets aerospace, maritime projects, and workforce housing, 2026-03-03
- Triumph Gulf Coast gave initial approval to a $76 million grant (Project Maeve) to help build a Birdon America shipbuilding facility at the Port of Pensacola, a 400,000-square-foot project projected to create as many as 2,000 jobs, with operations targeted to begin as soon as the third quarter of 2027. This industrial and defense activity aligns with Northwest Florida recording a 7.4% year-over-year gain in new formations in May 2026. Fox10 TV (Pensacola Birdon grant announcement), 2026-02-01
- Florida's Protected Series LLC law (CS/SB 316), signed June 20, 2025, takes effect July 1, 2026, allowing a single parent LLC to establish multiple asset-isolated series. Real estate developers are a primary cited use case, and the law aligns with the continued strength of property-holding and real-estate formation categories in May 2026 filings. Holland & Knight: Florida Passes New Protected Series LLC Legislation, 2025-06-20
North Central Florida (Nature Coast & Heartland)
1,313 formations(2% of state)
Year-over-year growth of 16.1% is the second-highest of any named Florida region in May 2026, behind only Tampa Bay's 19.4%. The region had 1,313 formations against 1,131 in May 2025, a gain of 182 filings. Madison County jumped 33.3% month over month to 28 formations, the only north-central county on the statewide fast-growth list this month.
North Central Florida had 1,313 new formations in May 2026, which is 2.0% of the state total of 64,272. Month over month the region slipped 1.9% from April's 1,338. That small drop follows Florida's broader seasonal pattern. The state as a whole fell 5.0% over the same period, so North Central held up better than most.
The year-over-year comparison is the more useful number here. At 16.1% above May 2025's 1,131 formations, this region's annual growth rate is the second-highest among all Florida regions, behind only Tampa Bay's 19.4%. The gain of 182 filings came from a smaller starting base, but the rate has been holding up, not just a single good month.
Marion County led the region with 631 formations, up 1.1% from April. Alachua County added 395, up 3.1%. Those two counties account for most of the regional total. Management of Companies led the industry count at 128, followed by Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (113), Administrative and Support (108), Construction (100), and Real Estate and Rental and Leasing and Transportation and Warehousing tied at 93 each.
Madison County had the largest percentage jump in the region this month. Its 28 formations represent a 33.3% month-over-month increase, putting it on the statewide fast-growth county list for May. Madison is a small county, so the count is modest in absolute terms. A second strong month would signal a lasting shift rather than a one-time move. Hamilton County also gained 6.7% to reach 16 formations.
Tourism and seasonal demand
North Central Florida's hospitality and recreation activity is anchored by natural springs, equestrian venues, and the University of Florida's presence in Gainesville. Arts, Entertainment and Recreation accounted for 46 formations in the region's industry count for May 2026, the smallest among the top ten regional industries. Statewide, Florida recorded 143.3 million visitors in 2025, a 0.2% increase over 2024. This region draws a small share of that visitor traffic, and its formation activity in arts and entertainment reflects mostly local demand rather than large tourism projects.
Property holding and short term rentals
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing contributed 93 formations to the north-central region in May 2026, tied with Transportation and Warehousing for fifth place. Florida's property-holding formation environment is shaped by several legal changes. The Protected Series LLC law (CS/SB 316), signed June 20, 2025 and effective July 1, 2026, allows a single parent LLC to hold multiple properties under one roof with liability kept separate for each (Holland and Knight). Florida homeowner insurance averaged $8,292 in 2025, pushing some owners toward LLC structures that separate liability between properties (Insurify). Florida state law since 2011 bars local governments from banning vacation rentals unless they had a local rule before June 1, 2011, and no statewide ban is in force (Avantio). The springs corridor and rural Nature Coast attract vacation-rental owners, but a breakdown for this region specifically is not available in the data.
Emerging counties: Madison (+33.3%), Hamilton (+6.7%).
Government & policy
- Florida repealed its 2% state sales tax on commercial rent (plus county surtaxes of 0.5-1.5%) effective October 1, 2025, reducing occupancy costs for office, retail, and industrial tenants statewide. This coincides with sustained growth in professional services and retail new-business formation in May 2026. Holland & Knight: Florida HB 7031 Becomes Effective Oct. 1, 2025, 2025-07-01
- Governor DeSantis signed HB 803 on May 8, 2026, exempting single-family residential projects valued under $7,500 from building permits, effective July 1, 2026. The law also promotes private building inspectors and streamlines permit review timelines. This coincides with a slight month-over-month softening in construction new-business formations in May 2026. WFSU News: A new Florida law will drop permits for low-cost home projects, 2026-05-08
- Florida's CHOICE Act (HB 1219), effective July 3, 2025, allows non-compete agreements of up to four years for employees earning more than the county mean wage, excluding healthcare practitioners. The law's elevated enforceability for high-earning professional roles aligns with professional services remaining one of the top-growing formation categories in May 2026. Holland & Knight: Enhanced Noncompetition Bill Becomes Law in Florida, 2025-07-14
Corroboration
- Florida recorded 143.3 million visitors in 2025, a 0.2% increase over 2024 and a new state record, per Visit Florida preliminary data. Early 2026 data shows roughly 39.9 million visitors in Q1, about 1% fewer than Q1 2025. WJHG / Visit Florida, 2026-05-26
- Florida's Protected Series LLC law (CS/SB 316), signed June 20, 2025, takes effect July 1, 2026, allowing a single parent LLC to establish multiple asset-isolated series. Real estate developers are a primary cited use case. Holland & Knight: Florida Passes New Protected Series LLC Legislation, 2025-06-20
Northeast Florida (First Coast)
3,028 formations(4.7% of state)
Duval County dropped 9.0% month over month to 1,913 formations, the steepest decline among Florida's top-10 counties, even as the region's year-over-year gain of 10.5% outpaced the statewide average of 8.9%. Baker County was the region's fast-growth county this month, up 31.2% from April.
Northeast Florida had 3,028 formations in May 2026, a 4.7% share of the statewide total of 64,272. The year-over-year number is the better signal: up 10.5% from 2,740 a year ago, ahead of the statewide 8.9%. Month over month the region fell 7.1% from 3,258 in April. Florida as a whole fell 5.0%, so the northeast dropped a bit more than the state, and nearly all of that extra drop came from Duval County.
Duval posted 1,913 formations, down 190 from 2,103 in April, a 9.0% monthly decline. That is the biggest drop among Florida's ten highest-volume counties. The Jacksonville area lost a net 3,400 jobs between April 2025 and April 2026, a 0.4% decline, with financial services down 3,700 jobs and federal government down 1,700 jobs, and unemployment reaching 4.8% in April 2026 (Jax Daily Record, May 22, 2026). Slower hiring tends to reduce the service-business formations that follow payroll growth.
St. Johns County contributed 402 formations, essentially flat month over month (down 1 from 403). Nassau County added 124, up 14.8% from 108 in April. Baker County rose 31.2% to 21 formations. Putnam County held at 65, up modestly. Smaller counties around Duval grew, which may mean new-business activity is spreading outward, though the counts are still small.
Management of Companies led the region with 360 formations. Professional, Scientific and Technical Services followed at 304. Administrative and Support Services (253), Construction (248), and Real Estate and Rental and Leasing (229) filled out the next tier. Transportation and Warehousing brought 182 formations, consistent with JAXPORT's role as a major cargo port. JAXPORT moved nearly 1.4 million TEUs and 506,000 vehicle units in FY2025 and is investing to raise the St. Johns River clearance to 205 feet to handle larger ships.
The region's 10.5% year-over-year gain is solid. Northeast Florida is the fourth-smallest of the seven regions by raw count. The monthly drop in Duval is worth tracking through summer. If the local job losses continue, finance and professional services formations are the categories most likely to feel it.
Tourism and seasonal demand
Arts, Entertainment and Recreation contributed 94 formations in May 2026. A breakdown for hospitality specifically in Northeast Florida is not available in the data. St. Augustine is Florida's oldest city and a year-round heritage destination, which supports hospitality formations in St. Johns County, but county-level industry breakdowns are not in the data. Florida recorded 143.3 million visitors statewide in 2025, a 0.2% increase over 2024, providing a steady backdrop for tourism-related business formation.
Property holding and short term rentals
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing accounted for 229 formations in Northeast Florida's industry count. Statewide the property-holding segment totaled 8,584 formations in May 2026, up 2.3% from April, with 577 of those flagged as short-term or vacation-rental holdings, up 5.3% month over month. A regional breakdown for Northeast Florida is not available in the data. Florida's Protected Series LLC law (CS/SB 316), signed June 20, 2025 and effective July 1, 2026, creates a new option for holding multiple properties under a single parent LLC with liability kept separate for each property. Real estate investors in markets like St. Johns and Nassau counties are a primary cited use case (Holland and Knight, June 20, 2025).
Emerging counties: Baker (+31.2%), Nassau (+14.8%), Putnam (+3.2%).
Government & policy
- Jacksonville metropolitan area lost a net 3,400 nonagricultural jobs from April 2025 to April 2026, with financial activities down 3,700 jobs and federal government down 1,700 jobs, pushing the unemployment rate to 4.8% in April 2026. This employment contraction coincides with Duval County posting the steepest month-over-month decline among top-10 Florida counties in May 2026. Jax Daily Record: Job losses continue in metropolitan Jacksonville, 2026-05-22
- Florida repealed its 2% state sales tax on commercial rent effective October 1, 2025, reducing occupancy costs for office, retail, and industrial tenants statewide. This coincides with sustained growth in professional services and retail new-business formation in May 2026. Holland & Knight: Florida HB 7031 Becomes Effective Oct. 1, 2025, 2025-07-01
Corroboration
- Jacksonville metropolitan area (Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, and St. Johns counties) lost a net 3,400 nonagricultural jobs from April 2025 through April 2026, a 0.4% decline, with financial activities down 3,700 jobs and federal government down 1,700 jobs. The area's unemployment rate reached 4.8% in April 2026. This aligns with Duval County's 9.0% month-over-month decline in new-business formation in May 2026. Jax Daily Record: Job losses continue in metropolitan Jacksonville, 2026-05-22
- JAXPORT reported the port moved nearly 1.4 million TEUs, 506,000 vehicle units, and more than 10 million tons of cargo in FY2025, with a $250 million Blount Island modernization underway and a project to raise the St. Johns River air draft to an operational clearance of 205 feet by end of 2026. This port activity coincides with Northeast Florida recording 3,028 new formations in May 2026, up 10.5% year-over-year, including 182 in Transportation & Warehousing. Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT), 2026-02-26
- Florida's Protected Series LLC law (CS/SB 316), signed June 20, 2025, takes effect July 1, 2026, allowing a single parent LLC to establish multiple asset-isolated series. Real estate developers are a primary cited use case. Holland & Knight: Florida Passes New Protected Series LLC Legislation, 2025-06-20
Central Florida (I-4 Corridor & Space Coast)
9,866 formations(15.4% of state)
Orange County leads the region with 4,151 formations, nearly 42% of the central total, though it fell 5.1% month over month along with the statewide May pullback. The more useful signal is the 10.2% year-over-year gain: the region added roughly 914 formations over May 2025's 8,952, showing steady growth rather than a single good month.
Central Florida had 9,866 new formations in May 2026, which is 15.4% of the state total and third among Florida's seven regions. Year over year the region is up 10.2% from 8,952 in May 2025. Month over month it fell 5.9% from April's 10,487, consistent with May's statewide seasonal pattern.
Orange County produced 4,151 formations. Polk County followed at 1,339, then Osceola at 972, Brevard at 920, Volusia at 877, Seminole at 777, and Lake at 687. Every county in the region fell month over month except Osceola, which held nearly flat at plus 3 filings (+0.3%). Polk had the biggest monthly drop in the region at -10.9%, and Seminole fell 10.6%.
Management of Companies led the regional industry count at 1,416 formations, followed by Professional, Scientific and Technical Services at 966. Administrative and Support Services came in at 727, Real Estate at 703, and Transportation and Warehousing at 621. Construction contributed 682 formations. Transportation stands out: at 621, Central Florida runs well ahead of Southwest Florida (205) and Northwest Florida (82), reflecting the logistics activity along the I-4 corridor.
Port Canaveral's infrastructure investment reinforces the Space Coast side of the region. In May 2026, a $20.21 million federal Port Infrastructure Development Program grant was announced for Port Canaveral's North Cargo Berths 1 and 2, part of a $37.43 million project to repair dock bulkheads used by tanker vessels carrying refined petroleum products into Central Florida. Brevard County recorded 920 formations in May 2026. (Source: Space Coast Daily)
On the professional services side, Travel and Leisure Co. opened its 183,000-square-foot global headquarters in Downtown Orlando on January 21, 2026, bringing more than 900 employees to the area with a capital investment exceeding $36 million. The company plans to grow its Orlando base to 1,000 positions. Central Florida's Professional Services count of 966 ranks above every Florida region except Southeast and Tampa Bay. (Source: Business Wire)
Orlando Health is opening new hospitals in Lakeland and Pasco County in 2026. Large health-system growth of this kind historically brings related entity formation in nearby counties. Central Florida's Health Care and Social Assistance count of 440 reflects that activity. (Source: Florida Trend)
Tourism and seasonal demand
Tourism is central to this region's identity, and the formation data is holding steady. Arts, Entertainment and Recreation contributed 316 formations in May 2026, consistent with the statewide picture in which that category rose 3.4% month over month. Florida recorded 143.3 million visitors in 2025, a 0.2% increase and a new state record. Q1 2026 showed roughly 39.9 million visitors, about 1% fewer than Q1 2025, while hotels sold about 0.6% more rooms. (Source: WJHG / Visit Florida) Brightline's South Florida short-haul ridership rose 25% in January 2026 year over year, with long-distance ticket revenue up 17% in the same month. (Source: WLRN) A Central Florida-specific hospitality breakdown is not available in the data. Statewide, Florida's licensed food-service establishment count grew to 67,545 as of October 26, 2025, from 66,642 at the close of FY 2024-25. (Source: Glover Law)
Property holding and short term rentals
Property-holding formations are fully sorted for May 2026. Statewide, the Property Holding and Asset-Protection category totaled 8,584 formations, up 2.3% month over month, with 577 of those flagged as short-term or vacation-rental holdings (6.7% of the property-holding total), itself up 5.3% from April's 548. A Central Florida-specific property-holding count is not available in the data, but Orange County's position as the region's dominant county and the statewide uptick in property-holding formation both point to continued activity along the I-4 corridor. Florida's Protected Series LLC law (CS/SB 316), signed June 20, 2025 and effective July 1, 2026, allows a single parent LLC to hold multiple properties with liability kept separate between each, a structure aimed mainly at real estate investors. The run-up to that July 1 effective date aligns with the 2.3% monthly rise in property-holding formations statewide. (Source: Holland and Knight) For short-term rentals, Orlando requires a Home Sharing or Commercial Dwelling Unit permit. Florida state law since 2011 bars local governments from banning vacation rentals outright. There is no statewide ban on short-term rentals in 2026. (Source: Avantio) Florida homeowners paid an average annual insurance premium of $8,292 in 2025. Citizens Property Insurance will cut rates an average of 8.7% effective June 1, 2026, which would modestly reduce costs for property-holding LLC owners. (Source: Insurify)
Government & policy
- Florida repealed its 2% state sales tax on commercial rent effective October 1, 2025, reducing occupancy costs for office, retail, and industrial tenants statewide. This coincides with Professional Services (966 formations) and Administrative & Support Services (727 formations) remaining among Central Florida's top industry categories in May 2026. Holland & Knight: Florida HB 7031 Becomes Effective Oct. 1, 2025, 2025-07-01
- Florida's Protected Series LLC law (CS/SB 316), signed June 20, 2025 and effective July 1, 2026, allows a single parent LLC to create multiple asset-isolated series, with real estate investors as a primary cited use case. Statewide property-holding formations rose 2.3% month-over-month to 8,584 in May 2026. Holland & Knight: Florida Passes New Protected Series LLC Legislation, 2025-06-20
- Governor DeSantis signed HB 803 on May 8, 2026, exempting single-family residential projects valued under $7,500 from building permits, effective July 1, 2026. The law also promotes private building inspectors and streamlines permit review timelines. Central Florida's Construction formations totaled 682 in May 2026, alongside a statewide construction decline of 4.5%. WFSU News: A new Florida law will drop permits for low-cost home projects, 2026-05-08
- Florida Senate Bill 180, signed in 2025, prevents local governments from enacting land-use rules more restrictive than state standards. Orange County is among the jurisdictions that challenged the law. This regulatory backdrop aligns with continued real estate and property-holding formation activity in Central Florida's dominant county. WGCU: Window closing to roll back Florida SB 180 home rule limits, 2026-02-27
Corroboration
- A $20.21 million federal Port Infrastructure Development Program grant was announced in May 2026 for Port Canaveral's North Cargo Berths 1 and 2, part of a $37.43 million project to upgrade dock bulkheads that serve tanker vessels carrying refined petroleum products. Brevard County recorded 920 new formations in May 2026. Space Coast Daily, 2026-05-18
- Travel + Leisure Co. opened its 183,000-square-foot global headquarters in Downtown Orlando on January 21, 2026, with a capital investment exceeding $36 million and more than 900 associates relocated to the urban core. The company plans to grow its Orlando base to 1,000 positions. This coincides with Central Florida's Professional, Scientific & Technical Services count of 966 formations in May 2026. Business Wire, 2026-01-21
- Orlando Health is opening new hospitals in Lakeland and Pasco County in 2026, both slated to open that year, extending Central Florida's large health-system footprint. This aligns with Central Florida recording 440 Health Care & Social Assistance formations in May 2026. Florida Trend, 2026-01-02
Tampa Bay (Gulf Coast)
12,143 formations(18.9% of state)
Tampa Bay grew 19.4% year over year, the highest rate of any Florida region. Pinellas County alone had 5,450 formations, third-highest among all Florida counties.
Tampa Bay had 12,143 formations in May 2026, up 19.4% from May 2025's 10,169. That is the strongest year-over-year growth rate of any Florida region this month. Month over month the region fell 3.6% from April's 12,602, consistent with the statewide seasonal pullback after March's high of 72,462.
Pinellas County leads the region at 5,450 formations, third-highest among all Florida counties and the only non-South Florida county in the state's top five. Hillsborough follows at 3,466, Sarasota at 1,022, Pasco at 1,015, and Manatee at 777. Sarasota was the only county in the region to gain month over month, up 2.0% from 1,002 to 1,022. Manatee fell the most, down 9.1% from 855.
Management of Companies is the top industry at 1,901 formations (15.7% of the regional total), followed by Professional, Scientific and Technical Services at 1,367 (11.3%). Real Estate and Rental and Leasing contributed 929 (7.7%), Construction 770 (6.3%), and Administrative and Support Services 729 (6.0%). The Professional Services count of 1,367 is the second-highest in the state after Southeast Florida's 2,391, reflecting the finance and professional-services base Tampa Bay has built over the past decade.
The Tampa Bay Partnership Foundation's 2026 Regional Competitiveness Summary found the region's average wages grew 5.14% to $66,671, job growth ran 1.07% above the national average, and advanced industry jobs reached 15.78% of total employment across the eight-county region. That strong labor market aligns with the broad-based formation growth this month. (Source: St. Pete Catalyst, January 2026.)
The industry counts above come from the NAICS-based industry matrix. The property-holding view, which uses AI enrichment, is covered separately in the property note below. No county-level irregularities were flagged for this region this month.
Tourism and seasonal demand
Arts, Entertainment and Recreation contributed 358 formations in May 2026, 2.9% of the regional total. Florida recorded 143.3 million visitors in 2025, a 0.2% increase and a new state record, with Q1 2026 showing roughly 39.9 million visitors, about 1% below Q1 2025 while hotel room sales ran 0.6% higher. (Source: WJHG / Visit Florida, May 2026.) Port Tampa Bay completed a $36 million marine aggregate terminal expansion in May 2026, including a ribbon-cutting on May 28. The project included a $29 million investment by Cemex and a $7 million Florida DOT grant, giving the port a system rated to move 5,000 tons per hour. The port projects roughly 1.5 million tons annually. (Source: Tampa Bay Business and Wealth, May 2026.) Separately, a 19-acre industrial campus at 7351 Muck Pond Road in East Tampa broke ground in May 2026. The three-building, 251,162-square-foot project targets logistics tenants and is expected to complete in May 2027. (Source: Tampa Bay Business and Wealth, April 2026.) These infrastructure projects are consistent with the region's Transportation and Warehousing formation count of 463.
Property holding and short term rentals
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing produced 929 formations in Tampa Bay this month, 7.7% of the regional total. Statewide the property-holding segment counted 8,584 formations in May, with 577 flagged as short-term or vacation-rental entities (6.7% of the property-holding total, up 5.3% from April's 548). Property-holding formations are fully sorted for May 2026. In Sarasota, Ordinance 25-5560 now requires a five-step compliance process for all vacation rental properties beginning in 2026, including several licenses, annual renewals, and a designated person reachable around the clock. (Source: Choose Gulf Coast, January 2026.) That added compliance work likely pushes some short-term rental operators to form a business entity if they have not already. Florida's Protected Series LLC law (CS/SB 316), signed June 20, 2025 and effective July 1, 2026, allows a single parent LLC to hold multiple properties with liability kept separate for each. Real estate investors are a primary cited use case. Property owners preparing multi-property portfolios ahead of that July 1 date have reason to file now. (Source: Holland and Knight, June 2025.)
Government & policy
- Florida repealed its 2% state sales tax on commercial rent effective October 1, 2025, reducing occupancy costs for office, retail, and industrial tenants statewide. This aligns with professional services and construction remaining major formation categories in Tampa Bay through May 2026. Holland & Knight: Florida HB 7031 Becomes Effective Oct. 1, 2025, 2025-07-01
- Sarasota County's Ordinance 25-5560 requires new vacation rental certificates for all short-term rental properties beginning in 2026, with a five-step compliance process and a mandatory responsible party available around the clock. This adds a formal compliance layer for short-term rental operators in the Tampa Bay region. Choose Gulf Coast: New Sarasota Vacation Rental Ordinance Explained: What Landlords Need to Know in 2026, 2026-01-01
- Florida's Protected Series LLC law (CS/SB 316), effective July 1, 2026, allows one parent LLC to hold multiple asset-isolated series, primarily targeting real estate investors. Holland & Knight: Florida Passes New Protected Series LLC Legislation, 2025-06-20
Corroboration
- Tampa Bay's average wages grew 5.14% to $66,671, job growth ran at 1.07% above the national average, and advanced industry jobs reached 15.78% of total employment, as reported in the Tampa Bay Partnership Foundation's 2026 Regional Competitiveness Summary. This coincides with Tampa Bay posting a 19.4% year-over-year gain in new-business formations in May 2026, the highest regional YoY growth rate in Florida. St. Pete Catalyst: Tampa Bay gains ground in 2026 competitiveness report, 2026-01-01
- Cemex and Port Tampa Bay completed a $36 million marine aggregate terminal expansion at Port Tampa Bay with a ribbon-cutting on May 28, 2026. The $29 million Cemex investment and $7 million Florida DOT grant produced a facility rated to move 5,000 tons per hour, with the port projecting roughly 1.5 million tons of annual throughput. This coincides with Tampa Bay posting 12,143 formations in May 2026 and remaining the second-largest new-business formation region in Florida. Tampa Bay Business & Wealth, 2026-05-28
- A 19-acre speculative industrial campus called Constellation East Tampa Business Center broke ground in May 2026. The three-building, 251,162-square-foot project at 7351 Muck Pond Road targets logistics and distribution tenants with a projected completion in May 2027. The Tampa industrial market is described as highly desirable and land-constrained. Tampa Bay Business & Wealth, 2026-04-30
Southwest Florida
3,486 formations(5.4% of state)
Construction (351 formations) is the region's second-largest industry, running ahead of construction's statewide share of 6.6%. That high count reflects the ongoing $1.1 billion RSW airport terminal expansion and a new $824 million Lee Health hospital under construction in Fort Myers.
Southwest Florida had 3,486 new formations in May 2026, down 4.3% from April's 3,643 and up 6.8% year over year from 3,264 in May 2025. The monthly dip mirrors the statewide pattern, which fell 5.0% over the same period.
Lee County led the region with 1,969 formations, down a modest 1.7% from April. Collier County followed at 926, off 4.9%. Those two counties account for most of the regional total.
Construction's 351 formations stand out. Statewide, construction ran at 6.6% of total formations in May. The region's large active projects keep demand steady for trade contractors, specialty subcontractors, and related businesses. Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers is mid-construction on a $1.1 billion terminal expansion adding 513,000 square feet of new space. As of February 2026 Phase 2 had passed the halfway point. RSW handled a record of over 11 million passengers in 2024. A new $824 million Lee Health hospital is also under construction in Fort Myers. Lee County approved a $725 million bond sale to fund the RSW expansion. That level of committed capital keeps subcontractor and supplier formation active well beyond a single month.
Management of Companies leads the region at 452, the largest single industry category. That high count in a metro known for retirement wealth and Gulf-front real estate reflects the asset-holding and family-office structures common among high-net-worth residents. Professional Services (279) and Real Estate (279) both tie for fourth, pointing the same direction.
Southwest Florida's 6.8% year-over-year gain is below the statewide 8.9% rate and well below Tampa Bay's 19.4% and North Central Florida's 16.1%. The region's formation pace is stable rather than accelerating.
Tourism and seasonal demand
Florida recorded 143.3 million visitors in 2025, a new state record, and Q1 2026 hotel room sales ran roughly 0.6% above Q1 2025 levels (WJHG / Visit Florida). RSW's record 11-million-passenger year in 2024 anchors Southwest Florida as a main tourism gateway. Arts, Entertainment and Recreation added 102 formations in the region, the smallest of the tracked categories. The hospitality economy here is concentrated in established, higher-cost resort and luxury segments where new entrants are less frequent.
Property holding and short term rentals
Property-holding entity formation is elevated across Florida, and Southwest Florida's mix reflects that. Management of Companies leads the region's industry count at 452, a category that includes the holding-company and family-office structures common among high-net-worth coastal residents. Statewide, Property Holding and Asset-Protection reached 8,584 formations in May, with 577 flagged as short-term or vacation-rental holdings (6.7% of that total). Property-holding formations are fully sorted for May 2026. Sarasota County (at the northern edge of the Southwest region) enacted Ordinance 25-5560 requiring new vacation rental certificates for all short-term rental properties beginning in 2026, including a five-step compliance process and a designated person reachable around the clock (Choose Gulf Coast, January 2026). That added compliance load, along with Florida's varied local rules, pushes property owners toward formal LLC structures. Florida's Protected Series LLC law (CS/SB 316), signed June 2025 and effective July 1, 2026, adds another option: one parent LLC can hold multiple properties with liability kept separate for each, a structure suited to multi-property Gulf Coast investors (Holland and Knight, June 2025). Citizens Property Insurance filed for an average rate decrease of 2.6% for personal lines effective June 1, 2026, a shift that modestly lowers the cost of holding real property in Southwest Florida (Citizens Property Insurance, December 2025).
Government & policy
- Governor DeSantis signed HB 803 on May 8, 2026, exempting single-family residential projects valued under $7,500 from building permits, effective July 1, 2026. The law also promotes private building inspectors and streamlines permit review timelines. This coincides with a slight month-over-month softening in construction new-business formations in May 2026. WFSU News: A new Florida law will drop permits for low-cost home projects, 2026-05-08
- Florida repealed its 2% state sales tax on commercial rent (plus county surtaxes of 0.5-1.5%) effective October 1, 2025, reducing occupancy costs for office, retail, and industrial tenants statewide. This coincides with sustained growth in professional services and retail new-business formation in May 2026. Holland & Knight: Florida HB 7031 Becomes Effective Oct. 1, 2025, 2025-07-01
- Florida Senate Bill 180, signed in 2025, prevents local governments statewide from enacting land-use rules more restrictive than state standards, including post-storm building moratoriums. Naples is among the jurisdictions that have challenged the law. A Florida Senate bill to narrow its scope passed the Senate in early 2026 but had not cleared the House before the session ended. This regulatory backdrop aligns with continued real estate and property-holding business formation in Southwest Florida. WGCU: Window closing to roll back Florida SB 180 home rule limits, 2026-02-27
Corroboration
- Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) in Fort Myers is mid-construction on a $1.1 billion terminal expansion including a new Concourse E adding approximately 513,000 square feet; as of February 2026, Phase 2 had passed its halfway point and a temporary TSA checkpoint opened for Concourse C. RSW handled a record of more than 11 million passengers in 2024. Lee County approved a $725 million bond sale to fund the expansion, and a new $824 million Lee Health hospital is under construction in Fort Myers. These capital commitments align with Southwest Florida recording 3,486 new formations in May 2026 and Construction remaining one of the region's top industries. National Today / RSW Airport expansion, 2026-02-09
- Sarasota County enacted Ordinance 25-5560 requiring new vacation rental certificates for all short-term rental properties beginning in 2026, with a mandatory five-step compliance process, annual renewals, and a designated responsible party reachable around the clock. The added compliance layer aligns with the period when Florida's short-term-rental sub-segment of property-holding formations rose. Choose Gulf Coast: New Sarasota Vacation Rental Ordinance Explained: What Landlords Need to Know in 2026, 2026-01-01
- Florida's Protected Series LLC law (CS/SB 316), signed June 2025 and effective July 1, 2026, allows a single parent LLC to create multiple asset-isolated series treated as separate legal persons for liability purposes, a vehicle suited to Gulf Coast multi-property investors. This new legal structure aligns with the continued strength of property-holding and management-of-companies formation in Southwest Florida. Holland & Knight: Florida Passes New Protected Series LLC Legislation, 2025-06-20
- Citizens Property Insurance filed for a statewide average rate decrease of 2.6% for personal lines, with three of five policyholders receiving an average premium reduction of 11.5%. Citizens' policy count fell 73% from its October 2023 peak of 1.42 million to an expected 385,000 by end of 2025. New rates are set to take effect June 1, 2026. A stabilizing insurance market lowers the carrying cost of holding property in Southwest Florida and coincides with the sustained rise in property-holding formations. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation: December 10, 2025 press release, 2025-12-10
Southeast Florida (Gold Coast, Treasure Coast & Keys)
23,372 formations(36.4% of state)
Miami-Dade County had 11,912 formations in May 2026, the largest single-county total in Florida, making up 51.0% of the Southeast region on its own. The region's Professional, Scientific and Technical Services count of 2,391 is the highest for that industry of any Florida region.
Southeast Florida had 23,372 new formations in May 2026, 36.4% of the state total. That is more than twice the size of the next-largest region (Tampa Bay at 18.9%). Year over year the region grew 8.7% from 21,500 formations in May 2025. Month over month formations fell 4.8% from April's 24,561. The statewide May drop was 5.0%, so Southeast came in slightly shallower.
Miami-Dade leads the region at 11,912 formations, down 5.2% from April. Broward contributed 5,996 (down 4.0%) and Palm Beach 4,205 (down 5.1%). St. Lucie posted 500 formations, down 8.8% month over month. Those four counties account for the full region count in the data. The drops are consistent with Florida's spring seasonal pattern. March 2026 was the statewide peak at 72,462 formations, and May is the third consecutive month below that high.
Management of Companies leads the Southeast with 4,013 formations (17.2% of the region). That is the highest count of that category in any Florida region and reflects the Gold Coast's role as a holding-entity hub. Professional, Scientific and Technical Services follows at 2,391 (10.2%), also the highest regional count for that industry statewide. Real Estate and Rental and Leasing placed third at 1,522 (6.5%), with Administrative and Support at 1,424 (6.1%) and Health Care at 1,369 (5.9%) rounding out the top five.
The year-over-year gain of 8.7% is solid and spread across the region. The trailing 12-month direction tracks the statewide rising trend. The May dip is normal seasonal cooling, not a sign of a structural shift.
Tourism and seasonal demand
Hospitality formation in Southeast Florida is steady. Statewide, Hospitality and Tourism formations grew just 0.3% month over month in May (3,726 from 3,715 in April). PortMiami processed 8,564,225 cruise passengers in fiscal year 2025, a 4.02% increase over the prior year and the largest total since the port first welcomed cruise guests in 1968. (Source: Cruise Hive.) That sustained passenger volume supports a steady base of hospitality-related formations rather than a sharp spike. Fort Lauderdale reported a strong return of Canadian snowbirds in spring 2026, even as overall Canadian arrivals to Florida fell on trade tensions and a weaker Canadian dollar. (Source: Travel and Tour World.) Brightline's South Florida short-haul ridership jumped 25% in January 2026 versus January 2025, with long-distance ticket revenue up 17% in the same month. (Source: WLRN.) Higher rail traffic between Miami and Orlando broadens the region's reach for hospitality operators, though that alone does not create a sharp single-month formation spike.
Property holding and short term rentals
Property-holding and asset-protection LLCs are a large part of Southeast Florida's formation mix. Statewide the property-holding category totaled 8,584 formations in May 2026, up 2.3% from April, with a short-term-rental sub-group of 577 formations (6.7% of the property-holding total), itself up 5.3% month over month. A regional breakdown for Southeast specifically is not available in the data. Given Southeast's 36.4% share of all statewide formations, it is the largest contributor to that pool. The Management of Companies and Enterprises category, which reached 4,013 formations in Southeast, captures a large share of holding-entity structures. Florida's Protected Series LLC law (CS/SB 316), signed June 2025 and effective July 1, 2026, creates a new option for property investors to hold multiple assets under a single parent LLC with liability kept separate for each property. Real estate developers and property investors are a primary cited use case. (Source: Holland and Knight.) Each internal series is treated as a separate legal entity, which can lower costs compared to forming one LLC per property. (Source: Southron Firm.) On the short-term-rental side, Miami Beach bans rentals under six months in most residential zones, Orlando has permitting requirements, and Florida's other local rules vary widely. (Source: Avantio.) These requirements push short-term rental operators across the Gold Coast to form a legal entity. Florida homeowners paid an average annual premium of $8,292 in 2025, driven partly by roughly 300,000 claims from the 2024 hurricane season. Citizens Property Insurance will cut rates an average of 8.7% effective June 1, 2026. (Source: Insurify.) Forming an LLC to separate liability from rising insurance costs remains a practical choice for many property owners in this region.
Emerging counties: Okeechobee (+32.2%).
Government & policy
- Florida's Protected Series LLC law (CS/SB 316), signed June 20, 2025 and effective July 1, 2026, allows a single parent LLC to establish multiple asset-isolated series, with each series treated as a separate legal person for liability purposes. Real estate developers and property investors are a primary cited use case, coinciding with the Southeast region's high concentration of Management of Companies and Enterprises formations (4,013 in May 2026). Holland & Knight: Florida Passes New Protected Series LLC Legislation, 2025-06-20
- Florida repealed its 2% state sales tax on commercial rent effective October 1, 2025, reducing occupancy costs for office, retail, and industrial tenants statewide. This coincides with Professional, Scientific & Technical Services reaching 2,391 formations in Southeast Florida in May 2026, the highest regional count for that industry in the state. Holland & Knight: Florida HB 7031 Becomes Effective Oct. 1, 2025, 2025-07-01
- Okeechobee County's board approved land-use code amendments on May 14, 2026, reclassifying previously agricultural land in the county's southern portion to allow higher housing density and mixed-use development. This coincides with Okeechobee County recording 78 formations in May 2026, a 32.2% month-over-month increase, making it the only Southeast Florida county in the statewide emerging-hotspot list. WGCU: With data centers gone, Okeechobee County amends land use code with no fanfare, 2026-05-14
- Florida's CHOICE Act (HB 1219), effective July 3, 2025, allows non-compete agreements of up to four years for employees earning above the county mean wage, with elevated enforceability for high-earning professional roles. This aligns with Southeast Florida's Professional, Scientific & Technical Services sector recording 2,391 formations in May 2026. Holland & Knight: Enhanced Noncompetition Bill Becomes Law in Florida, 2025-07-14
- Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration announced a six-month moratorium on new Medicaid DMEPOS supplier enrollment effective March 20, 2026, blocking new standalone DME providers from billing Medicaid. This coincides with Health Care & Social Assistance formations in the Southeast at 1,369 in May 2026. Greenberg Traurig: Florida Announces Medicaid DMEPOS Supplier Enrollment Moratorium, 2026-03-25
Corroboration
- MSC Group opened its 130,000-square-foot North American Cruise Division headquarters at Block 55 at Sawyer's Walk in Downtown Miami on January 26, 2026, consolidating more than 400 team members. A Miami-Dade Beacon Council analysis projected the office would support an additional 1,500 jobs over the next three years and $300 million annually in recurring direct economic impact in Miami-Dade County. This aligns with Miami-Dade recording 11,912 formations in May 2026, the largest single-county total in Florida. MSC Press Area, 2026-01-26
- Palantir relocated its principal executive offices to Aventura, Florida, with its February 17, 2026 Form 10-K listing the new Aventura address, making it the largest publicly traded company headquartered in South Florida. This tech-sector relocation coincides with Southeast Florida's Professional, Scientific & Technical Services sector recording 2,391 formations in May 2026, the highest regional count for that industry statewide. Palantir Technologies Form 10-K (filed Feb. 17, 2026), 2026-02-17
- PortMiami processed 8,564,225 cruise passengers in fiscal year 2025, a 4.02% increase over the prior year, described as the largest total since the port first opened to cruise guests in 1968. The port is in Southeast Florida, sustaining hospitality formation activity in the region. Cruise Hive (PortMiami article), 2025-12-02
- Brightline's South Florida short-haul ridership jumped 25% in January 2026 compared to January 2025, with long-distance ticket revenue up 17% in the same month. This elevated intercity rail activity between Southeast and Central Florida coincides with Southeast Florida holding 36.4% of all May 2026 statewide formations. WLRN, 2026-02-19
Section 3
Industry spotlights
Property Holding and Short-Term Rental: The Counter-Cyclical Core
Property Holding and Asset-Protection added 192 formations to reach 8,584, up 2.3%, even as the overall month fell 5.0%. It was the only top-five category to grow month over month. At 13.4% share it is the largest named use case in Florida's formation mix.
The short-term and vacation-rental slice grew faster than the full category: 577 formations carry the short-term rental flag, up 5.3% from 548, against the parent category's 2.3% gain. Short-term rental is 6.7% of all property-holding formations. The 577 is a portion of the 8,584, not added on top.
Two independent signals point the same way. The holding-type count jumped 19.7% to 4,516 (7.0% of all formations). Address-named LLCs, those whose name begins with a street number, totaled 1,554 (2.4% of the month). Most holding entities do not use address-style names, so the broader holding count captures more of the segment than the address-named count alone. Together, they confirm the segment is real and growing.
Florida ranked first among all states for homeowner insurance cost, with an average annual premium of $8,292 in 2025, up 18% over 2024 and driven in part by roughly 300,000 claims following Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Citizens Property Insurance is cutting rates an average of 8.7% effective June 1, 2026, after its policy count fell 73% from its October 2023 peak and 17 new insurers entered the market. High and unpredictable insurance costs push owners toward LLC structures that keep liability separate per property.
Where it clusters: Property holding is concentrated where the state's real-estate value is highest. Southeast holds 1,522 Real Estate formations and Tampa Bay 929. A property-holding breakdown by region is not available in the data.
Property holding is the most consistent demand line in Florida's formation data. It grew even as the overall month fell, the rental slice grew faster, and the insurance and legal backdrop support continued growth. For a lead product, each of these is an LLC formed at a property address with no revenue or employees attached yet, exactly the kind of early signal this data captures.
- Florida homeowners paid an average annual insurance premium of $8,292 in 2025, an 18% increase over 2024, driven in part by roughly 300,000 claims following Hurricanes Helene and Milton, with Florida ranking first among states for homeowner insurance cost; Citizens will reduce rates an average of 8.7% effective June 1, 2026. Volatile insurance cost is a documented factor in property-holding LLC formation as owners seek liability separation. Insurify: Florida 2026 Home Insurance Report, 2026-01-01
- Citizens Property Insurance filed for a statewide average personal-lines rate decrease of 2.6%, with three of five policyholders receiving an average 11.5% reduction; its policy count fell 73% from an October 2023 peak of 1.42 million to an expected 385,000 by end of 2025, and 17 new insurers entered the Florida market, with new rates effective June 1, 2026. This shift coincides with sustained property-holding LLC formation. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation press release, 2025-12-10
- Florida adopted Uniform Protected Series LLC provisions (CS SB 316 / CS HB 403), signed June 2025, adding Florida Revised LLC Act Sections 605.2101 through 605.2802 effective July 1, 2026, letting one parent LLC create internal series each treated as a separate legal person for liability purposes, available to property-holding entities formed ahead of the effective date. Southron Firm, P.A.: Series LLC Florida 2026 Protected Series Law, 2026-01-01
- Sarasota County enacted Ordinance 25-5560, requiring vacation-rental certificates for short-term rentals beginning in 2026 with annual renewals and a five-step compliance process, plus a designated responsible party reachable around the clock. The added compliance layer coincides with the rise in Florida's short-term-rental property-holding formations. Choose Gulf Coast: New Sarasota Vacation Rental Ordinance Explained, 2026-01-01
Support Ecosystem: The Correlation We Cannot Yet Compute
This section would connect cleaning, delivery, property management, landscaping, and handyman formation to property-holding and short-term-rental activity by region. The data needed to make that connection is not available yet. We do not report a figure the data does not support.
The data does support the nearby categories on their own. Administrative and Support Services, which includes many cleaning, staffing, and facilities businesses, had 4,235 formations (6.6% share), up 1.4% month over month in a month where most categories fell. Personal and Other Services had 3,326 (5.2%), down 2.6%. Transportation and Logistics, which includes last-mile delivery, rose 2.1% to 3,177.
These are neighboring categories that held their ground. They are not a measured property-support connection. The breakdown of these service trades by region and property-holding density is the missing piece.
Where it clusters: Not available. The property-support connection by region is specifically identified as a gap in the data.
The support-ecosystem story is real in concept but cannot be measured this month. Stating the adjacent category counts is honest. Connecting them to property holding by region is not possible with the current data.
Hospitality and Tourism: Flat on a Record Visitor Base
Hospitality and Tourism formations held nearly flat at 3,726, up 11 from April (+0.3%), and made up 5.8% of the month. Accommodation and Food Services, a narrower industry cut, came in at 1,861, down 2.8%. Arts, Entertainment and Recreation rose 3.4% to 1,906.
Florida logged 143.3 million visitors in 2025, a 0.2% increase and a state record. Q1 2026 showed roughly 39.9 million visitors, about 1% fewer than Q1 2025, while hotels sold about 0.6% more rooms. A flat formation count on a stable visitor base makes sense: demand is steady rather than accelerating.
Two factors push in opposite directions. Canadian arrivals fell sharply for the 2025-26 season on trade tension and a weak Canadian dollar, with Fort Lauderdale reporting a strong snowbird return even so. Florida's licensed food-service count kept climbing, from 64,544 to 66,642 across FY 2024-25 and on to 67,545 by late October 2025, the operating-business backdrop to the 1,861 accommodation-and-food formations this month.
Where it clusters: Southeast leads Arts, Entertainment and Recreation at 650 formations, ahead of Tampa Bay (358) and Central (316). Southeast's large cruise and resort economy anchors its lead.
Hospitality formation is steady. On a record visitor base, flat formation is what you would expect. The category is not growing fast right now. The biggest variable to watch is Canadian arrivals, since that demographic drives a meaningful share of South Florida hospitality traffic and arrivals dropped sharply this past season.
- Florida recorded 143.3 million visitors in 2025, a 0.2% increase and a new record, with roughly 39.9 million visitors in Q1 2026 (about 1% fewer than Q1 2025) while hotels sold about 0.6% more rooms. This sustained base coincides with Hospitality & Tourism holding a 5.8% share of May 2026 formations (3,726 filings). WJHG / Visit Florida, 2026-05-26
- Florida's licensed food-service establishment count grew from 64,544 to 66,642 during FY 2024-25 and reached 67,545 by October 26, 2025, with net growth of 812 food licenses in the first three months of FY 2025-26. This licensed-establishment growth aligns with Florida's Accommodation and Food Services formation count of 1,861 in May 2026. Glover Law: State Report Shines Light on Florida's Hospitality Industry, 2025-10-30
- Canadian visitor arrivals to Florida fell sharply in the 2025-26 season on US-Canada trade tension, a weak Canadian dollar, and rising travel costs, while Fort Lauderdale reported a strong return of Canadian snowbirds in spring 2026. The split pattern coincides with Florida's hospitality formation count being nearly flat month over month. Travel and Tour World: Florida Sees Strong Return of Canadian Snowbirds in 2026, 2026-01-01
Healthcare: Down Year Over Year as a Medicaid Gate Closes
Healthcare formations fell 7.8% month over month to 3,293 (3,296 in the industry count), a 5.1% share of the month. The category dropped one rank spot both compared with April and compared with a year ago, from 7th to 8th. It was one of the steeper category declines in May.
One policy change lines up directly with the drop. Florida's health care regulator put a six-month freeze on new Medicaid equipment supplier enrollment starting March 20, 2026. That blocked new standalone durable-medical-equipment companies from billing Medicaid. It shut off one formation pathway entirely for that sub-segment.
The longer-term picture runs the other way. Orlando Health is opening two new hospitals in 2026, in Lakeland and Pasco County. New hospital openings typically bring a wave of smaller ancillary health businesses in the surrounding area over the following year or two. That broader growth is real but slower to show up in a single month. Geographically, Southeast led healthcare formation at 1,369, with Tampa Bay second at 617, well ahead of the larger Central region (440).
Where it clusters: Southeast (1,369) and Tampa Bay (617) lead. Tampa Bay running ahead of the larger Central region (440) shows a higher concentration of healthcare entity formation on the Gulf coast.
Healthcare had the clearest policy-tied decline in May. The equipment-supplier enrollment freeze closed a real pathway, and both the count and the rank moved down. The new hospital tailwind is real but takes years to show up in formation numbers.
- Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration announced a six-month moratorium on new Medicaid DMEPOS (durable medical equipment) supplier enrollment effective March 20, 2026, blocking new standalone DME providers from billing Medicaid. This coincides with the year-over-year decline in health care and social assistance formation share in May 2026. Greenberg Traurig: Florida Announces Medicaid DMEPOS Supplier Enrollment Moratorium, 2026-03-25
- Orlando Health is opening new hospitals in Lakeland and Pasco County in 2026, both slated to open that year, extending Central Florida's large health-system footprint. System expansion of this scale historically accompanies growth in ancillary healthcare entity formations in surrounding counties. Florida Trend: A Decade of Growth (Orlando Health sponsored report), 2026-01-02
Top Movers: Retail and Professional Up, Management and Corporations Down
The biggest gains in May came from operating businesses, not holding structures. Retail rose 12.8% to 2,810, its largest monthly jump in the trailing 25-month window. Professional Services rose 6.1% to 6,419 (10.0% share). Agriculture and Natural Resources rose 11.9% to 723. These are new businesses formed to sell something or do something, not to hold an asset.
The sharpest drops came from the management and corporate categories. Management of Companies fell 14.6% to 3,568, and the domestic profit corporation entity type fell 12.8% to 5,021, both steeper than the overall 5.0% monthly decline. Healthcare fell 7.8% to 3,293 and Construction fell 4.5% to 4,222.
Construction's drop has a clear fit with what is happening in the market. National single-family housing starts fell 6.9% in 2025 to 943,000 units, with the South region down 4%, and Florida permit approval times are running 10-20% longer than the prior year. Real Estate formation (property-development focused) also fell 4.5% to 3,486, so the building and development side softened even as property-holding formation grew.
Where it clusters: Management of Companies is concentrated in Southeast (4,013, nearly 40% of the statewide total), then Tampa Bay (1,901). Professional Services follows the same pattern: Southeast 2,391, Tampa Bay 1,367.
May split in two directions: operating businesses (retail, professional, agriculture) grew while corporate structures and construction pulled back. The construction decline fits what is happening nationally in housing. The management-company drop is partly a classification effect, since the property analysis can move some rows from Management of Companies into Property Holding as it processes each month.
- National single-family housing starts fell 6.9% in 2025 to 943,000 units and single-family permits dropped 7.4% to 909,600, with the South region recording starts 4% lower and permits 5.2% lower than 2024. Florida's friendly Construction & Trades formation count of 4,222 in May 2026 fell 4.5% from April, consistent with the broader South-region permit contraction. Florida Realtors: Overall Housing Starts Inched Lower in 2025, 2026-02-01
- Florida construction permitting lead times for residential projects are trending 10-20% longer, with the largest delays in commercial review and increased queues expected in Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, and Orange counties; the recommended advance filing window is 90-120 days. Longer permitting timelines align with the month-over-month decline in Florida construction entity formations. Suncoast Permits: What Builders Should Expect from Florida Permitting in 2026, 2026-01-01
Section 4
Anomalies & notables
The most notable thing about May is that nothing unusual happened at the county level. The 5.0% decline spread across nearly every major county rather than hitting one or two places hard. That pattern marks this as a normal seasonal pullback across the board, not a local shock in any particular area. The steepest county drops were Leon at -11.9%, Polk at -10.9%, Seminole at -10.6%, and Duval at -9.0%, all large in percentage terms but none far enough above their own normal range to stand out as unusual.
Four industries ran noticeably above their usual pace: Finance and Insurance, Information, Retail Trade, and Utilities. Read all four as a general direction, not a confirmed jump. We have been sorting businesses into named categories a little differently in older months, which lowers the older counts and makes recent months look higher by comparison. That change is still happening, so these four are signals to watch, not firm spikes.
Retail Trade is the most credible of the four. It rose 12.7% to 2,812, held its rank position (10th) steady against both last month and last year, and its absolute count is large enough that a grouping shift alone would not explain the full move. It is still treated as directional given the shared caveat, but it is the category worth watching.
The fastest-growing slice in the geography breakdown is the unassigned group: formations with a blank or out-of-state principal address grew 29.7% year over year to 8,887, making up 13.8% of the month. That growth rate is faster than any named Florida region, with Tampa Bay next at 19.4%. Some of this reflects genuine out-of-state owners registering Florida businesses, and some reflects upstream changes in how address data is collected. It is listed separately rather than folded into the regional totals.
No new industries or counties appeared for the first time against their own baselines this month.
The top filing company, Northwest Registered Agent LLC, handled 3,249 formations at 5.06% of the month, well under the 10% mark that would raise a concern about bulk filings skewing the data. No batch-filing distortion is detectable at the filing-company level that would cast doubt on any county or industry count.
| Place | This month | Usual | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finance & Insurance | 1,303 | above | |
| Information | 1,630 | above | |
| Retail Trade | 2,812 | above | |
| Utilities | 136 | above | |
| (none) | 0 | none |
Artifact check: Clean. Top filing company Northwest Registered Agent LLC handled 3,249 formations at 5.06%, under the 10% threshold; single_agent_dominates is false. The 14.7% combined commercial filing-company share is spread across at least 10 named players. No bulk-filing distortion is detectable at the filing-company level. Caveat: the check is filing-company-level only and would not catch bulk filings made under individual names.
Naming color: Elite showed the fastest growth in usage this month (474 names, up 68% above its typical level). Capital (743 names) and ventures (661) led the raw counts, a pattern that echoes the 19.7% jump in property-holding-type formations. Legacy reads as estate and succession framing. Labs and collective point toward tech and creator-economy names, while coastal reflects place-identity branding. These are name-frequency readings across the full month compared with the 25-month baseline. The data does not connect individual name words to specific industries, so any industry association is an inference, not a measured fact.
Section 5
What it means
This data covers business identity only. Each record is a newly registered Florida entity with a name, an address, an entity type, and a filing company. There is no revenue, no employment, no payroll, and no survival outcome attached. A formation is the first observable signal that someone is starting something, often weeks or months ahead of a hire or a first sale. Read the month as a demand pipeline, not as economic output.
The plain read for May: down month over month, up year over year, with the annual pace still rising. The 5.0% monthly drop is Florida's spring seasonal pattern. The +8.9% year-over-year gain is the better measure of underlying demand. The back-to-back monthly decline (April and May both below March's peak) is the one trend to watch into June, since it is the first two-month drop since late 2024.
The mix of categories tells more than the total count. Asset-protection structures grew while overall volume fell. Property holding was the only top-five category up month over month. The short-term-rental slice within it grew even faster. The holding-type customer model jumped 19.7%, and new business names leaned toward capital, ventures, and legacy. A real share of May's activity is people structuring existing assets, not launching operating businesses, and the insurance cost and new series-LLC law both point the same way.
Geographically, Tampa Bay is pulling ahead at the margin. Its 19.4% year-over-year gain is more than double the statewide 8.9%. Southeast still holds more than a third of all formations at 36.4%, but it grew at the state average, so its share lead is narrowing slowly.
Honest limits
- Identity and address data only. No revenue, employment, payroll, or business-survival data is present. Do not infer economic output, job creation, or firm success from formation counts.
- The data window is 25 months (May 2024 through May 2026). Any record high or low is a window record, not an all-time record, and the window is too short for a precise multi-year seasonal index.
- Industry-level signals are treated as directional only because we have been grouping businesses into named categories a little differently in older months, which lowers older per-industry counts and makes recent months read higher by comparison. County-level signals do not have this issue and are reliable.
- We do not adjust for population, so larger areas show bigger raw counts. Regional and county comparisons are raw counts only.
- The unassigned region (8,887, 13.8%) holds entities with a blank or out-of-state principal address. It is listed separately so all formations reconcile to the 64,272 month total. It is a mixed group of true out-of-state principals and data gaps, not a clean measure of either.
- The industry category mix covers all 64,272 formations in May. Property groupings are complete for May (zero pending), so the property-holding and short-term-rental counts are solid. The residual display category is a labeling artifact, not missing data. Every formation is counted.
- External research claims are correlational context only, stated as the sources state them. None establishes that a policy or project caused a formation count to move.
Section 6
Methodology & sources
Florida new business formations recorded in the state's corporate registry, filing month May 2026 (2026-05-01 through 2026-05-31), compared against April 2026 and May 2025. The trailing window runs 25 months, May 2024 through May 2026. We wait about two weeks after the end of each month for the state to finish recording all filings so the counts are complete and accurate.
Our plain everyday groupings start from what each business reported as its kind of work when it registered. Where our property-holding analysis has a result for a business, that result takes over and places the business in Property Holding and Asset-Protection or its short-term-rental sub-segment. That override is the only route into those two categories. A small residual display category covers businesses whose reported work does not match any of our named groups; it is a labeling artifact, not a data gap. Every formation is counted. The seven named Florida regions plus an unassigned row (blank or out-of-state principal address) reconcile to the 64,272 month total.
- Identity and address data only: no revenue, employment, payroll, or survival outcomes. Formation counts are a leading demand indicator, not a measure of economic output.
- The 25-month window means all record-high and record-low language is window-bounded, never all-time, and is too short for a precise multi-year seasonal index.
- Industry-level signals are treated as directional only because we have been grouping businesses into named categories a little differently in older months, which makes older per-industry counts lower and recent months read higher by comparison. County-level signals do not have this issue and are reliable.
- We do not adjust for population, so regional comparisons are raw counts. Larger areas naturally show bigger numbers.
- The connection between support-service businesses (cleaning, delivery, property management, landscaping, handyman services) and property-holding or short-term-rental activity by region is not computed. The data to make that connection is not yet available. It is named as a gap, not estimated.
- The unassigned region (blank or out-of-state principal address) is a mixed group. It is not separately reconciled against an out-of-state principal breakdown.
- External research sources are correlational context only and do not establish causation with formation counts.
External sources
- Holland & Knight: Florida HB 7031 Becomes Effective Oct. 1, 2025 (2025-07-01) Florida repealed its 2% state sales tax on commercial rent, plus county surtaxes, effective October 1, 2025.
- Holland & Knight: Florida Passes New Protected Series LLC Legislation (2025-06-20) Florida's Protected Series LLC law (CS/SB 316), signed June 20, 2025, takes effect July 1, 2026, with real estate developers a primary cited use case.
- WFSU News: A new Florida law will drop permits for low-cost home projects (2026-05-08) Governor DeSantis signed HB 803 on May 8, 2026, exempting single-family projects under $7,500 from permits effective July 1, 2026.
- Holland & Knight: Enhanced Noncompetition Bill Becomes Law in Florida (2025-07-14) Florida's CHOICE Act (HB 1219), effective July 3, 2025, allows non-competes up to four years for employees earning above the county mean wage, excluding healthcare practitioners.
- Greenberg Traurig: Florida Announces Medicaid DMEPOS Supplier Enrollment Moratorium (2026-03-25) Florida's AHCA imposed a six-month moratorium on new Medicaid DMEPOS supplier enrollment effective March 20, 2026.
- Jax Daily Record: Job losses continue in metropolitan Jacksonville (2026-05-22) Jacksonville metro lost a net 3,400 nonagricultural jobs April 2025 to April 2026 (-0.4%), with financial activities down 3,700 and federal government down 1,700; unemployment reached 4.8% in April 2026.
- St. Pete Catalyst: Tampa Bay gains ground in 2026 competitiveness report (2026-01-01) The Tampa Bay Partnership 2026 Regional Competitiveness report found average wages grew 5.14% to $66,671 and job growth ran at 1.07%, above the national average.
- CBS12: $13M FL infrastructure grant targets aerospace, maritime projects, and workforce housing (2026-03-03) Governor DeSantis announced more than $13 million in Job Growth Grant Fund awards for Bay and Gulf counties on March 3, 2026, including $6 million for a Gulf County shipyard dry dock and $5 million for an aircraft engine repair station at the Panama City-Bay County Airport.
- WGCU: With data centers gone, Okeechobee County amends land use code with no fanfare (2026-05-14) Okeechobee County approved land-use amendments on May 14, 2026, reclassifying agricultural land for higher housing density and mixed-use.
- WGCU: Window closing to roll back Florida SB 180 home rule limits (2026-02-27) Florida SB 180 prevents local governments from enacting land-use rules more restrictive than state standards; a Senate bill to narrow it passed the Senate in early 2026 but did not clear the House.
- Tampa Bay Business & Wealth (2026-05-28) Cemex and Port Tampa Bay completed a $36 million marine aggregate terminal expansion with a ribbon-cutting May 28, 2026; the port projects roughly 1.5 million tons annually.
- Tampa Bay Business & Wealth (2026-04-30) A 19-acre speculative industrial campus, Constellation East Tampa Business Center, broke ground in May 2026: three buildings, 251,162 square feet, targeting logistics tenants, completion May 2027.
- Space Coast Daily (2026-05-18) A $20.21 million federal Port Infrastructure Development Program grant for Port Canaveral's North Cargo Berths 1 and 2 was announced May 2026; full project value $37.43 million.
- Business Wire (2026-01-21) Travel + Leisure Co. opened its 183,000-square-foot global headquarters in Downtown Orlando on January 21, 2026, bringing more than 900 associates and a capital investment exceeding $36 million.
- WJHG / Visit Florida (2026-05-26) Florida recorded 143.3 million visitors in 2025, a 0.2% record, with roughly 39.9 million in Q1 2026 (about 1% fewer than Q1 2025) and hotels selling about 0.6% more rooms.
- WLRN (2026-02-19) Brightline South Florida short-haul ridership rose 25% in January 2026 year over year, with long-distance ticket revenue up 17% in the same month.
- MSC Press Area (2026-01-26) MSC Group opened its 130,000-square-foot North American Cruise Division headquarters in Downtown Miami on January 26, 2026, consolidating more than 400 team members, with a Miami-Dade Beacon Council projection of 1,500 additional jobs over three years and $300 million in annual recurring direct economic impact.
- Palantir Technologies Form 10-K (filed Feb. 17, 2026) (2026-02-17) Palantir relocated its principal executive offices to Aventura, Florida, with its February 17, 2026 Form 10-K listing the Aventura address, making it the largest publicly traded company headquartered in South Florida.
- Cruise Hive (PortMiami article) (2025-12-02) PortMiami processed 8,564,225 cruise passengers in FY2025 (+4.02%), the largest total since 1968.
- Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) (2026-02-26) JAXPORT moved nearly 1.4 million TEUs, 506,000 vehicle units, and more than 10 million tons of cargo in FY2025, with a $250 million Blount Island modernization and a river air-draft project to an operational clearance of 205 feet by end of 2026.
- Fox10 TV (Pensacola Birdon grant announcement) (2026-02-01) Triumph Gulf Coast gave initial approval to a $76 million grant (Project Maeve) for Birdon America's 400,000-square-foot shipbuilding facility at the Port of Pensacola, projected to create as many as 2,000 jobs, with operations targeted as soon as Q3 2027.
- National Today / RSW Airport expansion (2026-02-09) Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) is mid-construction on a $1.1 billion terminal expansion adding an approximately 513,000-square-foot Concourse E; RSW handled over 11 million passengers in 2024, and a new $824 million Lee Health hospital is under construction in Fort Myers.
- Citizens Property Insurance Corporation press release (2025-12-10) Citizens Property Insurance filed for a statewide average personal-lines rate decrease of 2.6%; its policy count fell 73% from an October 2023 peak of 1.42 million, with 17 new insurers entering, new rates effective June 1, 2026.
- Insurify: Florida 2026 Home Insurance Report (2026-01-01) Florida homeowners paid an average annual insurance premium of $8,292 in 2025, up 18%, driven partly by roughly 300,000 Helene and Milton claims; Florida ranked first among states for homeowner insurance cost, with Citizens cutting rates an average of 8.7% effective June 1, 2026.
- Choose Gulf Coast: New Sarasota Vacation Rental Ordinance Explained (2026-01-01) Sarasota County enacted Ordinance 25-5560, requiring vacation-rental certificates for all short-term rentals beginning in 2026 with annual renewals and a five-step compliance process.
- Avantio: Florida Short-Term Rental Laws 2026 (2026-01-01) Florida maintains a patchwork STR regulatory environment under the 2011 state preemption; city rules diverge sharply, and there is no statewide ban on short-term rentals in 2026.
- Southron Firm, P.A.: Series LLC Florida 2026 Protected Series Law (2026-01-01) Florida adopted Uniform Protected Series LLC provisions (CS SB 316 / CS HB 403), adding Florida Revised LLC Act Sections 605.2101 through 605.2802, effective July 1, 2026.
- Glover Law: State Report Shines Light on Florida's Hospitality Industry (2025-10-30) Florida's licensed food-service establishment count grew from 64,544 to 66,642 in FY 2024-25 and reached 67,545 by October 26, 2025, with 178,211 inspections conducted in FY 2024-25.
- Florida Realtors: Overall Housing Starts Inched Lower in 2025 (2026-02-01) National single-family housing starts fell 6.9% in 2025 to 943,000 units and permits dropped 7.4%, with the South region down 4% on starts and 5.2% on permits.
- Suncoast Permits: What Builders Should Expect from Florida Permitting in 2026 (2026-01-01) Florida residential permitting lead times are trending 10-20% longer, with the largest delays in commercial review and increased queues expected in Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, and Orange counties.
- Florida Trend: A Decade of Growth (Orlando Health sponsored report) (2026-01-02) Orlando Health is opening new hospitals in Lakeland and Pasco County in 2026, both slated to open that year.
- Travel and Tour World: Florida Sees Strong Return of Canadian Snowbirds in 2026 (2026-01-01) Canadian visitor arrivals to Florida fell sharply in the 2025-26 season on trade tension and a weak Canadian dollar, while Fort Lauderdale reported a strong snowbird return in spring 2026.
Frequently asked questions
- Formations fell 5% in May. Is Florida's business activity slowing down?
- Not in the way the monthly number suggests. The 5.0% month-over-month drop (67,628 to 64,272) is Florida's spring seasonality. The state stepped down from April to May in 2025 the same way, and March 2026 was the window peak at 72,462. The cleaner read is year over year, and that is up 8.9% against May 2025's 59,017. The trailing 12-month pace of 713,776 also beats the prior window's 708,521. The annual trend is still rising. The one thing to watch is that May is the second straight monthly decline, the first back-to-back contraction since late 2024.
- What does a new business formation actually measure here?
- It measures a newly registered Florida entity: a name, an address, an entity type, and the filing company that handles its legal mail. That is all. There is no revenue, no employee count, no payroll, and no information about survival. A formation is the earliest observable signal that someone is starting something, often weeks or months ahead of a hire or a first sale. Treat the counts as a demand pipeline, not as economic output or job creation.
- Why is Property Holding such a large category, and is the number reliable?
- Property Holding and Asset-Protection reached 8,584 formations, 13.4% of the named categories, and was the only top-five category to grow from the month before, up 2.3%. The short-term-rental slice within it grew 5.3% to 577. These figures are solid for May. Most Florida businesses are not property holdings, which is why only about a quarter of the month falls in this group, but that is simply how many fit, not a gap in the data. The number is reliable.
- Why are four industries flagged as above-trend but described as only directional?
- Finance and Insurance, Information, Retail Trade, and Utilities each ran noticeably above their usual pace this month. Read them as a general direction only. We have been sorting more businesses into named categories over time, which lowers the older counts and makes recent months read higher by comparison. That change is still happening this month. County-level signals are not affected by this and stay reliable. This month there were none.
- What is the unassigned region, and why does it grow so fast?
- Unassigned is formations with a blank or out-of-state principal address, 8,887 filings or 13.8% of the month. It grew 29.7% year over year, faster than any named region. It is disclosed separately so the seven Florida regions plus unassigned reconcile to the 64,272 total. The growth likely reflects more out-of-state principals registering in Florida, with some share owing to upstream changes in how the principal address is populated. It is a mixed bucket, not a clean out-of-state measure.
- Which region is gaining the most ground?
- Tampa Bay. It grew 19.4% year over year, more than double the statewide 8.9%, and posted 12,143 formations, 18.9% of the state. North Central Florida was second at 16.1%. Southeast still holds the largest share at 36.4% (23,372 formations), but it grew at the state average, so its lead is narrowing slowly. The marginal gravity is tilting toward the Gulf coast.
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