Tampa is a United States city in Hillsborough County, on the west coast of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. . The population of Tampa in 2000 was 303,447. According to the 2006 Census estimate, the city has a population of 332,888 .

Tampa is a part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the "Tampa Bay Area." The four-county area is composed of roughly 2.7 million residents, making it the second largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the state, and the third largest in the Southeastern United States behind Miami and Atlanta. The Tampa Bay Partnership and U.S. Census data showed an average annual growth of 2.47 percent, or a gain of approximately 97,000 residents per year. Between 2000 and 2006, the Tampa Bay market area has experienced a combined growth rate of 14.8 percent, growing from 3.4 million to 3.9 million and hitting the 4 million people mark on April 1, 2007. It is the second largest media market in the state of Florida and the twelfth largest DMA Market in the United States.