Best Places to Retire

Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater, FL - Best Large Military Cities For Retirement

The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan Area, otherwise known as the Tampa Bay Area, is located in west central region of Florida and is adjacent to Tampa Bay. At a size of 2554.5 square miles, it has a low elevation that can range anywhere from around 301ft to as low as sea level. The area is home to 2,783,730 people and is located in Eastern Standard Time zone of the United States (UTC-5).

The most major cities in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area are, as one might guess, Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. It also contains 5 towns with 50,000-100,000 inhabitants (Brandon, Largo, Palm Harbor, Spring Hill, and Town 'n' Country), and thirty-two with 10,000-50,000 inhabitants.

The Tampa Bay Area is a very nice place to live in after retiring from the military. It has quite a few aspects that a veteran may find helpful and enjoyable. Some of its positive aspects are its affordable living rate, berth of major four-year colleges, local medical facilities, and a local military base.

The housing cost in the area is affordable, at an average price of only $131,600. In addition, your federal pension is not taxed by the state of Florida. The Tampa Bay Area's unemployment rate is a little high at 12.1%, and its major industries include avionics, business and information services, health care, research, and high-technology industry.

The Tampa Bay Area has a wide variety of local high-level educational institutions, including a full ten four-year institutions as well as an assortment of community colleges. So if you have ever had the desire to go back to school or to get your Master's or Doctorate degrees, you'll have plenty of opportunities.

One of its more prominent four-year colleges is the University of South Florida, located in Tampa. The University of South Florida, or the USF, is one of the three biggest research facilities in the state, and is a member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1956, the USF has an enrollment of over 45000, making it the third largest university in the state of Florida and the ninth largest university in the nation. Other prominent institutions include the Eckerd College in St. Petersburg (a coeducational liberal arts college with an enrollment of over 1500), the Clearwater Christian College (a non-denominational Christian college with around 600 undergraduates), the University of Tampa (a private, coeducational university with an enrollment of nearly 2000), and the Florida College, located in Temple Terrace (a small coeducational Christian college with nearly 500 students, regionally accredited).

In the Tampa Bay Area there is a locally located hospital run by the United States Department of Veteran Affairs, otherwise known as the VA. With this, veterans should be able to get trustworthy healthcare without any problems.

There is also a nearby, locally placed military institution, the United States Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater. Home to nearly 600 United States Coast Guard aviation and support personnel, it is located in the St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport. It hosts a commissary and a Coast Guard exchange, as well as a very high-quality clinic.

As you can begin to see, there are several reasons to consider making the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan Area your ideal home for your military retirement.

Tampa Travel Guide

Saint Petersburg Travel Guide

Clearwater Travel Guide

Check out the resources below to help you through your military retirement:

Free military retirement calculators

Military retirement system

USAA Military Retirement Planning

Custom Search