Tampa rents and rental comps

The median asking rent across Tampa, FL sits at $2,085/month, pulled from active rental listings in 17 zip codes. That's down 6.4% from a year ago.

Rents aren't uniform across the city. ZIP 33602 tops the list at $2,995/month. ZIP 33612 comes in lowest at $1,350/month. That's a 122% spread between the top and bottom zip codes, which is wide. City-wide averages won't tell you much about a specific property here.

A 2-bedroom rents for $1,795/month at the median. 1-bedrooms run about $1,345. 3-bedrooms come in around $2,427.

Listings take longer here. The average is 54 days on market, which gives renters more room to negotiate and means landlords should price carefully.

Rent-to-price math is tight in Tampa. The gross figure sits at about 5.8% ($2,085/month against $435,000 median price). Most investors here are betting on appreciation, not monthly cash flow.

HUD's Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in the Tampa metro is $2,970/month. Asking rents come in about 30% below the federal benchmark, which can make Section 8 properties competitive here.

Tampa has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Florida migration wave. People from the Northeast and Midwest keep coming for the weather, lower taxes, and affordability relative to Miami. South Tampa, Hyde Park, and Channelside command the highest rents. North of I-275 and out toward Brandon runs cheaper. What catches people off guard is insurance. Florida property insurance has gotten expensive, and flood zone properties carry costs that eat through cash flow fast. The rent estimate is only half the picture in Tampa. You need the full cost side too.

These numbers are city-wide averages. If you're pricing a specific property in Tampa, pull comps from the same zip code. The spread is usually bigger than people expect.