Jobs & Economy in St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg's economy is anchored by two genuine Fortune 500 headquarters -- Raymond James Financial and Jabil -- plus a real healthcare presence led by Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, giving the city an economic identity distinct from a purely tourism- or retirement-driven Gulf Coast town. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro's unemployment rate ran between 4.5% and 4.7% in mid-2026 depending on the specific reading, representing some real softening from a year earlier.
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Learn moreRaymond James Financial: A Genuine Fortune 500 Anchor
Raymond James Financial, a major national financial-services firm, is headquartered at 880 Carillon Pkwy in St. Petersburg and reported approximately 19,500 employees company-wide as of 2025, per company and business-directory data reviewed August 2026. That figure is Raymond James' total workforce, not a St. Petersburg-campus-specific headcount -- but the firm's headquarters presence is a real, named, verifiable anchor for the city's identity as a financial-services hub, not a marketing claim.
Jabil: A Global Manufacturing Fortune 500 Headquartered Here
Jabil Inc., a global manufacturing-services company, is headquartered in the Gateway area of St. Petersburg and reported roughly 138,000 employees worldwide as of 2024, per company data. Again, that's a global headcount, not a local one -- a specific, sourced figure for Jabil's St. Petersburg campus employment specifically was not independently confirmed this pass -- but the headquarters designation itself is real and puts St. Petersburg alongside Raymond James as home to two separate Fortune 500 companies, an unusual density for a city of its size.
Healthcare: Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital
Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, based in St. Petersburg, is estimated at roughly 3,400 employees per Zippia's aggregated employment data (a third-party estimate, not a primary hospital-system disclosure) -- a genuine, large healthcare employer in the city, consistent with the broader Tampa Bay area's substantial hospital-system presence (see the Tampa jobs-economy topic page for the wider-metro healthcare picture, including Tampa General Hospital and BayCare).
Duke Energy Florida's Local Headquarters
Duke Energy Florida, the investor-owned utility serving most of St. Petersburg, has its Florida subsidiary headquartered downtown at 299 1st Ave N. A reliable, specific headcount for that downtown office was not confirmed this pass -- some directory listings suggest a small corporate-office footprint there rather than a large operational headcount, so don't assume the HQ designation implies a major local jobs center on its own; it's included here as a notable corporate presence, not an employment-scale claim.
Unemployment Rate
Sources reviewed August 2026 give slightly different readings for the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro unemployment rate: 4.5% for May 2026 per Federal Reserve (FRED) data, and 4.7% for June 2026 per BLS data cited via USAFacts. Both readings point to some real softening in the metro labor market compared with a year earlier, consistent with reporting on the wider Tampa side of the bay -- worth knowing plainly rather than relying only on job-growth narratives.
What Wasn't Independently Confirmed This Pass
A specific, current, primary-sourced ranking of St. Petersburg's single largest employers by headcount was not independently confirmed this session. Most sources reviewed were third-party employment-data aggregators (Zippia, ZoomInfo) rather than primary company or Bureau of Labor Statistics disclosures -- treat any broader 'top employers in St. Petersburg' list you encounter elsewhere as needing its own source check before relying on specific headcount figures.
Key takeaways
- Raymond James Financial (HQ: 880 Carillon Pkwy, ~19,500 employees company-wide, 2025) and Jabil (HQ: Gateway area, ~138,000 employees worldwide, 2024) are both genuine Fortune 500 headquarters in St. Petersburg -- unusual density for the city's size.
- Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital is a real, large healthcare employer, estimated at roughly 3,400 employees per third-party aggregated data.
- Duke Energy Florida's subsidiary is headquartered downtown (299 1st Ave N), though a specific local headcount for that office was not confirmed -- don't assume it implies a major jobs center on its own.
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro unemployment ran 4.5%-4.7% depending on the specific mid-2026 reading (FRED vs. BLS/USAFacts) -- some real softening from a year earlier.
- A verified, headcount-ranked list of St. Petersburg's single largest employers was not confirmed this pass -- available sources are third-party estimates, not primary disclosures.
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