![Tampa Bay had the 24th fastest growing economy in the country for 2016. Rentals were one of the areas that contributed to Tampa Bay's GDP growth. Pictured is attorney David Eaton in front of his rental home. [SCOTT KEELER | Times]](https://www.tampabay.com/resizer//TAVYU7LptvqO9yfFtzW8SpZxBdI=/426x0/smart/filters:format(webP)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/CALFLLWILEI6TNW2PAY4DVT77I.jpg "Tampa Bay had the 24th fastest growing economy in the country for 2016. Rentals were one of the areas that contributed to Tampa Bay's GDP growth. Pictured is attorney David Eaton in front of his rental home. [SCOTT KEELER | Times]")
Tampa Bay had the 24th fastest growing economy among 382 metro areas in the country for 2016. According to an analysis by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Tampa Bay's gross domestic product, or GDP, increased 4.2 percent from 2015 to 2016 to hit $126.2 billion.
On average, the country's metro areas grew their economies by 1.7 percent last year, the report said.
The metro area with the fastest growing GDPs was New York City, followed by Los Angeles and Chicago. Tampa Bay's largest area of growth was finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing, which made up about 1 percent of Tampa Bay's 4.2 percent growth.
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