Rising Demand for Cybersecurity Talent in Tampa Bay

The Tampa Bay area has a pressing need for more cybersecurity talent, with a current workforce that only covers about 86% of the demand.

According to CyberSeek, there were 5,271 job listings in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA from May 2023 to April 2024. The total employed cybersecurity workforce in the region during that time was 13,161.

While the need is still high, it was the lowest number of cybersecurity job openings in the region since 2015 and about half of the demand from 2022. The local cybersecurity workforce also peaked in 2022 at 13,803, just slightly above the current level of 13,161.

Nationally, there are only enough workers to fill 85% of cybersecurity jobs. This creates the need for an estimated 225,200 more cybersecurity workers across the country. While cybersecurity job postings declined over the last 12 months, the drop was less than that for tech jobs overall. Tech postings decreased by 37% from May 2023 to April 2024, while the drop in cybersecurity postings was 29% during that same time period.

Florida is home to more than 70,000 cybersecurity workers, with nearly 19% of those located in Tampa Bay. There were 23,424 jobs posted in the last 12 months, with nearly half of those in either Tampa Bay or South Florida.

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