Tampa comes out near the bottom in a survey that ranks the largest 100 metro areas in groups of 20 by indicators including economic output, unemployment and housing.
The Brookings Institution, a liberal-leaning Washington think tank, rates the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area in the "weakest 20."
The region's rankings included:
•21st highest unemployment rate at 10.4 percent;
•92nd in growth in "gross metropolitan product," which has fallen 5.5 percent from its peak through the first quarter of 2009; gross metropolitan product is the value of all the goods and services produced in a metropolitan area over a year's time;
•87th place in housing price change, with real housing prices down 13.2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2008 through the first quarter of this year.
Texas, on the other hand, barely seems to be feeling the recession, according to Brookings' figures.
The Lone Star state has six metro areas in the "strongest 20" category. One community that rated high in several areas was the McAllen region, along the border with Mexico.
McAllen was tied for first in employment growth, showing a 0.2 percent increase in jobs, and its gross metropolitan product rose 0.1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2008 through the first quarter of this year, good for sixth place nationally.
Texas and neighboring states including Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico have fared better, Brookings said, because they never saw a record run-up in housing prices, their economies focus on energy and government, and some communities received federal recovery money after hurricanes.
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