What big cities are near St. Petersburg, FL?

Within 100 miles of St. Petersburg: Tampa (24 mi northeast).

Is it worth driving out of St. Petersburg to save sales tax?

Only on large purchases, and only where the seller is origin-sourced. Most states tax by delivery address, so a car or appliance delivered to St. Petersburg is taxed at the 7% local rate regardless of where you bought it.

Cities near St. Petersburg, FL

Quick answer

The nearest major metro to St. Petersburg is Tampa, FL, 24 miles northeast — roughly 50 min by road. Its combined sales tax rate is 7.5% against 7% in St. Petersburg.

Within 25 mi

1covered metros

Within 50 mi

1covered metros

Within 100 mi

1covered metros

Within 250 mi

4covered metros

Distance to nearby metros

Great-circle distance from the St. Petersburg centroid (27.772, -82.639).

Metros near St. Petersburg, FL with straight-line distance, estimated drive time and combined sales tax rate
Metro	Straight line	Est. drive	Direction	Combined rate
Tampa, FL	24.4 mi	50 min	northeast	7.5%
Orlando, FL	135.0 mi	2 hr 37 min	east	6.5%
Jacksonville, FL	190.6 mi	3 hr 41 min	north	7.5%
Miami, FL	204.0 mi	3 hr 57 min	southeast	7%

Source: Place centroids: USGS/Census public-domain coordinates · rates as published for 2026

How these distances are calculated

Straight-line figures are great-circle distances between incorporated-place centroids using the haversine formula on a 3,958.76-mile mean-radius sphere — exact to within a few metres for this purpose. Drive time is an estimate: road distance is modelled at 1.2× the straight line (the standard North American circuity factor) at 62 mph for trips over 60 miles and 35 mph below that. It is not a routed itinerary and ignores traffic, terrain and tolls.

St. Petersburg sales tax breakdown Distance and radius calculator