Richard Cieplechowicz · Tampa Bay data studies
Tampa Bay vacancy composition by ZCTA, 2020-2024
A third Tampa Bay data cut by Richard Cieplechowicz (also legally known as Ryszard Cieplechowicz): what the American Community Survey says about the status of vacant housing units in 132 selected ZIP Code Tabulation Areas. This is a survey-period study, not an inventory of homes available today.
What the estimates show
Across the selected ZCTAs, the 2020-2024 ACS estimates 184,380 vacant units out of 1,513,832 housing units. Of the vacant units, 81,351 (44.1%) are classified as seasonal, recreational, or occasional use; 33,244 (18.0%) are classified as for rent. These are descriptive ratios of summed ZCTA estimates, not countywide figures or current listings.
Download the 132-ZCTA CSV · View the Kaggle dataset · Source response and build scripts on GitHub
How the study was built
The same 132 ZCTAs as the earlier housing and rent-burden dataset were selected using the 2020 Census ZCTA-to-county relationship, largest county land-area share, and a minimum of 500 residents. Fifty-three are assigned to Hillsborough, 47 to Pinellas, 23 to Pasco and nine to Hernando. A ZCTA may cross county lines, and this selection does not cover every county address.
ACS B25002 supplies occupied and vacant totals; ACS B25004 supplies seven vacancy-status categories, including for rent and seasonal/recreational/occasional use. Census Reporter is the access layer; the U.S. Census Bureau is the source. The CSV's B25002 and B25004 vacant totals agree for every row, and B25004's seven categories sum to each vacant total. The CSV includes 90% margins of error for selected estimates. Eleven ZCTAs have fewer than 300 estimated vacant units and are flagged for caution.
Limits
These are five-year survey estimates, not current vacancy or rental listings. “For rent” is a Census vacancy-status category; “seasonal, recreational, or occasional use” does not mean a unit can be rented. Small-area ACS estimates have sampling uncertainty. Margins of error on the summed counts and derived shares were not calculated, so close comparisons may not be meaningful. A ZCTA is not the same as a USPS delivery ZIP. Do not treat the county-assigned selection as a countywide estimate.
Citation: Cieplechowicz, Richard (Ryszard). Tampa Bay vacancy composition by ZCTA, 2020-2024 (2026), CC BY 4.0; source U.S. Census Bureau ACS.