Florida TaxWatch released its latest economic forecast, which shows that the state’s economy is expected to experience a temporary slowdown before rebounding later in the decade. The forecast, created alongside the Regional Economic Consulting Group, highlights the state’s strong global presence in tourism, trade, and real estate development, with an economic output of $1.87 trillion in 2025.

Economic Outlook

According to Jeff Kottkamp, the president and CEO of Florida TaxWatch, the state’s economy will return to pre-pandemic growth rates over the next five years. However, the current year is expected to interrupt the recent surge, with tourism projections taking the biggest hit. The expected growth rate dropped by an average of 45.3 percent for the ten-year period, with tourism growth projected to fall to a decade-low of 0.8 percent in 2027 before stabilizing near 2 percent in 2028.

Real GDP growth is expected to hit 2.5 percent this year and dip to 1.9 percent in 2027, before rebounding to 2.9 percent in 2028 and staying slightly above 3 percent through the rest of the 2030s. The job market will also see some shifts, with the total number of employed Floridians projected to jump from 10.1 million in 2026 to 11.3 million by 2035.

Population Growth

One area completely untouched by global events is population growth, with Florida on track to add about 2.3 million new residents between 2026 and 2035. Even though the overall population will keep growing, the daily number of new arrivals will slowly decrease, from a net gain of 895 people per day in 2026 to 689 people per day by 2035.

Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.