Tampa is at the heart of the expanding Tampa-Saint Petersburg metropolitan area that rings Tampa Bay and spreads northward along the Gulf of Mexico. Although the city of Tampa is relatively modest in land area at 281.3 sq km (108.6 sq mi), the metropolitan region encompasses Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, and Hernando counties and has a land area of 6,616.1 sq km (2,554.5 sq mi). In addition to Tampa and Saint Petersburg, other prominent municipalities contained in the metropolitan region include Clearwater, Largo, and Dunedin.
The city of Tampa itself is elongated in a north-south direction, with the downtown central business district in the middle and the southern segment of the city occupying a peninsula that juts into Tampa Bay. The peninsula divides Tampa Bay into two arms: Old Tampa Bay to the west and Hillsborough Bay to the east. Long-established city neighborhoods include Hyde Park, the city's original residential section; Davis Islands, a commercial and residential district created on islands in the bay; and Ybor City, once home to Tampa's booming cigar industry and now a national historic landmark district.
