St. Petersburg is the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. Together with Clearwater, these cities comprise the Tampa -- St. Petersburg -- Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area, the second-largest in Florida with a population of around 2.8 million. St. Petersburg is located on a peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, and is connected to mainland Florida to the north.

Answer this question: what part of florida is st. petersburg in? Let's think fast. Stream of consciousness:
To answer the above question, the relevant sentence is: St. Petersburg is the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. So the final answer is the Tampa Bay Area.