Tampa Bay No. 3 on Financial Distress Survey

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Empty wallets are all too common in Tampa Bay, according to the Consumer Distress Index.

Tampa Bay is feeling the heat--and we're not talking about Valentine's Day passion.

The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area was the third-most financially strapped part of the country in the last quarter of 2012. That's according to the latest Consumer Distress Index released by CredAbility, a nonprofit credit counseling and debt management agency. 

In fact, three of top five most financially distressed metro areas were in the not-so-Sunshine State. Here's the breakdown:

1. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla.
2. Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev.
3. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.
4. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.
5. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla.

The Consumer Distress Index is released quarterly to track the financial health of U.S. households. It measures five factors: employment, housing, credit, household budgets and net worth.

Minneapolis-St. Paul scored the best.