Dallas vs Tallahassee: which should you move to?
Dallas or Tallahassee? Housing, rent, crime, climate, income, taxes and transit, side by side, from each city's own published figures. Written for someone deciding where to live, not for a ranking.
Dallas
Tallahassee
A city of 1,329,491 people at the center of a metro of headquarters, and one of 204,902 that is Florida's capital and a college town, both pricing in US dollars in states with no income tax, so the figures net directly, though a week apart: Dallas at Freddie Mac's 7.03% for 24 September 2026 and Tallahassee at 7.28% for 1 October. Both headlines are single-family medians over different areas: Dallas's is the NTREIS median inside the city in August, and the Tallahassee figure is Florida Realtors' median for the four-county Tallahassee metro in June, $364,950, because none is published for the City or for Leon County. Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $3,529 a month on Dallas's $469,900 and $2,733 on the metro median, or $2,684 at the same rate, roughly 57% of Dallas's median household income of $74,323 and 58% of Tallahassee's $56,511, the lowest of any city this site compares. On Zillow's index, which models every home, the two are close, $305,765 for Dallas, and Zillow's index for the City of Tallahassee stood at $294,444. A homesteaded owner pays about 1.69% of the median in Tallahassee against 1.58% in Dallas, and insurance is budgeted at $220 a month against $400. On the same FBI counts for 2025 Tallahassee has the higher violent crime, 635 offenses per 100,000 against 577, and Dallas the higher property crime, 3,081 against 2,405, with homicide rates close, about 10.5 and 9.8. Choose Dallas for headquarters and finance, a job market about twenty times the size, light rail and two airports. Choose Tallahassee to own for about $796 a month less, for state government and the universities, a far lower uninsured rate and milder summers, and ask the City for the fire services fee on the utility bill first.
| Measure | Dallas | Tallahassee | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| City population | 1,329,491 (2025) | 204,902 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Metro population | 8,477,157 (2025) | 397,442 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Five-year growth Growth is pressure on rents and roads as much as it is opportunity, so it is reported without a winner. | 1.9% (2020-2025) | 4.4% (2020-2025) | Not directly comparable |
What a home costs in each
The figures the two cities' rent-versus-buy and mortgage calculators run on, read from the same tables.
| Measure | Dallas | Tallahassee | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benchmark home price MLS® HPI or equivalent benchmark. Lower is treated as the advantage, which is the buyer's view rather than the owner's. | $469,900 (August 2026) | $364,950 (June 2026) | Tallahassee |
| Detached house benchmark Dallas and Tallahassee publish a single house index rather than a composite, so the two rows repeat. | $469,900 | $364,950 | Tallahassee |
| Apartment or condominium benchmark | $310,000 | $179,610 | Tallahassee |
| Two-bedroom rent | $1,853/mo (average, August 2026) | $1,309/mo (median, September 2026) | Tallahassee |
| One-bedroom rent | $1,416/mo | $1,100/mo | Tallahassee |
| Two-bedroom rent against median income A year of two-bedroom rent as a share of the median household income below. A household paying the median rent out of the median income is a fiction, but it is the same fiction in both columns and it crosses currencies. | 29.9% of a year's income | 27.8% of a year's income | Tallahassee |
| Mortgage payment on the benchmark, 20% down 30-year amortization on American monthly compounding, the convention in both. | $2,509/mo at 7.03% | $1,998/mo at 7.28% | Tallahassee |
| Price to household income Benchmark price divided by the median household income below. A ratio is comparable across currencies; the dollars are not. | 6.3× | 6.5× | Dallas |
| Property tax on the benchmark home The effective rate on market value, which is what the two rates have in common and what the Advantage column is decided on; the bills are in each city's own dollars. | $7,448/yr (1.585%, 2025) | $6,182/yr (1.694%, 2025) | Dallas |
| Transfer tax on the benchmark home Compared as a share of the price. Where the seller pays it, it is a cost of leaving rather than arriving. | None | $2,555 (seller pays) | Dallas |
| Rent control A cap protects a sitting tenant and does nothing for the next lease, so neither column is simply better. | Forbidden by state law | Forbidden by state law | Not directly comparable |
Dallas: About 1.58% of value for a homesteaded owner, worked out on the $469,900 median single-family sale price. A house in the City of Dallas and Dallas ISD is taxed by five units for 2025, which add to 2.22671 per $100 before any exemption. Each takes its own homestead exemption off the appraised value first: Dallas ISD the state's $140,000 and a further 10% of its own, and Dallas County, the City, Dallas College and the Parkland Hospital District 20% each. So Dallas County levies 0.2155 per $100 on $375,920 after a $93,980 exemption, $810; City of Dallas levies 0.6988 per $100 on $375,920 after a $93,980 exemption, $2,627; Dallas ISD levies 0.993835 per $100 on $282,910 after a $186,990 exemption, $2,812; Dallas College levies 0.106575 per $100 on $375,920 after a $93,980 exemption, $401; Parkland Hospital District levies 0.212 per $100 on $375,920 after a $93,980 exemption, $797. The five come to $7,446 a year, 1.58% of the price. Without a homestead, as a landlord or a buyer who never files, the same house owes $10,463. The appraisal district's own typical homestead is cheaper than the typical sale: its certified median market value for a City of Dallas homestead was $364,530 for the 2025 appraisal year, the value on 1 January 2025 these rates were levied on, and $364,000 for 2026. On $364,530 the same five units come to $5,465, 1.50%, lower because the school district's flat exemption is a larger share of a cheaper house. These are the 2025 rates, the bills due by 31 January 2026. The appraisal district's 2026 table was still its estimate of 4 March 2026 when these figures were retrieved, so the calculators stay on 2025 until the five units' 2026 rates are published. Tallahassee: About 1.69% of the price for a homesteaded owner, worked out on the $364,950 single-family median for the four-county Tallahassee metro, which is lower than the 19.2060 mills a house in the City of Tallahassee is charged because of Florida's homestead exemption rather than any assessment lag. Nine levies make it, one of them at zero: Leon County 8.3144; the County's Emergency Medical Services levy 0.7500; the Children's Services Council of Leon County 0.3477; the County's voted debt 0.0000; the School Board 5.3660 (3.1180 required by the state, 0.7480 discretionary and 1.5000 for capital outlay); the Northwest Florida Water Management District 0.0207; and the City 4.4072, for 2025. Outside the city the same stack without the City's line is 14.7988, and inside the Downtown Improvement Authority's district it is 20.2060. The School Board's lines are charged on the price less $25,000, $339,950, and the rest on the price less a second slice as well, $314,950 on the base amounts, so a homesteaded buyer's first bill is about $6,183. Without a homestead, as a landlord or a buyer who never files, the same house owes $7,009. That second slice is indexed to inflation: the Department of Revenue published $25,722 for 2025, which brings the same bill to $6,173; this page uses the $25,000 base, like every Florida page on this site. For 2026 the County adopted 8.3144 and the EMS levy 0.7500 again, the City's 4.4072 and the School Board's 5.3430 were tentative when read, and the other two were not read, so no 2026 total is given. The exemption is not automatic: you file with the Leon County Property Appraiser by 1 March. There is no fire, stormwater or garbage line on a City tax bill: the City charges stormwater at $11.00 and garbage at $28.19 a month on the utility bill, $470 a year together, with a fire services fee beside them whose amount this site could not read. The seller's tax bill is not a guide to yours. Save Our Homes caps a homesteaded property's assessed value at 3% growth a year, and that cap resets to full market value the January after the sale, so a long-tenured owner can be taxed on a fraction of what you will be taxed on for the same house. Ask the property appraiser what the assessment would be at your purchase price, not what the current bill is.
How safe each city is, by the numbers it publishes
Police-reported figures for the most recent year each force or statistics agency has released. Rates describe a whole city or metro area, and the spread between neighbourhoods inside one city is usually wider than the gap between the two cities.
| Measure | Dallas | Tallahassee | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Severity Index Statistics Canada's weighted index for the metropolitan area, where 100 is Canada in 2006. American cities have no equivalent series. | Not published | Not published | Not directly comparable |
| Violent crime per 100,000 | 577 (2025) | 635 (2025) | Dallas |
| Property crime per 100,000 | 3,081 (2025) | 2,405 (2025) | Tallahassee |
| Homicides Counts, not rates, and a single year in a small city moves a long way on chance alone. What each figure covers is under the table. | 140 (2025) | 20 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
On the FBI's definitions, violent offenses in Dallas went from 11,181 in 2021 to 10,255 in 2022, 9,025 in 2023, 8,747 in 2024 and 7,674 in 2025, a 12% drop in the last year and 31% in four, and property offenses from 46,991 to 49,224, a peak of 52,641 in 2023, then 45,106 and 40,962, 22% below the peak. Motor vehicle theft drove most of that swing: 11,818 in 2021, 18,457 in 2023 and 11,162 in 2025. In 2025 the CDE shows aggravated assaults down 12% (5,826 to 5,144), robberies down 10% (2,235 to 2,020), rapes down 27% (505 to 370) and murders down 23% (181 to 140). On its own definitions DPD reported violent crime down 12%, robberies down 10%, aggravated assaults down 12% and sexual assaults down 13%. The 2025 CDE counts were read on 27 September 2026 from a feed last refreshed on 15 September and can still be revised.
What the rates cover: Computed: 7,674 violent offenses (murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) in the FBI Crime Data Explorer's summarized data for the Dallas Police Department (ORI TXDPD0000) in calendar 2025, divided by the 1,329,491 Vintage 2025 city population. On the CDE's own agency population of 1,331,217 the rate is 576. DPD does not publish a total on this definition. The violent crime its Violent Crime Reduction Plan tracks is murder, robbery and aggravated assault, with family-violence and other aggravated assaults counted separately and rape left out. Its public incident dataset on Dallas OpenData, which the city describes as a research copy rather than the authoritative count, lists only 57 murder incidents and 12 family-violence aggravated assault incidents for 2025, so it cannot rebuild either total.
Homicides: 140 murders and nonnegligent manslaughters in 2025 in the FBI CDE, against 181 in 2024, about 10.5 per 100,000 on the city population. DPD's own year-end count was 141 homicides against 184 in 2024, a 23% drop (CBS Texas, February 2026); nothing fetched explains the gaps of one and three cases between the two series. The high point in the CDE series since 2021 is 244, in 2023.
Down from a 2023 peak, though the rate is still high. On the FBI CDE's figures violent offenses were 1,587 in 2022, 1,732 in 2023, 1,383 in 2024 and 1,302 in 2025, about 785, 852, 678 and 635 per 100,000 on each year's Vintage 2025 population, so 2025 was 25% below 2023. Property offenses peaked later, at 5,804 in 2024, and fell 15% to 4,927 in 2025. FDLE's incident-based file shows the same direction, 1,806 violent offenses in 2023, 1,441 in 2024 and 1,363 in 2025, and for 2026 so far: January to August brought 783 violent offenses against 893 in the same months of 2025, down 12%, and 2,985 property offenses against 3,450, down 13%. The CDE has January to July 2026, 737 violent offenses against 769, down 4%. Tallahassee Reports, tabulating the police department's daily incident data, found total incidents down 22.6% in 2025, property crime down 28.3% and violent crime down 8.9%, but assaults in September to December up 55.8% on the same months of 2024, 299 against 192. The CDE counts were read on 2 October 2026 from a feed last refreshed on 15 September and can still be revised.
What the rates cover: Computed: 1,302 violent offenses (murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) in the FBI Crime Data Explorer's summarized data for the Tallahassee Police Department (ORI FL0370300) in calendar 2025, divided by the 204,902 Vintage 2025 city population; on the CDE's own agency population of 206,918 the rate is 629. The rate is high, for Florida and for the country. It is the highest 2025 rate of the Florida cities this site compares, above Jacksonville's 514, St. Petersburg's 502, Tampa's 375.5 and Miami's 359 and about five times Port St. Lucie's 130; only Orlando's 835.8, which is for 2022, the last full year the FBI has for that city, is higher. The CDE's rate for all reporting Florida agencies in 2025 is 248 per 100,000 and for the nation 329, so Tallahassee's is about two and a half times the state's and nearly twice the national. On the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's incident-based (FIBRS) file, which counts somewhat more (its forcible sex offenses include fondling), the department recorded 1,363 violent offenses in 2025, 663 per 100,000 on FDLE's population, the second-highest of the 46 Florida agencies serving 100,000 or more people, behind the Fort Lauderdale Police Department (675) and ahead of Gainesville's (635), another college town; a few large agencies' 2025 rows in that file, Orlando's among them, are plainly incomplete. The Leon County Sheriff's Office, which polices the unincorporated county, recorded 500 per 100,000.
Homicides: 20 murders and nonnegligent manslaughters in 2025 in the FBI CDE, about 9.8 per 100,000 on the city population, against the CDE's 3.0 for Florida and 4.3 for the nation, and against St. Petersburg's 9 (3.4 per 100,000) and Tampa's 17 (4.1), in a city half Tampa's size; Jacksonville had 80. FDLE's file has 21. The CDE series is 15 in 2022, 21 in 2023, 16 in 2024 and 20 in 2025. Tallahassee Reports, tabulating the police department's daily incident data, counted 18 fatal shootings in 2025 against 26 in 2024. FDLE's file has 7 homicides in January to August 2026, against 17 in the same months of 2025.
Winters, summers and what the weather can do to a house
| Measure | Dallas | Tallahassee | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| January mean | 8.8 °C | 11.2 °C | Not directly comparable |
| July mean | 30.7 °C | 28.1 °C | Not directly comparable |
| Precipitation a year | 973 mm | 1,494 mm | Not directly comparable |
| Snowfall a year | 4 cm | 0 cm | Not directly comparable |
| Sunshine a year | 2,850 hours | Not published | Not directly comparable |
NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for Dallas Love Field (station USW00013960), the city's own climate station about 6 miles northwest of downtown: January mean 47.8F, July mean 87.3F, annual mean 68.0F, 38.32 in of precipitation, 1.7 in of snow. July and August tie as the warmest months at 87.3F, with mean highs of 96.9F and 97.1F, and January's mean low is 37.9F. October (4.79 in) and May (4.57 in) are the wettest months and July (1.71 in) the driest, and most of the snow falls in February (0.9 in). The normals count 107.5 days a year at 90F or above, 22.4 at 100F or above and 23.1 nights at or below freezing. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (USW00003927), where the National Weather Service keeps the metro's official record, averages 46.3F in January and 85.7F in July with 37.01 in of rain and 1.6 in of snow, 20.3 days at 100F or above and 29.2 nights at or below freezing. Converted here to 8.8 C, 30.7 C, 973 mm and 4.3 cm. That July mean is the warmest of any city this site compares, 1.5F (0.8 C) above Austin's at Camp Mabry. Sunshine hours are the older 1961-1990 NCDC means (2,850 hours, 61% of possible), since the 1991-2020 normals do not include sunshine.
Hazards: Heat is the constant. The normals give Love Field 22.4 days a year at or above 100F (37.8 C); its record since 1939 is 73 such days in 2011, including 40 in a row from 2 July to 10 August, and its highest reading is 112F (44.4 C), on 26 and 27 June 1980 and again on 22 July 2018. At DFW Airport the record is 71 days in 2011 and the longest run 42, from 23 June to 3 August 1980, when the airport reached 113F (45.0 C). The summer of 2026 is among the hottest on record: by 22 September Love Field had 54 days at 100F or above, fourth in its record, and DFW 52, tied for fifth, 27 of them in August. Hail is the costly routine hazard. NOAA's billion-dollar disaster list counts a North Texas hailstorm on 23 and 24 March 2016 at $2.06 billion in 2016 dollars, and on 11 April 2016 a supercell dropped hailstones up to 5.25 in (13.3 cm), the record for the NWS Fort Worth area, and hit 80% of the homes in Wylie, northeast of the city; Cotality counted more than 235,000 Texas homes hit by damaging hail in 2025, far more than in any other state. Tornadoes reach the city itself. On 20 October 2019 an EF3 with winds near 140 mph (225 km/h) tracked 15.76 miles (25.4 km) from near I-35E and Walnut Hill Lane through Preston Hollow to US 75 and on into Richardson, damaging a high school, a middle school and an elementary school, destroying about 118 structures and doing $1.55 billion of damage without a death; on 26 December 2015 an EF4 killed 10 people in Sunnyvale, Garland and Rowlett in eastern Dallas County. The Trinity River passes downtown between 23 miles (37 km) of levees 29 to 32 ft (8.8 to 9.8 m) high, completed in 1932 and upgraded by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950s. The river's record crest at Dallas, 52.6 ft (16.0 m), came in the flood of May 1908, before them; the highest since was 47.1 ft (14.4 m) in May 1990, and by November 2023 the Corps had raised the West levee to carry 277,000 cubic feet (7,844 cubic meters) a second, with the East levee still to do. Flash floods on the creeks are the more frequent danger: on 21 and 22 August 2022, 9.19 in (233 mm) fell at DFW Airport in 24 hours, second only to 9.57 in (243 mm) in September 1932, 9.14 in (232 mm) fell at Love Field and 15.16 in (385 mm) at a gauge on White Rock Creek at Scyene Road, and at least one person died. Cold is rare and badly handled when it comes. Winter Storm Uri left 5.3 in (13.5 cm) of snow at Love Field from 14 to 17 February 2021 and a low of 2F (-16.7 C) on the 16th, matched there only in January 1949 and beaten only in January 1940 (0F, -17.8 C) and December 1989 (1F, -17.2 C); DFW Airport fell to -2F (-18.9 C), the lowest in its record since 1953. ERCOT cut power across the state grid from 15 to 18 February and about 4.5 million customers lost it at the worst; Texas counted 246 deaths from the storm, 22 of them in Dallas County. In January 2026 Winter Storm Fern brought 2.4 in (6.1 cm) of snow and sleet to DFW Airport and lows of 13F (-10.6 C), and the grid held. Drought is the slow hazard. The seven water supply lakes the Texas Water Development Board counts for the Dallas area stood at 86.5% of conservation capacity on 27 September 2026, down from 98.7% at the end of June; in the 2011 to 2015 drought they fell to 62.7% before the rains of 2015 filled them. Dallas has capped lawn watering at twice a week since April 2012.
NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for Tallahassee Regional Airport (station USW00093805), the city's airport about 6 miles southwest of the city's center point, which is the National Weather Service's station for the city and has full temperature and precipitation normals: January mean 52.2F, July mean 82.5F, annual mean 68.4F, 58.81 in of precipitation. The airport station's normals carry no snowfall, so the 0.0 in of snow stored here is the normal at Tallahassee AP (USC00088756), the cooperative station at the same airport. July is the warmest month by a tenth of a degree, ahead of August's 82.4F, with a mean high of 92.1F; January's mean low is 40.5F. June (7.76 in), August (7.60 in) and July (7.14 in) are the wettest months, and June through September bring 27.41 in, 47% of the year, so the rain is spread more evenly than in peninsular Florida; November (3.10 in) is the driest. The normals count 102.6 days a year at 90F or above, 2.9 at 100F or above, 27.0 nights at or below freezing and 1.4 at or below 20F. Converted here to 11.2 C, 28.1 C, 1,494 mm and 0 cm. The cooperative station's own temperatures run a little cooler in winter: 51.0F in January, 82.9F in July, 59.82 in a year and 128.3 days at 90F. Tallahassee has the coldest winter of the Florida cities this site compares, a degree below Jacksonville's 12.3 C and five and a half below St. Petersburg's 16.8 C, and its summer is as hot as any: its 102.6 days at 90F are fewer than Cape Coral's 120.3, but it averages 2.9 days at 100F, where Jacksonville averages under one, Hialeah 0.2 and St. Petersburg, Port St. Lucie and Cape Coral none. Its rain is third, after Hialeah's 1,852 mm and Miami's 1,712 mm. Sunshine is not stored: Current Results' US city table, the source and 1961-1990 basis of the other US profiles' sunshine hours, lists no Tallahassee station, and the 1991-2020 normals do not include sunshine.
Hazards: Wind, falling trees and the power cuts that follow them, more than water. Tallahassee is inland, which is why its airport serves as a staging area for hurricane relief (Wikipedia), so storm surge is not its hazard, but it is a city of big trees, and every recent storm has been measured in power outages. Hurricane Hermine struck directly in September 2016 and left about 80% of the city without power, including Florida State University; Hurricane Michael passed about 50 miles to the west in October 2018 after coming ashore as a category 5 and left 95% of Leon County without power (Wikipedia). The airport's highest gust since 2010 is 70.9 mph, on 10 October 2018 during Michael, followed by 67.1 mph on 26 September 2024, the day the airport closed for Hurricane Helene, which came ashore that night near Perry, to the southeast, the strongest hurricane on record to strike the Big Bend (Wikipedia), and 66 mph on 10 May 2024, the day two EF2 tornadoes crossed the city, one of them through downtown at 1,400 yards wide (Wikipedia). Heat is the everyday hazard: 102.6 days a year at 90F or above on the normals and 2.9 at 100F (37.8 C), a temperature the St. Petersburg, Port St. Lucie and Cape Coral normals never reach. The airport reached 105F on 15 June 2011, its highest reading since 2010 and Wikipedia's record for the city, and 104F on 24 June 2022; it counted 108 days at 90F in 2025 and 114 in 2026 through 29 September, three of them at 100F or above. Unlike the peninsula's cities it freezes: 27 nights a year on the normals, 27 in 2025 and 21 so far in 2026, with a low of 14F on 11 January 2010 and 18F on 2 February 2026. Snow is rare but not unknown: the airport measured 1.5 inches on 21 January 2025 and 0.4 more the next day, the city's largest snowfall since 1958 on Wikipedia's list of its measurable snows. Low-lying streets near downtown, notably along Franklin Boulevard, flood in very heavy rain (Wikipedia).
What people earn and what the government takes
| Measure | Dallas | Tallahassee | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $74,323 USD (2024) | $56,511 USD (2024) | Dallas |
| Unemployment rate | 4.2% (July 2026) | 5.1% (July 2026) | Dallas |
| Sales tax | 8.25% | 7.5% | Tallahassee |
| Top marginal income tax Federal plus provincial or state. The American figure leaves out payroll taxes and the cost of health insurance, both of which a Canadian household covers through the tax it pays here. | 37% | 37% | Even |
| Income tax on $100,000, single filer Computed from each jurisdiction's brackets at a single filer's $100,000 and rounded to the dollar, so a gap of a dollar is rounding rather than tax. Two cities in one province or state are shown as Even, because there the two cells describe the same tax and whatever separates them is method. | $13,449 USD | $13,449 USD | Even |
BLS counted 4,353,400 nonfarm jobs in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington MSA in July 2026 (not seasonally adjusted), up 54,000 or 1.3% on the year. Professional and business services (+3.0%, to 805,200) and leisure and hospitality (+3.0%) grew fastest, then mining, logging and construction and education and health services (both +2.0%), while information (-2.8%), financial activities (-1.0%) and manufacturing (-0.7%) shrank. Trade, transportation and utilities is the largest sector at 895,000 jobs, and government employs 465,400. The seasonally adjusted series (FRED DALL148NA) was 4,363,400 in August 2026, 1.1% above August 2025. Average weekly wages across the metro were $1,785 in the first quarter of 2026 against $1,654 nationally. The Dallas Regional Chamber counts 21 Fortune 500 headquarters in the region as of 2025 and 44 in the Fortune 1000, among them AT&T, Texas Instruments, American Airlines, Kimberly-Clark, Toyota Motor North America and McKesson.
Main sectors: Trade, transportation and utilities, the metro's largest sector (DFW Airport, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, BNSF Railway), Corporate headquarters and professional and business services (AT&T, Texas Instruments, McKesson, Kimberly-Clark, Toyota Motor North America), Financial activities (the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Charles Schwab, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America), Health care and education (Baylor Scott & White Health, Texas Health Resources, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Children's Health), Aerospace and advanced manufacturing (Lockheed Martin, Bell Textron, Raytheon, Texas Instruments).
Property tax is the local levy that matters. Tax Foundation puts Texas's effective property tax rate on owner-occupied homes at 1.40%, and school districts must exempt $140,000 of a homestead's value from their tax. The City of Dallas's own rate for the fiscal year that starts on 1 October 2026 is 69.78 cents per $100 of taxable value, down from 69.88 cents, the eleventh cut in a row, in a $5.66 billion budget. Proposition U, a charter amendment Dallas voters approved in November 2024, requires the council to put at least half of each year's revenue growth into the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System, with any remainder of that half going to police pay and to a force of at least 4,000 officers; the budget adopted in September 2026 funds 3,651 officers by the end of September 2027 and 3,800 a year later. The county, school district and other levies on the same bill belong to the housing layer.
BLS counted 200,500 nonfarm jobs in the Tallahassee MSA in August 2026 (not seasonally adjusted, preliminary), up 2,500 or 1.3% on the year. Professional and business services (+1,600, or 5.4%, to 31,100) and leisure and hospitality (+1,100, or 5.7%, to 20,300) added the most, and private education and health services 400 (to 27,600), while government lost 400 (-0.7%, to 60,500): local government 300, to 14,600, and federal government 200, to 2,000, with state government up 100, to 43,900. Government is 30.2% of all jobs in the metro, and it sets the rhythm of the year: state government jobs dropped from 47,300 in April 2026 to 43,300 in July as the universities' terms ended, and it averaged 46,200 of 202,000 jobs in 2025 (22.9%). The City's 2025 financial report lists eleven principal employers for the city, led by the State (26,831), FSU (16,207), Tallahassee Memorial (5,696), the school board (4,300) and the City (4,000), which together employ 67,609; the report's earlier lists counted Leon County rather than the city, so they are not compared here. Most residents work in the city: 88.1% of the city's 103,272 workers worked inside it in 2024 and only 6.1% outside Leon County, against 54% outside the city for Cape Coral. 11.4% worked from home, and the mean commute for the rest was 19 minutes, six shorter than St. Petersburg's and 13 shorter than Cape Coral's, with 1.9% spending an hour or more (ACS 2024 1-year, B08007, B08008, B08013, B08301 and B08303).
Main sectors: State government: the State of Florida employs 26,831 people in the city, the largest employer by far (City of Tallahassee), and state government, which in BLS's count includes the state universities, held 43,900 of the metro's 200,500 nonfarm jobs in August 2026, 21.9%, and 47,300 (23.0%) in April with classes in session, Higher education: Florida State University (16,207 employees in 2025-26, 7,723 of them full- or part-time faculty and staff and the rest graduate assistants, student assistants and temporary workers), Florida A&M University (1,794) and Tallahassee State College (1,468), with 65,657 students between them in fall 2024, Health care: Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, the region's nonprofit hospital system, is the third-largest employer (5,696), in a metro sector (private education and health services) of 27,600 jobs, Local government and schools: the Leon County School Board (4,300), the City of Tallahassee (4,000), which also runs the electric, gas and water utilities and the airport, and Leon County (1,957), in a local government sector of 14,600, Professional and business services, the law firms, lobbyists and associations that cluster around the Capitol (Wikipedia), with 31,100 metro jobs, up 1,600 or 5.4% on the year, the most of any sector; and retail and warehousing, with Amazon (2,256), Walmart (1,700) and Publix (1,400) among the city's eleven largest employers.
Property tax is the local levy that matters. Tax Foundation puts Florida's effective property tax rate on owner-occupied homes at 0.78%, and a homestead exemption takes as much as $50,000 off a permanent residence's taxable value and qualifies it for the Save Our Homes limit on how fast its assessment can rise (Florida Department of Revenue). A house in the City of Tallahassee (Leon County tax authority code 1) pays 19.2060 mills for 2025, the rates the Leon County Property Appraiser certified to the Department of Revenue: Leon County 8.3144, the county's EMS levy 0.7500, the Children's Services Council of Leon 0.3477, the school board 5.3660 (3.1180 required local effort, 0.7480 discretionary and 1.5000 capital outlay), the Northwest Florida Water Management District 0.0207 and the City 4.4072. The City lowered its rate from the 4.4200 it levied for 2024 and proposed again, but 4.4072 is still 4.7% above the rolled-back rate of 4.2080, and with taxable values up the City's levy rose 9.0% to $81.8 million; the County has held 8.3144 since 2012 (Leon County Property Appraiser). The 2024 total was 19.2379. Downtown Improvement Authority parcels pay one mill more (20.2060), and unincorporated Leon County, which has no city levy, pays 14.7988. That puts the city near Miami's 19.9878, Tampa's 19.8428 and St. Petersburg's 19.9197, a little above Hialeah's 18.6468 and above Cape Coral's 15.3806, as those cities' housing layers carry them. The school board voted in May 2026 to ask the county to put an additional operating mill for 2027 to 2031 on the November ballot to raise teacher pay (WCTV); whether the commission did was not confirmed. Zillow's typical home value for the city was $294,444 in August 2026, up 1.4% on the year and one of only two rises among the nine Florida cities this site compares (Miami's is the other), and its observed rent index $1,470 a month, up 1.5%, the lowest of the nine; only Jacksonville's typical home value ($285,103) is lower. The bills, exemptions, insurance and fees that follow from these figures belong to the housing layer.
Whether you need a car
| Measure | Dallas | Tallahassee | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| System | DART buses (nearly 700 vehicles), four light rail lines on 93 miles of track, the 26-mile Silver Line commuter rail from Plano to DFW Airport (opened October 2025), the Trinity Railway Express to Fort Worth run with Trinity Metro, the Dallas Streetcar and GoLink on-demand zones | StarMetro, the City of Tallahassee's bus system, founded as TalTran in 1973 when the City bought the private bus company, and renamed in 2005 (Wikipedia). It runs 14 weekday fixed routes, two call-ahead FLEX zones and a peak-hour express, with fewer routes on Saturdays and a separate four-route network on Sundays and weekday evenings, nearly all of them meeting downtown at C.K. Steele Plaza, and Dial-A-Ride for riders with disabilities. It also runs Florida State University's campus routes under a contract with the university, free to the public and operated with battery-electric buses, and K-12 students ride free (Wikipedia). There is no rail transit or bus rapid transit, and no intercity passenger rail since Amtrak's Sunset Limited stopped east of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005; Greyhound, Megabus and RedCoach serve the city by coach, and Interstate 10 runs across its north side (Wikipedia). | Not directly comparable |
| Commute by public transit | 2.0% (2024) | 3.2% (2024) | Tallahassee |
| Walk or cycle to work | 2.5% (2024) | 5.3% (2024) | Tallahassee |
| Airport | Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), 85,660,127 passengers in 2025, 2.5% fewer than 2024's 87,817,864, per the airport's December 2025 traffic report; 12.65 million of them were international and American Airlines carried 82.6%. ACI World ranked it the fourth-busiest airport in the world by passengers in 2025 and third by aircraft movements. Dallas Love Field (DAL), about 6 miles northwest of downtown and the birthplace and headquarters of Southwest Airlines, handled 16,899,203 passengers in 2025, 5.5% fewer than in 2024 (FAA figures as cited by Wikipedia; the airport's website refused the fetcher). | Tallahassee International Airport (TLH), owned and run by the City and named Bobby Bowden-Tallahassee International Airport in April 2026 after the longtime FSU football coach, about 5 miles southwest of downtown (Wikipedia). It handled 936,448 airline passengers in the City's fiscal 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), slightly below fiscal 2024's 944,835 and above 2019's 851,689 (City of Tallahassee), with American and Delta the main carriers to Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth and Miami and no scheduled international service (Wikipedia). Wikipedia counts it among the smaller commercial airports in Florida. | Not directly comparable |
DART carried 52,823,800 unlinked trips in 2025, 28,151,100 of them by bus and 21,611,600 on light rail, and about 157,300 a weekday in the second quarter of 2026, 65,300 of them on light rail (APTA ridership reports, as cited by Wikipedia; APTA's PDFs refused the fetcher). DART's own figure is more than 171,000 passengers a day across a 700-square-mile, 12-city service area. The Trinity Railway Express, which DART runs with Fort Worth's Trinity Metro, carried 1,337,600 trips in 2025 (APTA, same source). The Silver Line opened on 25 October 2025 through Plano, Richardson, Dallas, Addison, Carrollton, Coppell and Grapevine to DFW Airport, every 30 minutes at weekday peaks and hourly otherwise. DART is paid for by a 1% sales tax in its member cities, and the suburbs have pushed back on what they pay: Plano, Irving and Farmers Branch canceled withdrawal elections set for May 2026 after agreements that return part of their sales tax over six years for local transportation projects, Addison and University Park voted to stay, and Highland Park voted by 70% to leave, with service ending on 14 May 2026.
StarMetro carried 1,762,062 unlinked trips in 2025 on the National Transit Database's monthly ridership file (Federal Transit Administration), 1,657,717 of them on its buses and the rest on demand-response service. That is about a third of its peak of 4,933,682 in 2010 and below the 3,624,805 of 2019; ridership fell to 1.5 million in 2020 and 2021 with FSU's campus routes suspended, recovered to 2.6 million in 2023, and has fallen since, to 2.25 million in 2024 and 1.76 million in 2025, and January to August 2026 ran 8.7% below the same months of 2025. The file does not separate the campus routes, and why ridership has fallen since 2023 was not found. For comparison, St. Petersburg's PSTA carried 10.4 million trips in 2025, Lee County's LeeTran 1,969,906 and Port St. Lucie's Area Regional Transit 825,588 (their profiles, from the same file).
Health care, schools and what each city is like
Health care
Care is paid for through employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, and Texas is one of the ten states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (KFF, August 2026). It had the highest uninsured rate of any state in 2024: 16.7%, or 5,152,427 of 30,799,312 people, against 8.2% nationally and 12.0% in Georgia, the next highest, on the ACS 2024 1-year estimates. The City of Dallas's rate was 22.7% (297,684 of 1,313,770), Dallas County's 21.9% and the metro's 16.2%. Parkland Memorial Hospital, licensed for 983 beds, is Dallas County's only public hospital and UT Southwestern's primary teaching hospital; it became the first certified Level I trauma center in Texas in 1983 and runs a burn center. UT Southwestern Medical Center, whose faculty have received six Nobel Prizes, runs William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital in the Southwestern Medical District, and more than half the doctors practicing in Dallas trained there at least in part. Baylor University Medical Center, which opened in 1903 and is now the North Texas flagship of Baylor Scott & White Health, has 914 beds and a Level I trauma center that Baylor Scott & White describes as one of only three adult trauma centers in Dallas. Children's Health and UT Southwestern broke ground in October 2024 on a $5 billion pediatric campus with 552 beds to replace Children's Medical Center Dallas, projected to open in 2031. This file did not verify a wait time figure for primary or specialist care.
Education
Dallas ISD, the second-largest school district in Texas, opened the 2026-27 year on 11 August with about 132,000 students, down from about 134,300 a year earlier (KERA). Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde blamed federal immigration policy in part. KERA adds that charter schools and the state's new education savings accounts may account for some of the loss; more than 2,800 students in the district had qualified for the accounts, which help pay private school tuition, on the Comptroller's latest count. The district made pre-kindergarten free for all 3- and 4-year-olds this year and enrolled about 11,000 children in it, and the Texas Education Agency rated the district B for 2025. Southern Methodist University (12,544 students in fall 2025) is in University Park, a separate town north of downtown, the University of Texas at Dallas is in Richardson, and Dallas College runs seven campuses in Dallas County.
Living there
Dallas is the corporate and financial center of the fourth-largest metro in the country, and the metro is growing around the city rather than inside it. The Dallas-Fort Worth area added 123,557 people in 2024-25, more than any metro but Houston, while the city lost 1,808 and Dallas County lost 46,226 more residents to the rest of the country than it gained, so newcomers settle in Collin, Denton and Kaufman counties. The city has 93 miles of DART light rail and, since October 2025, a commuter line to DFW Airport, yet 68.6% of its workers drive alone and 2.0% take transit. Summer is the hard season: the July mean at Love Field is 87.3F, the warmest of any city this site compares, and the station had 54 days at 100F or more by late September 2026. Hail and tornadoes are the costly weather. Texas takes no income tax, and 22.7% of the city's residents have no health insurance. The open question is whether the city can hold up its end as the region spreads outward: three suburbs won back part of the sales tax they pay DART and a fourth voted to leave, voters wrote a minimum of 4,000 police officers into the charter in 2024 and the adopted budget plans for 3,800 by September 2028, and Dallas ISD began 2026-27 with about 2,300 fewer students than the year before.
Health care
Care is paid for through employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, and Florida is one of the ten states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (KFF). Florida's uninsured rate was 10.9% in 2024, against 8.2% nationally, on the ACS 2024 1-year estimates; the City of Tallahassee's was 8.5% (17,205 of 201,731) and Leon County's 8.1%, well below the state's. The city has two acute care hospitals. Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, a private nonprofit founded in 1948 that serves a 22-county region of North Florida and South Georgia, has a 772-bed acute care hospital, a psychiatric hospital and the region's only Level III neonatal intensive care unit, and is the city's third-largest employer with 5,696 staff (Wikipedia; City of Tallahassee). HCA Florida Capital Hospital, owned by HCA Healthcare and known until recently as Capital Regional Medical Center, has 266 beds (Wikipedia). The City's own count of hospital beds at the two is 1,060. Florida State University's College of Medicine trains its first- and second-year students in Tallahassee and places its third- and fourth-year students at regional campuses around the state (Wikipedia). This file did not verify wait times for primary or specialist care.
Education
Tallahassee is a college town, and the share of its residents in college is four times the national share. On the ACS 2024 1-year estimates 54,353 of the city's 199,776 residents aged 3 and over were enrolled in college (43,399 undergraduates) or graduate school (10,954), 27.2%, against 6.6% nationally and 6.2% in Florida; undergraduates alone are 21.7% of the city. Three public institutions account for most of them. Florida State University enrolled a record 46,184 students in fall 2025, 33,068 of them undergraduates and 11,022 graduate and professional students, of whom 43,936 took at least one class on the main campus in Tallahassee (FSU Office of Institutional Research). Florida A&M University, founded in 1887, the only public historically black university in Florida and the third-largest in the country by enrollment (Wikipedia), had 9,313 students in fall 2024 (7,890 undergraduates), and welcomed more than 1,900 first-time students in August 2026, its largest incoming class in a decade (FAMU). Tallahassee State College, called Tallahassee Community College from 1970 until it was renamed on July 1, 2024 (Wikipedia), had 12,455 students in fall 2024, all undergraduates, and acts largely as a feeder to the two universities. Together the three enrolled 65,657 in fall 2024 on the federal College Navigator's counts, and the City's 2025 financial report puts college-level students at 68,667. FAMU's fall 2025 headcount was not found in a source fetched here. Public schools are run by Leon County Schools, the countywide district, with 31,638 students in pre-kindergarten to grade 12 in 2025, down from 34,085 in 2019, in 51 schools (City of Tallahassee). The district is asking voters in November 2026 to renew its half-cent sales surtax, which expires in 2027 and has raised about $400 million since 2012, and warns of a $620 million gap in facility needs without it (WTXL; WCTV).
Living there
Tallahassee is Florida's capital, a college town and almost nothing else, and it shows in every figure here. It became the territorial capital in 1824 as a halfway point between Pensacola and St. Augustine, near the Apalachee town of Anhaica where Hernando de Soto's expedition wintered in 1539 (Wikipedia), and it sits at the southern end of the Red Hills, hilly by Florida standards, along nine officially designated canopy roads, with a winter unlike the peninsula's: it freezes about 27 nights a year and saw 1.9 inches of snow in January 2025. The State of Florida and Florida State University are its two largest employers, government holds 30% of the metro's jobs, and more than a quarter of residents are in college, which makes the city the youngest of the Florida cities this site compares (median age 28.5) and the one with the lowest household income ($56,511), the fourth-lowest share of homeowners, after Miami, Orlando and Hialeah (44.5%), short commutes and, after Miami, the most people who take the bus, walk or cycle to work. It also has the highest violent crime rate of the Florida cities here in 2025, 635 per 100,000 on the FBI's counts, two and a half times the state's, though falling since 2023. Its history includes the Tallahassee bus boycott of 1956, begun by two FAMU students, and the Frenchtown neighborhood, the oldest historically black neighborhood in the state (Wikipedia). It is growing slowly, 4.4% from 2020 to 2025, and its home values and rents are among the lowest of the Florida cities here, with a typical home at $294,444 and a typical rent of $1,470 on Zillow's indexes, against a property tax rate of 19.2060 mills, nearly as high as Miami's, Tampa's and St. Petersburg's.
Where each city wins, and where it loses
Both cities price in US dollars, though they were priced a week apart: Dallas at Freddie Mac's 7.03% for 24 September 2026 and Tallahassee at 7.28% for 1 October, so the mortgage lines differ by rate as well as price, and Tallahassee's is given at both. Both headlines are medians of single-family houses sold, over different areas and months. Dallas's is the North Texas Real Estate Information System's median inside the city, $469,900 in August 2026, 6.0% below a year earlier. The Tallahassee figure is Florida Realtors' median of single-family houses sold in the Tallahassee metro, Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon and Wakulla counties, $364,950 in June 2026 on 364 sales, 5.8% above a year earlier, as Tallahassee Reports printed it; no median is published for the City or for Leon County alone, though Leon is almost 90% of the metro's sales, and the July and August figures were not found. Zillow's index, which models every home in each city rather than the ones that sold, nearly closes the gap: it stood at $305,765 for Dallas in August, and Zillow's index for the City of Tallahassee stood at $294,444, 1.4% higher on the year, about $11,300 apart against $104,950 on the medians. At 20% down, Dallas's $375,920 loan costs about $2,509 a month and a $291,960 loan on the Tallahassee metro median about $1,998 at 7.28%, or $1,948 at 7.03%. Property tax is $7,448 a year in Dallas and about $6,183 in Tallahassee with a homestead, and insurance is budgeted at $400 and $220 a month, the Dallas figure raised by North Texas hail and the Tallahassee figure NerdWallet's average for the city, $2,640 a year, close to the Office of Insurance Regulation's Leon County average of $2,538 with wind cover, for a Florida policy with a separate hurricane deductible, and neither with a flood policy in it. The three lines come to about $3,529 and $2,733, roughly 57% and 58% of each city's 2024 median household income; at 7.03% Tallahassee's would be about $2,684. Of the $796 gap about $511 is the mortgage, $105 the property tax and $180 the insurance, and at the same rate the gap would be about $846. Tallahassee's share needs a caution: more than a quarter of its residents are in college, students living off campus form many of its households and their low incomes are likely part of why the median is low, while the price is the metro's single-family median, so the share is a rough guide to what a working household that buys would face. Rents are on different series, RentCafe's August averages for Dallas and Apartment List's September medians for the City of Tallahassee: a one-bedroom at $1,416 against $1,100, a two-bedroom $1,853 against $1,309. Zillow's observed rent index, the same measure in both, puts them closer, $1,591 in Dallas and $1,470 in Tallahassee in August, about 26% and 31% of median income. In Tallahassee, where owners hold 44.5% of occupied homes, a rent index is partly a student market.
The definitions match and so do the years: both cities' figures are the FBI's summarized counts for 2025 divided by Census Vintage 2025 populations, Dallas's read on 27 September and Tallahassee's on 2 October 2026. The two split. Tallahassee's 1,302 violent offenses come to 635 per 100,000 against Dallas's 577 on 7,674. Dallas's 40,962 property offenses come to 3,081 per 100,000 against Tallahassee's 2,405 on 4,927. Homicide was 140 in Dallas, about 10.5 per 100,000, and 20 in Tallahassee, about 9.8. One caution sits on Tallahassee's property figure, and it understates rather than overstates: the FBI's copy carries 23 motor vehicle thefts for the department in 2025 where the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's file has 396, and on the state's own total the rate would be about 2,577. That is still below Dallas's. Tallahassee's violent rate is the highest in 2025 of the Florida cities this site compares and about two and a half times the FBI's 248 for reporting Florida agencies, and the state's file puts its police second of 46 Florida agencies serving 100,000 or more people, behind Fort Lauderdale's and ahead of Gainesville's, another college town. Both are falling. Tallahassee's violent offenses peaked at 1,732 in 2023 and were about 25% lower in 2025, and the state's file has 12% fewer in January to August 2026 than in the same months of 2025. Dallas's violent offenses fell 12% in 2025 and 31% in four years, its murders fell from 181 to 140, and motor vehicle theft fell from a peak of 18,457 in 2023 to 11,162. Both sets of FBI counts come from a feed last refreshed on 15 September 2026 and can still be revised.
Tallahassee has the milder January and the gentler summer, Dallas the drier year, and the two freeze about as often. January averages 11.2 C at Tallahassee International Airport, about 6 miles southwest of the city's center, against 8.8 C at Love Field, though both freeze: the normals count 27.0 nights a year at or below freezing in Tallahassee, the coldest winter of the Florida cities this site compares, against 23.1 in Dallas. July averages 28.1 C against 30.7 C, the warmest July mean of the cities this site compares. Love Field's normals count 107.5 days a year at 90F or above against Tallahassee's 102.6, and 22.4 at or above 37.8 C (100F) against 2.9; Love Field had 54 days at 100F or more by 22 September 2026, and Tallahassee's highest reading since 2010 is 105F, on 15 June 2011. Tallahassee gets 1,494 mm of rain a year against Dallas's 973 mm, and no snow on the normals against 4.3 cm, and it snows now and then: the airport measured 1.9 in over 21 and 22 January 2025, the city's largest snowfall since 1958; no Tallahassee station is on the 1961-1990 sunshine series behind Dallas's 2,850 hours. The costly weather differs. Dallas's is hail and tornadoes: a supercell dropped stones up to 5.25 in (13.3 cm) in April 2016, and an EF3 went through Preston Hollow in October 2019. Tallahassee is inland, so storm surge is not its hazard; wind, falling trees and the power cuts that follow them are. Hurricane Hermine left about 80% of the city without power in September 2016 and Michael 95% of Leon County in October 2018, two EF2 tornadoes crossed the city on 10 May 2024, one of them through downtown, and broke more than 400 utility poles, and Helene left about 53,000 City utility customers without power at its peak that September. Dallas's rare hard freeze came with Winter Storm Uri, which took Love Field to 2F (-16.7 C) in February 2021 while ERCOT cut power across the state grid, and Texas counted 22 of the storm's 246 deaths in Dallas County. Tallahassee's lowest reading since 2010 is 14F, on 11 January 2010.
Dallas sits in a labor market about twenty times the size of Tallahassee's, and the two are adding jobs at the same rate. BLS counted 4,353,400 nonfarm jobs across Dallas-Fort Worth in July 2026, 1.3% more than a year earlier, and 200,500 in the Tallahassee metro in August, 2,500 more, a gain of 1.3%. On the same unadjusted basis unemployment in July was 4.6% across Dallas-Fort Worth and 5.1% around Tallahassee, against 4.4% nationally, and Tallahassee's moves with the academic year: it was 4.4% in July 2025 and 4.2% that September. Dallas has the corporate headquarters and the finance: the Dallas Regional Chamber counts 21 Fortune 500 headquarters in the region for 2025, among them AT&T, Texas Instruments and McKesson, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Charles Schwab and JPMorgan Chase are among the metro's financial employers. Average weekly wages across Dallas-Fort Worth were $1,785 in the first quarter of 2026 against $1,654 nationally; the Tallahassee profile carries no wage figure. Tallahassee runs on the state and its universities: the State of Florida employs 26,831 people in the city and Florida State 16,207, then Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare 5,696, the school board 4,300 and the City 4,000, and government holds 30.2% of the metro's jobs. State government, which in BLS's count includes the universities, held 43,900 jobs in August and 47,300 in April with classes in session, and professional and business services, the law firms, lobbyists and associations around the Capitol, added the most jobs in the year, 1,600. Most residents work where they live: 88.1% of the city's workers worked inside it in 2024, and the mean commute was 19 minutes. City median household income was $74,323 in Dallas and $56,511 in Tallahassee in 2024, the latter with a margin of error of $5,841 either way and the lowest of any city this site compares, and the metros' $92,733 and $65,009. Neither state taxes income, so $100,000 pays $13,449 in federal tax in both for 2025, and sales tax is 8.25% in Dallas against 7.5% in Leon County, where voters decide in November 2026 whether the school half-cent continues after 2027. The property tax stacks are close on paper and the exemptions decide the order. Dallas's five units add to 2.22671 per $100: Texas takes $140,000 off the school levy, Dallas ISD adds 10% of its own and the other four units take 20% each. A house in the City of Tallahassee pays 19.2060 mills for 2025, about 1.92 per $100: Leon County 8.3144, its EMS levy 0.7500, the Children's Services Council 0.3477, the school board's three lines 5.3660, the Northwest Florida Water Management District 0.0207 and the City 4.4072, with no fire line because the City bills fire service on the utility bill instead. Florida takes $25,000 off every levy and a second slice, $25,000 before the inflation adjustment it has carried since 2025, off all but the schools. At Tallahassee's price the Texas exemptions take more off: on the same $364,950 house Dallas's five units would charge about $5,472 against $6,183, and on $469,900 the Tallahassee stack would charge about $8,199 against Dallas's $7,448.
Dallas has the larger transit system, and Tallahassee the larger share of people who use one. In 2024, 2.0% of Dallas workers took transit and 2.5% walked or cycled, against 3.2% and 5.3% in Tallahassee, though Tallahassee's margins are wide and its 2020-2024 average is 2.2% by transit; 68.6% of Dallas's workers drove alone against 67.6%, and 13.5% worked from home against 11.4%. DART carried 52,823,800 trips in 2025, 21,611,600 of them on 93 miles of light rail, and is paid for by a 1% sales tax in its member cities, some of which have pushed back on what they pay, Highland Park voting to leave. StarMetro, the City's buses, carried 1,762,062 trips in 2025, about a third of its 2010 peak, and runs Florida State's campus routes under contract, free to the public, with no rail and no rapid bus; why its ridership has fallen since 2023 was not found. No passenger train has served Tallahassee since Amtrak's Sunset Limited stopped east of New Orleans in 2005. DART carried about thirty trips for every one of StarMetro's. The airports are of different orders, and connected. DFW handled 85,660,127 passengers in 2025, 82.6% of them on American, and Love Field, about 6 miles from downtown Dallas and Southwest's headquarters, 16,899,203. Tallahassee International, owned by the City about 5 miles southwest of downtown and renamed for the Florida State coach Bobby Bowden in April 2026, handled 936,448 passengers in the City's fiscal 2025, with American and Delta flying to Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth and Miami and no scheduled international service. So a Dallas trip from Tallahassee is a direct flight.
Coverage is a far larger problem in Dallas. Neither Texas nor Florida has expanded Medicaid. Texas had the highest uninsured rate of any state in 2024, 16.7%, and the City of Dallas's was 22.7%; Florida's was 10.9% and the City of Tallahassee's 8.5%, against 8.2% nationally. Dallas's safety net is Parkland Memorial, licensed for 983 beds, a Level I trauma center and UT Southwestern's primary teaching hospital. Tallahassee has two acute care hospitals: Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, a private nonprofit serving a 22-county region of North Florida and South Georgia, with a 772-bed hospital and the region's only Level III neonatal intensive care unit, and HCA Florida Capital Hospital, with 266 beds; Florida State's College of Medicine trains its first- and second-year students in the city. Neither profile verified a wait time. The public schools are shrinking in both. Dallas ISD opened 2026-27 with about 132,000 students against about 134,300 a year earlier, made pre-kindergarten free for all 3- and 4-year-olds and was rated B for 2025. Leon County Schools, the countywide district, had 31,638 students in 2025, down from 34,085 in 2019, and asks voters in November 2026 to renew the half-cent sales surtax that has raised about $400 million since 2012. Higher education is where the two differ most: SMU and UT Dallas sit outside Dallas's city limits, and Tallahassee is built around its campuses. Florida State enrolled a record 46,184 in fall 2025, Florida A&M, the only public historically black university in Florida, had 9,313 in fall 2024 and Tallahassee State College 12,455, and 27.2% of Tallahassee's residents aged three and over were in college or graduate school in 2024, against 6.6% nationally.
What people underestimate is that a City of Tallahassee bill has charges the millage does not show, and that Dallas's lower effective rate holds only at its own price. There is no fire, stormwater or garbage line on a City of Tallahassee tax bill: the City, which also runs the electric, gas, water and sewer systems, charges stormwater at $11.00 and residential garbage at $28.19 a month on the utility bill, about $470 a year together, and a fire services fee beside them, flat per household in two zones, raised 9.98% from 1 October 2025 and challenged in a lawsuit filed on 17 November 2025, whose amount this site could not read; ask the City's utility customer service for it at the address. Neither carry here includes it. Parts of Dallas sit in public improvement districts. Insurance is low for Florida because the city is inland, but flood comes from rain and creeks rather than the sea: the City is in Class 5 of FEMA's Community Rating System, a 25% discount on flood cover in the mapped flood zone, and low streets near downtown along Franklin Boulevard flood in very heavy rain. Flood cover is in neither carry, and from 1 January 2027 most Citizens Property Insurance policies with wind cover must carry it. This site's maintenance estimate also leaves out tree work, a real cost on a wooded lot in a city whose storms are counted in fallen trees. With a homestead the effective rates are about 1.69% on the Tallahassee metro median and 1.58% on Dallas's, and without one the two medians would owe $7,009 and $10,463. Both bills reset on a sale: Save Our Homes caps a homesteaded Florida assessment at 3% a year and resets it to market value the January after a sale, the Texas 10% cap lapses on a sale too, and in both the exemption has to be filed, in Tallahassee with the Leon County Property Appraiser by 1 March of the year after you buy. Closing differs. Texas has no transfer tax and no tax on the loan, and the Texas seller customarily buys the buyer's owner's title policy, $2,607 on Dallas's median. Florida charges documentary stamp tax on the deed at 70 cents per $100, $2,555 on the Tallahassee metro median and the seller's by convention, and the buyer pays 0.55% of the loan in stamp and intangible tax, about $1,606 at 20% down. The City lines are moving differently: Dallas has cut its own rate for the eleventh year in a row, to 69.78 cents per $100 from 1 October 2026, while Tallahassee's commission set the City's line at 4.4072 mills for 2025, a little below 2024's 4.4200 but 4.7% above the rolled-back rate, and kept it there tentatively for 2026, and the County has held its 8.3144 since 2012. And both are growing slowly. Dallas lost 1,808 residents in 2024-25 and has grown 1.9% since 2020, while its metro added 123,557. Tallahassee added 877 residents, 0.4%, and has grown 4.4% since 2020, and its metro's 3.4% was the slowest of Florida's 22; Leon County lost more people to the rest of the country than it gained in each of the last three years. A capital since 1824, at the southern end of the Red Hills, it is hilly by Florida standards, with nine official canopy roads, a median age of 28.5, the youngest of the Florida cities here, and a history that includes the bus boycott of 1956, begun by two FAMU students, and Frenchtown, the oldest historically black neighborhood in the state.
Better here
- The Dallas Regional Chamber counts 21 Fortune 500 headquarters in the region for 2025, among them AT&T, Texas Instruments and McKesson, and the city is the metro's financial center.
- Nonfarm jobs grew 1.3% across Dallas-Fort Worth in the year to July 2026, to 4,353,400, about twenty times the Tallahassee metro's 200,500, and unemployment was 4.6% against 5.1%.
- City median household income was $74,323 in 2024 against $56,511 in Tallahassee, and average weekly wages across the metro were $1,785 in early 2026 against $1,654 nationally.
- Property crime ran 3,081 per 100,000 in 2025 against 2,405 in Tallahassee, but violent crime ran 577 against 635, on the same FBI counts.
- DART runs 93 miles of light rail and carried 52,823,800 trips in 2025, against StarMetro's 1,762,062.
- DFW handled 85,660,127 passengers in 2025 and Love Field 16,899,203, against 936,448 at Tallahassee International.
Worse here
- Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $3,529 a month on the August 2026 median, against $2,733 on the Tallahassee metro median at 7.28%, or $2,684 there at the same 7.03% rate.
- Property crime ran 3,081 per 100,000 in 2025 against 2,405 in Tallahassee, and there were 140 homicides, about 10.5 per 100,000, against 9.8.
- The City of Dallas's uninsured rate was 22.7% in 2024 against 8.5% in the City of Tallahassee.
- July averages 30.7 C at Love Field, the warmest July mean of the cities this site compares, and the normals count 22.4 days a year at or above 37.8 C (100F) against 2.9.
- Insurance is budgeted at $400 a month against $220, raised by North Texas hail.
- Uri took Love Field to 2F (-16.7 C) in February 2021 while ERCOT cut power, and Texas counted 22 of the storm's 246 deaths in Dallas County.
Choose Dallas if
- you work in corporate headquarters, finance or professional services
- you want light rail and a transit system that carried 52,823,800 trips in 2025
- you fly often and want a hub airport and Love Field about 6 miles from downtown
- you would pay about $796 a month more to own for the larger job market and higher pay
The Dallas guide · Neighborhoods · Dallas rent vs buy · Dallas mortgage calculator
Better here
- Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $2,733 a month on the Tallahassee metro median at 7.28%, against $3,529 in Dallas, or $2,684 at the same 7.03% rate.
- Insurance is budgeted at $220 a month against $400, low for Florida because the city is inland and out of reach of storm surge.
- The City of Tallahassee's uninsured rate was 8.5% in 2024 against 22.7% in the City of Dallas.
- Property crime ran 2,405 per 100,000 in 2025 against 3,081 in Dallas, on the same FBI counts.
- January averages 11.2 C against 8.8 C, July 28.1 C against 30.7 C, and the normals count 2.9 days a year at or above 37.8 C (100F) against 22.4.
- 88.1% of the city's workers work inside it and the mean commute was 19 minutes in 2024, and 3.2% took transit and 5.3% walked or cycled, against 2.0% and 2.5% in Dallas.
Worse here
- Violent crime ran 635 per 100,000 in 2025 against 577 in Dallas, the highest of the Florida cities this site compares and about two and a half times Florida's rate.
- City median household income was $56,511 in 2024, the lowest of any city this site compares, so the carry takes about 58% of it against 57% in Dallas.
- On the same $364,950 house Dallas's five units would take about $5,472 against $6,183, and the City's fire services fee comes on the utility bill in an amount this site could not read.
- Unemployment was 5.1% around Tallahassee in July 2026 against 4.6% across Dallas-Fort Worth, and government holds 30.2% of the metro's jobs.
- StarMetro has no rail or rapid bus, and its ridership in 2025 was about a third of its 2010 peak.
- The seller pays documentary stamp tax of $2,555 on the metro median and the buyer about $1,606 in stamp and intangible tax on the loan, where Texas taxes neither the deed nor the loan.
Choose Tallahassee if
- you work for the State of Florida, at Florida State, Florida A&M or Tallahassee State College, or in the law and lobbying around the Capitol
- you want to own at about $2,733 a month rather than $3,529 on a smaller insurance budget
- you want a short commute, hills and canopy roads, and a summer with few 100F days
- you will weigh the violent crime rate street by street and ask the City for the fire services fee before you buy
The Tallahassee guide · Neighborhoods · Tallahassee rent vs buy · Tallahassee mortgage calculator
Dallas or Tallahassee, in short
Is Dallas or Tallahassee cheaper to live in?
Tallahassee, to own and to rent in dollars, though against local income the two are close. The cities were priced a week apart, Dallas at Freddie Mac's 7.03% of 24 September 2026 and Tallahassee at 7.28% of 1 October, and both prices are single-family medians over different areas: the NTREIS median inside Dallas, $469,900 in August 2026, and Florida Realtors' median for the four-county Tallahassee metro, $364,950 in June, because no median is published for the City. At 20% down the mortgage is about $2,509 against $1,998. Property tax is $7,448 a year against about $6,183 with a homestead, and insurance $400 a month against $220, so the three lines come to about $3,529 in Dallas and $2,733 in Tallahassee, or $2,684 at the same 7.03%, roughly 57% and 58% of each city's median household income, $74,323 and $56,511, a Tallahassee median lowered in part by its students. Zillow's index, which models every home, puts the two close: $305,765 for Dallas, and Zillow's index for the City of Tallahassee stood at $294,444. Zillow's observed rent index was $1,591 in Dallas and $1,470 in Tallahassee in August. Neither state taxes income, and sales tax is 8.25% in Dallas against 7.5% in Leon County. Tallahassee's carry leaves out the City's fire services fee, and neither includes a flood policy.
Is Dallas or Tallahassee safer?
Neither clearly, on figures built the same way. Both are the FBI's summarized counts for 2025 divided by Census estimates. Violent offenses ran 635 per 100,000 in Tallahassee against 577 in Dallas, property offenses 3,081 in Dallas against 2,405 in Tallahassee, and homicide was 140 in Dallas, about 10.5 per 100,000, against 20 in Tallahassee, about 9.8. Tallahassee's property figure is understated by the FBI's copy; on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's count it would be about 2,577, still below Dallas's. Tallahassee's violent rate is the highest of the Florida cities this site compares in 2025, but it has fallen about 25% since 2023, and Dallas's violent offenses fell 12% in 2025 and 31% in four years. Every rate here is a count divided by a Census estimate rather than a published rate, and the counts can still be revised.
Which has the better job market, Dallas or Tallahassee?
Dallas's, by size, breadth and pay. BLS counted 4,353,400 nonfarm jobs across Dallas-Fort Worth in July 2026 and 200,500 in the Tallahassee metro in August, both 1.3% more than a year earlier. On the same unadjusted basis unemployment was 4.6% across Dallas-Fort Worth and 5.1% around Tallahassee in July, and Tallahassee's rises and falls with the academic year. Dallas has 21 Fortune 500 headquarters in its region and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and its metro's average weekly wage was $1,785 in early 2026 against $1,654 nationally. Tallahassee's work is mostly the state's: the State of Florida, Florida State, Tallahassee Memorial, the schools and the City are its five largest employers, and government holds 30.2% of the metro's jobs. Median household income was $74,323 in the City of Dallas in 2024 against $56,511 in Tallahassee, and $92,733 and $65,009 across the metros.
What does buying cost beyond the price in Dallas and in Tallahassee?
Closing taxes in Tallahassee, a utility bill that carries the City's fees, and a reset in both. Texas has no transfer tax and no tax on the loan, and the seller customarily buys the buyer's owner's title policy, $2,607 on Dallas's median. Florida charges documentary stamp tax on the deed at 70 cents per $100, $2,555 on the Tallahassee metro median and the seller's by convention, and the buyer pays 0.55% of the loan in stamp and intangible tax, about $1,606 at 20% down. A City of Tallahassee address pays stormwater, garbage and a fire services fee on its monthly utility bill rather than its tax bill, about $470 a year for the first two and an amount for the fire fee this site could not read; parts of Dallas sit in public improvement districts. In both states the seller's tax bill is no guide: Save Our Homes resets a Florida assessment to market value the January after a sale, the Texas 10% homestead cap lapses on a sale, and each exemption has to be filed; without one the medians would owe $10,463 in Dallas and $7,009 in Tallahassee. Neither carry here includes flood insurance.
Where the figures come from
Housing figures are the ones behind each city's calculators, dated on those pages. The rest are listed here with the date they were retrieved. See the methodology for how facts, estimates and opinion are kept apart.
- Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places in Texas: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (SUB-EST2025) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth, Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Character
- Annual Resident Population Estimates and Components of Change for Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas and Their Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (CBSA-EST2025-ALLDATA) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth, Character
- Crime Data Explorer summarized agency data, Dallas Police Department (TXDPD0000): violent crime, property crime, homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson, 2021-2025 · FBI · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend
- Violent Crime Reduction Plan Update, Public Safety Committee, June 3, 2025 · Dallas Police Department (City of Dallas) · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Crime trend
- Police Incidents (Dallas Police Public Data, RMS incidents from June 1, 2014) · City of Dallas OpenData · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate
- Dallas sees lowest violent crime numbers since 2015 as chief credits new crime strategies · CBS Texas · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00013960 Dallas Love Field (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall, Climate normals, Climate hazards, Character, January 47.8F, July and August 87.3F from the monthly series, and annual mean 68.0F, precipitation 38.32 in, snowfall 1.7 in and the counts of days at 90F and 100F and nights at freezing from dataset=normals-annualseasonal-1991-2020 for the same station
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00003927 Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Climate normals
- Global Historical Climatology Network daily summaries, Dallas Love Field (USW00013960), 1939-2026 · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, Character, 73 days at or above 100F in 2011 and 40 in a row from 2 July to 10 August 2011, 54 in 2026 through 22 September, 112F on 26 and 27 June 1980 and 22 July 2018, 5.3 in of snow from 14 to 17 February 2021, 2F on 16 February 2021, 31 January 1949, 1F on 23 December 1989 and 0F on 23 January 1940, 13F on 25 January 2026
- Global Historical Climatology Network daily summaries, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (USW00003927), 1953-2026 · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, 113F on 26 and 27 June 1980, -2F on 16 February 2021, 2.4 in of snow and sleet on 24 and 25 January 2026
- Dallas/Fort Worth: Annual and Consecutive 100 Degree Days (last updated 22 September 2026) · National Weather Service, Fort Worth/Dallas · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Average Annual Sunshine in US Cities · Current Results (NCDC Comparative Climatic Data, 1961-1990) · retrieved Supports: Sunshine hours, Climate normals
- Weather and Climate Billion-Dollar Disasters to affect the U.S. from 1980-2024 (events list) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- April 11th 2016 Hail Storm · National Weather Service, Fort Worth/Dallas · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Cotality 2026 Report: Hail risk now rivals major hurricanes (2026 Severe Convective Storm Risk Report) · Cotality · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- North Texas Tornadoes, October 20, 2019 · National Weather Service, Fort Worth/Dallas · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- 2019 North Dallas tornado (path length, structures destroyed, damage, casualties) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- December 26, 2015 Tornado Outbreak · National Weather Service, Fort Worth/Dallas · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Dallas Levee System · City of Dallas, Trinity River Corridor Project · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Trinity River at Dallas (DALT2), historic crests · NOAA National Water Prediction Service · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Milestone Achievement for Dallas Floodway Project: Providing Flood Risk Management to Communities · US Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District (DVIDS) · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Wettest 24 hours in nearly a century for Dallas-Fort Worth · Yale Climate Connections · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- February 2021 Winter Storm-Related Deaths, Texas (mortality surveillance report) · Texas Department of State Health Services · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- The Timeline and Events of the February 2021 Texas Electric Grid Blackouts · The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- How the Texas power grid is holding up during the winter storm · CBS Texas · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Energy Secretary Issues Emergency Order to Secure Texas Grid Amid Winter Storm Fern · US Department of Energy · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Dallas Area Reservoirs (daily storage, percent full) · Texas Water Development Board, Water Data for Texas · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Frequently Asked Questions (watering schedule) and City of Dallas Water Conservation Ordinance · Dallas Water Utilities, Save Dallas Water · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- ACS 2024 1-year tables B08301 and B19013 for Dallas city and the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington MSA · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share, Character
- ACS 2024 1-year table B27001 (health insurance coverage) for the 50 states, DC, the US, Dallas County, Dallas city and the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington MSA · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Health care, Character
- Unemployment Rate in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (MSA), DALL148UR and DALL148URN · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (BLS LAUS data) · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- All Employees: Total Nonfarm in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (MSA), DALL148NA · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (BLS CES data) · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- Dallas-Fort Worth Area Economic Summary · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate, Main sectors, Labour market
- Dallas Regional Economic Development Guide 2026: Major Companies and Headquarters · Dallas Regional Chamber · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- City Sales and Use Tax (city rate table) · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- Transit Sales and Use Tax (Dallas MTA, effective January 1, 1984) · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Sales tax, Transit ridership
- Sales and Use Tax · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- Texas Tax Rates & Rankings · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000, Tax notes, Character
- 2025 Tax Brackets and Federal Income Tax Rates · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- 2026 Tax Brackets and Federal Income Tax Rates · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- Property Tax Exemptions · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Tax notes
- Dallas approves $5.66 billion budget for 2026-27 fiscal year · Lake Highlands Advocate · retrieved Supports: Tax notes, Character
- City of Dallas Update on Proposition U, Police and Fire Funding Appropriation · City of Dallas · retrieved Supports: Tax notes, Character
- About DART (DART facts) · Dallas Area Rapid Transit · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership, Character
- Silver Line Launches Oct. 25, Connecting Seven Cities and DFW Airport with Modern, Reliable Transit · Dallas Area Rapid Transit · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership, Character
- Dallas Area Rapid Transit (citing the APTA Transit Ridership Reports, Q4 2025 and Q2 2026, through Template:American transit ridership) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership
- DART services in Richardson, Plano to remain unchanged as Highland Park withdraws · Community Impact · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership, Character
- DFW Total Passengers, December 2025 (calendar year 2025 vs 2024) · Dallas Fort Worth International Airport · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- World's Busiest Airports: Atlanta Holds, Asia Climbs (2025 passenger and movement rankings) · ACI World · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Dallas Love Field (2025 passenger totals from the FAA, location, Southwest Airlines) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers, Climate normals
- Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions · KFF · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Parkland Memorial Hospital · UT Southwestern Medical Center · retrieved Supports: Health care
- About the Trauma Center · Parkland Health · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Baylor University Medical Center, part of Baylor Scott & White Health · Baylor Scott & White Health · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Children's Health and UT Southwestern break ground on new Dallas pediatric campus, announce $100 million donation from The Rees-Jones Foundation · UT Southwestern Medical Center · retrieved Supports: Health care
- UT Southwestern and Children's Health receive $25 million from the Harry W. Bass, Jr. Foundation for new pediatric campus · UT Southwestern Medical Center · retrieved Supports: Health care
- New Dallas Pediatric Campus Puts Children First · Southwestern Medical District · retrieved Supports: Health care
- On Dallas ISD's first day of school, enrollment's down, but letter grade may be up · KERA News · retrieved Supports: Education, Character
- Southern Methodist University (fall 2025 enrollment, University Park) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Education
- University of Texas at Dallas (Richardson) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Education
- Dallas College (seven campuses in Dallas County) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Education
- Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places of 50,000 or More (all states, SUB-EST2025) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth, Metro population, Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend, Character, Tallahassee city 196,182 (April 2020 base), 197,919 (2020), 200,283 (2021), 202,205 (2022), 203,267 (2023), 204,025 (2024) and 204,902 (2025); Leon County 299,048 (April 2020 base 292,205); national rank 122 and Florida rank 9; 37th of the 129 cities of 200,000 or more for growth since 2020
- 2025 Gazetteer Files: Places, Florida · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: point, City population, Climate normals, Tallahassee city (1270600): 102.578 sq mi of land, 2.913 sq mi of water, internal point 30.453529, -84.252272
- Tallahassee, Florida (history, geography, climate, neighborhoods, transportation) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: City population, Climate hazards, Main sectors, Transit system, Character, Capital since 1824; only incorporated municipality in Leon County; Hermine (about 80% of the city without power), Michael (95% of Leon County without power), EF2 tornadoes on 10 May 2024; record 105F on 15 June 2011; measurable snows including 2.8 in on 13 February 1958 and 1.9 in on 21-22 January 2025; nine canopy roads; Frenchtown; the 1956 bus boycott; Greyhound, Megabus and RedCoach; Amtrak's Sunset Limited suspended east of New Orleans in 2005
- Crime Data Explorer summarized agency data, Tallahassee Police Department (FL0370300): violent crime, property crime, homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson, 2021-2025, with Florida and national rates · FBI · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend, Character, 2022: 1,587 violent, 4,430 property; 2023: 1,732 and 5,212; 2024: 1,383 and 5,804; 2025: 1,302 violent (20 + 149 + 214 + 919) and 4,927 property (745 + 4,148 + 23 + 11); homicides 15, 21, 16 and 20; agency population 206,918 for 2025; January to July 2026 737 violent against 769 in 2025; 2025 rates for reporting Florida agencies 248.3 violent, 1,076.6 property and 3.0 homicide, and for the US 329.3, 1,552.1 and 4.3
- FIBRS offense data by agency and month, 2021 to August 2026 · Florida Department of Law Enforcement · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend, Tallahassee Police Department: 1,681, 1,806, 1,441 and 1,363 violent and 5,444, 5,591, 6,371 and 5,280 property offenses in 2022 to 2025; motor vehicle thefts 628, 624, 559 and 396; homicides 16, 21, 16 and 21; January to August 2026 783 violent, 2,985 property and 7 homicides against 893, 3,450 and 17; FDLE population 205,623; the 46 agencies serving 100,000 or more in 2025, led by Fort Lauderdale PD (675 per 100,000), Tallahassee PD (663) and Gainesville PD (635); Leon County Sheriff's Office 500
- Total Crime Incidents Down in 2025, Violent Crime Spikes During Last Four Months · Tallahassee Reports · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend, From the Tallahassee Police Department's daily incident data: total incidents down 22.6% in 2025, property down 28.3%, violent down 8.9%; assaults in September to December 299 against 192; 18 fatal shootings in 2025 against 26 in 2024
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00093805 Tallahassee Regional Airport (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Climate normals, Climate hazards, Character, January 52.2F, July 82.5F and August 82.4F and the monthly highs, lows and rain from the monthly series, which carries no snowfall normal for this station, and annual mean 68.4F, precipitation 58.81 in, 102.6 days at 90F, 2.9 at 100F, 27.0 nights at or below 32F and 1.4 at or below 20F from dataset=normals-annualseasonal-1991-2020 for the same station
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USC00088756 Tallahassee AP (cooperative station) (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Annual snowfall, Climate normals, 0.0 in of snow (monthly and annual); January 51.0F, July 82.9F, 59.82 in, 128.3 days at 90F
- NCEI data search, normals-monthly-1991-2020 stations within 30.7N to 30.2N and 84.6W to 84.0W, and stations with a snowfall normal within 31.3N to 29.7N and 85.3W to 83.4W · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Climate normals, USW00093805 at 30.3975N, 84.3289W and USC00088756 at 30.3961N, 84.3556W, both at the airport; the other stations near the city are CoCoRaHS precipitation gauges
- Global Historical Climatology Network daily summaries, Tallahassee Regional Airport (USW00093805), 2010-2026 · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, Character, 105F on 15 June 2011 and 104F on 24 June 2022; 108 days at or above 90F in 2025 and 114 in 2026 through 29 September, 3 of them at 100F or above; 27 nights at or below 32F in 2025 and 21 in 2026; 14F on 11 January 2010 and 18F on 2 February 2026; snowfall 1.5 in on 21 January 2025 and 0.4 in on 22 January; gusts of 70.9 mph on 10 October 2018, 67.1 mph on 26 September 2024 and 66.0 mph on 10 May 2024
- Hurricane Hermine (2016) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, 57% of homes in Leon County without power, including about 80% of the city proper and Florida State University
- Hurricane Helene · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, Tallahassee International Airport closed on 26 September 2024
- FY2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, Statistical Section (Demographic Statistics, Principal Employers and Miscellaneous Statistical Data) · City of Tallahassee (filed with the Florida Auditor General) · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market, Airport passengers, Health care, Education, Principal employers 2025: State of Florida 26,831, Florida State University 16,207, Tallahassee Memorial Hospital 5,696, Leon County School Board 4,300, City of Tallahassee 4,000, Amazon 2,256, Leon County 1,957, Florida A&M University 1,794, Walmart 1,700, Tallahassee State College 1,468, Publix 1,400, and the 2016 list; airline passengers 936,448 (fiscal 2025), 944,835 (2024) and 851,689 (2019); Leon County School enrollment 31,638 (2025) and 34,085 (2019); 51 public schools; 68,667 college-level students; 1,060 hospital beds at Tallahassee Memorial and Capital Regional
- ACS 2024 1-year tables B19013, B25003 and B01002 for Tallahassee city, Leon County, the Tallahassee MSA, Florida, the US and the other Florida cities this site compares · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Character
- ACS 2024 1-year tables B08007 (place of work by county), B08008 (place of work by place), B08013 (aggregate travel time) and B08303 (travel time to work) for Tallahassee city and Leon County · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Labour market, Character
- ACS 2024 1-year table B08301 (means of transportation to work) for Tallahassee city, Leon County, the Tallahassee MSA, Florida and the US · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share, Labour market, Character
- ACS 2020-2024 5-year table B08301 (means of transportation to work) for Tallahassee city and Leon County · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- ACS 2024 1-year tables B14001 and B14007 (school enrollment by level) for Tallahassee city, Leon County, the Tallahassee MSA, Florida and the US · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: City population, Education, Character, Tallahassee city: 199,776 aged 3 and over, 43,399 enrolled in college undergraduate years and 10,954 in graduate or professional school; US 17,005,362 and 4,797,493 of 329,362,620; Florida 1,094,685 and 311,297 of 22,719,284
- ACS 2024 1-year table B27001 (health insurance coverage) for Tallahassee city, Leon County, the Tallahassee MSA, Florida and the US · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Tallahassee, FL MSA (LAUMT124522000000003), Leon County (LAUCN120730000000003) and Tallahassee city (LAUCT127060000000003), not seasonally adjusted · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- Current Employment Statistics, Tallahassee, FL MSA: total nonfarm (SMU12452200000000001), supersectors (SMU1245220xx00000001), retail trade and federal, state and local government (SMU12452209091000001, SMU12452209092000001, SMU12452209093000001) · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market, Character
- Florida State University 2025-2026 Pocket Fact Book · Florida State University Office of Institutional Research · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Education, Fall 2025 enrollment 46,184 (33,068 undergraduate, 11,022 graduate and professional, 2,094 unclassified), the highest in the enrollment history table; 43,603 at the Tallahassee location and 43,936 taking at least one class on the main campus; 16,207 employees in 2025-26, 7,605 full-time, 118 part-time and 8,484 OPS
- College Navigator: Florida State University, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and Tallahassee State College (fall 2024 enrollment) · US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Education, Fall 2024 total enrollment: FAMU 9,313 (7,890 undergraduate, 1,423 graduate; id 133650), FSU 43,889 (32,720 undergraduate; id 134097), Tallahassee State College 12,455, all undergraduate (id 137759)
- FAMU Welcomes Largest Incoming Class in a Decade at New Student Pinning Ceremony · Florida A&M University · retrieved Supports: Education, More than 1,900 first-time-in-college students in fall 2026, the largest incoming class in a decade, plus 400 online, 700 transfer and 1,200 graduate students
- Florida A&M University · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Education, Character
- Florida State University · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Health care, Education
- Tallahassee State College · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Education, Known as Tallahassee Community College from 1970 to 2024; renamed Tallahassee State College on July 1, 2024
- Leon County Schools approve increase in property tax rates, voters could decide in November · WCTV · retrieved Supports: Sales tax, Tax notes, Education, A one-mill operating levy for July 2027 to June 2031 sent to the county commission for the November ballot; the commission's 12 May motion to put the half-cent sales tax renewal on the November ballot; $400 million raised from 2012 to 2026
- Leon County school leaders push to renew half-cent sales tax before 2027 expiration · WTXL · retrieved Supports: Education, A $620 million gap in facility needs without renewal; more than $500 million over 15 years if renewed
- Discretionary Sales Surtax Information for Calendar Year 2026 (DR-15DSS) · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: Sales tax, Leon 1.5%: 1% from December 1, 1989 to December 31, 2039 and 0.5% from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2027
- Tax Information Publication 14A01-17: Leon County Discretionary Sales Surtax Continues at 1.5% Rate · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: Sales tax, Combined rate 7.5%: 1% infrastructure surtax, 0.5% school capital outlay surtax and 6% state tax; the infrastructure surtax extended through December 31, 2039
- Florida Tax Rates & Rankings · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000, Tax notes
- Property Tax Exemptions: Homestead Exemption, Save Our Homes Assessment Limitation, and Portability Transfer · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: Tax notes
- Leon County 2025 taxing authority millage rates by tax authority code (with 2010 to 2024), as certified by the Leon County Property Appraiser · Florida Department of Revenue, Property Tax Oversight (Leon County Property Appraiser's filing) · retrieved Supports: Tax notes, Character, 2025 code 1, City of Tallahassee: County 8.3144, EMS MSTU 0.7500, CSC of Leon 0.3477, School Board RLE 3.1180, discretionary 0.7480 and capital outlay 1.5000, NW Florida Water Management District 0.0207, City 4.4072, total 19.2060 ('City lowered from proposed rate of 4.4200'); code 3, Downtown Improvement, 20.2060; code 2, unincorporated, 14.7988; 2024 code 1 total 19.2379; County 8.3144 every year since 2012
- Table 1: Comparison of Taxes Levied, County and Municipal Governments, Fiscal Years 2024-25 and 2025-26 (Leon County) · Leon County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Tax notes, City of Tallahassee 4.4200 in 2024-25, rolled-back rate 4.2080 and 4.4072 adopted for 2025-26, levy $81,772,259, up 9.0% and 4.7% above rolled-back; Leon County BCC 8.3144 and EMS 0.7500
- Zillow Home Value Index and Observed Rent Index, city files, August 2026 · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: Tax notes, Character, Tallahassee (region 47945) all-homes value (City_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv) $294,444 in August 2026 against $290,281 a year earlier, up 1.4%, and observed rent (City_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv) $1,470 against $1,448, up 1.5%; the same month for Jacksonville $285,103 and $1,601, Orlando $371,120 and $1,896, Miami $580,866 and $3,008, Tampa $377,566 and $1,957, St. Petersburg $354,074 and $2,058, Port St. Lucie $384,593 and $2,396, Cape Coral $335,825 and $1,949, Hialeah $442,859 and $2,357
- Monthly Module Adjusted Data Release, complete monthly ridership with adjustments and estimates (City of Tallahassee, NTD 40036) · Federal Transit Administration, National Transit Database (via data.transportation.gov) · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- StarMetro (bus service) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership
- Tallahassee International Airport (ownership, location, carriers, naming) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Health care, Main sectors
- HCA Florida Capital Hospital · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Health care
- NTREIS monthly MLS summary report, August 2026 · North Texas Real Estate Information System and the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University, via the MetroTex Association of REALTORS · retrieved Supports: A median single-family sale price of $469,900 in the City of Dallas in August 2026 on 640 sales, against $499,900 on 667 sales in August 2025, A median townhouse sale price of $543,000 on 30 sales, against $475,000 on 42, and a median condominium sale price of $310,000 on 121 sales, against $237,000 on 136, 2,725 active single-family listings and 4.2 months of inventory in the City of Dallas, A median single-family lease of $2,850 a month on 276 leases, City figures by property type only, with no all-types median
- Housing market reports · MetroTex Association of REALTORS · retrieved Supports: Monthly reports featuring data from the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center, based on listings of properties physically located within the specified geographic areas
- Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, middle tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical home value of $305,765 for the city of Dallas (region 38128) in August 2026, $310,919 in August 2025, so a fall of 1.7% over the year
- Zillow Home Value Index, single-family and condominium series, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical single-family value of $319,987 in the city of Dallas in August 2026, against $324,674 a year earlier, down 1.4%, A typical condominium value of $208,501 in the same month, against $222,477, down 6.3%, from the condominium file at https://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public_csvs/zhvi/City_zhvi_uc_condo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv
- Dallas, TX average rent and rent trends · RentCafe / Yardi Matrix · retrieved Supports: An average Dallas apartment rent of $1,592, down 0.92% from $1,607 a year earlier, updated 31 August 2026, Average rents of $1,245 studio, $1,416 one-bedroom, $1,853 two-bedroom and $2,221 three-bedroom
- Zillow Observed Rent Index, all homes plus multifamily, smoothed, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: An observed rent index of $1,591 for the city of Dallas in August 2026, up 0.63% from $1,581 a year earlier
- 2025 ad valorem tax rates for Dallas County, revised 5 November 2025 · Dallas Central Appraisal District · retrieved Supports: 2025 rates per $100: Dallas County 0.215500, Parkland Hospital 0.212000, Dallas College 0.106575, Dallas 0.698800, Dallas ISD 0.993835, Optional homestead exemptions of 20% for Dallas County, Parkland Hospital, Dallas College and the City of Dallas, and 10% for Dallas ISD, A general homestead exemption of $140,000 for every school district, contingent on the November 2025 constitutional amendment, A calculated local optional homestead value of not less than $5,000, Separate rates and exemptions for Highland Park, University Park, Cockrell Hill and Highland Park ISD
- 2026 estimated ad valorem tax rates for Dallas County, revised 4 March 2026 · Dallas Central Appraisal District · retrieved Supports: The 2026 table was an estimate, repeating the 2025 rates for the five units, when these figures were retrieved
- 2025 and 2026 residence homestead average and median values · Dallas Central Appraisal District · retrieved Supports: A certified median residence homestead market value of $364,530 in the City of Dallas for 2025, on 177,599 homesteads, A certified median of $364,000 for 2026, on 172,862 homesteads, in the table dated 22 July 2026
- Annual report, 2025 appraisal year · Dallas Central Appraisal District · retrieved Supports: 230,276 protests received for the 2025 appraisal year, 180,733 of them residential, and 788,553 appraisal notices mailed, A protest process that begins around 15 April and concludes by 20 July each year
- Valuing property: the homestead cap and the circuit breaker limitation · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: A residence homestead's appraised value may not rise more than 10% a year, from the year after the owner first qualifies, A 20% annual limit on the appraised value of non-homestead property valued at $5 million or less, the circuit breaker, which expires on 31 December 2026
- Tax Code, Section 41.44: notice of protest · Texas Legislature · retrieved Supports: A protest must be filed by 15 May or the 30th day after the appraisal notice is delivered, whichever is later
- Midtown Improvement District · City of Dallas Office of Economic Development · retrieved Supports: The Midtown Improvement District, formerly the Vickery Meadow Public Improvement District, established in 1993 and renewed to 31 December 2032, An annual budget and assessment rate subject to a public hearing and Dallas City Council approval
- Public Improvement Districts (PIDs) layer · City of Dallas · retrieved Supports: Public improvement districts mapped by the City including Dallas DID, Uptown, Deep Ellum, Klyde Warren/DAD, Knox Street, Oak Lawn-Hi Line, Prestonwood, Lake Highlands, North Lake Highlands, Midtown, University Crossing, South Side, Far East Dallas and RedBird
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 24 September 2026 · Freddie Mac · retrieved Supports: A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 7.03%, up from 6.95% the week before and 6.30% a year earlier
- Texas homeowners insurance market overview · Texas Department of Insurance · retrieved Supports: A statewide average homeowners premium of $3,489 a year for 2025, from the Texas Statistical Plan for Residential Risks, Hail as the largest cause of paid homeowners losses, $4.93 billion in 2024 against $2.21 billion for wind
- Insurance and your roof: what to know when buying a policy or filing a claim · Texas Department of Insurance · retrieved Supports: Replacement cost coverage pays for a new roof at current prices, and actual cash value coverage pays replacement cost minus depreciation, As roofs age, some companies will switch to actual cash value, A deductible for wind and hail damage can differ from the deductible for other damage
- Texas homeowners insurance · NerdWallet · retrieved Supports: An average Dallas premium of $6,915 a year and a Texas average of $5,910, for $500,000 of dwelling cover, updated 20 February 2026
- How much is homeowners insurance in Dallas, TX? · Insure.com · retrieved Supports: An average Dallas premium of $4,212 a year for $300,000 of dwelling cover, $100,000 of liability and a $1,000 deductible, updated 27 May 2026
- Renters insurance in Texas · NerdWallet · retrieved Supports: An average Dallas renters premium of $167 a year for $30,000 of personal property, updated 23 September 2026
- Monthly homeowners' or condominium association fee, table B25143, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Dallas city · United States Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: A median monthly association fee of $280 among Dallas owner-occupied units that pay one, 50,335 of 226,859 owner-occupied units, or 22.2%, paying such a fee, from table B25142
- City of Dallas utility fees effective 1 October 2025 · City of Dallas · retrieved Supports: A residential sanitation fee of $40.09 a month, $43.40 with tax, A residential stormwater fee of $5.39 to $21.01 a month by impervious area, An environmental cleanup fee of $3.00 a month on every City of Dallas utility account
- Dallas Homebuyer Assistance Program (DHAP) · City of Dallas Housing and Homelessness Solutions · retrieved Supports: Assistance of up to $60,000 in High Opportunity Areas and $50,000 elsewhere in Dallas, for households at or below 80% of area median income, A maximum sales price of $342,000 for existing and newly built homes, for contracts from 1 September 2024, A second lien as an interest-free forgivable deferred loan with no monthly payments, prorated annually, with partial repayment due on a sale, lease or transfer, Administered by Business and Community Lenders of Texas from 1 May 2026
- 2025 Gazetteer files: places, Texas · United States Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: A land area of 339.685 square miles and a water area of 43.966 square miles for Dallas city
- Tallahassee home prices outpace state as sales slow in June · Tallahassee Reports · retrieved Supports: A median sale price for an existing single-family home in the Tallahassee MSA of $364,950 in June 2026, up 5.8% from June 2025, A year-to-date median of $340,000, up 1.5%, and 364 closed sales in June, down 6.2% from a year earlier, Florida Realtors' statistics compiled from local multiple listing services, June 2026 data released on 17 July 2026; the Tallahassee MSA is Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon and Wakulla counties, A statewide single-family median of $432,000 in June 2026
- Tallahassee MSA median single-family sales price up 4.4% in May · Tallahassee Reports · retrieved Supports: A Tallahassee MSA single-family median of $355,000 in May 2026 against $340,000 in May 2025, up 4.4%
- Tallahassee MSA residential sales prices trending down · Tallahassee Reports · retrieved Supports: Leon County accounting for almost 90% of the MSA's real estate transactions
- Florida market reports · Florida Realtors · retrieved Supports: Metropolitan Statistical Area reports, Tallahassee among them, published to members only
- FY26 budget, 1.4 millage rate · City of Tallahassee · retrieved Supports: A millage rate of 4.4072, a decrease of 0.0128 mills against the prior year; the budget proposed at 4.4200 and adopted at 4.4072
- Tallahassee's $1.2B budget advances, with final vote set for September · WTXL · retrieved Supports: The City Commission setting the millage rate at 4.4072 mills, with public hearings on 9 and 23 September 2026 before the final vote, The City projecting that a property tax amendment, if voters pass it in November, would cost it $11.2 million in fiscal 2028 and $17.8 million in fiscal 2029
- Leon Commission OKs $420M budget with property tax increase, raises · Tallahassee Democrat (via Yahoo News) · retrieved Supports: The County Commission voting 6-1 for a property tax rate of 8.3144 per $1,000 of assessed value, unchanged for the 15th consecutive year, and the EMS rate alongside it, at its final hearing on 22 September 2026, The unincorporated area's solid waste assessment going from $40 to $80 in the fiscal year starting 1 October
- Leon County School Board approves tentative 2026-27 budget in a 4-1 vote · WTXL · retrieved Supports: A tentative 5.343-mill tax rate, with the final public hearing on the millage and budget on 8 September 2026
- Additional homestead exemption adjustment, revised January 2025 · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A CPI change of 2.9% and a maximum additional exemption of $25,722 for 2025, against the $25,000 base year of 2024
- Rent estimates summary, September 2026 · Apartment List · retrieved Supports: For the City of Tallahassee (FIPS 1270600), September 2026: $1,296 overall, $1,100 for one bedroom and $1,309 for two, with rents down 0.31% on the month and 0.43% on the year, For Leon County: $1,290 overall, $1,106 for one bedroom and $1,288 for two
- Median household income, median home value, median gross rent and tenure, tables B19013, B25077, B25064 and B25003, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates · United States Census Bureau, via the Census Reporter API · retrieved Supports: A median household income of $56,511 in Tallahassee city, against $63,548 in Leon County and $77,735 for Florida, A median owner-occupied home value of $294,500 in Tallahassee city, 39,706 of Tallahassee's 89,217 occupied homes owner-occupied, and a median gross rent of $1,369 against $1,812 for Florida
- Median gross rent by bedrooms, table B25031, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Tallahassee city · United States Census Bureau, via the Census Reporter API · retrieved Supports: A median gross rent of $1,239 for one bedroom, $1,401 for two and $1,592 for three
- Monthly homeowners' association and condominium fee, tables B25142 and B25143, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Tallahassee city · United States Census Bureau, via the Census Reporter API · retrieved Supports: 17,174 of 39,706 owner-occupied units paying a required homeowners' association or condominium fee, 6,936 of them less than $25 a month, A median monthly fee of $44 among them, and 1,906 paying $300 or more a month
- Utility rate pricing plans · City of Tallahassee Utilities · retrieved Supports: A stormwater charge of $11.00 per month; residential garbage at $28.19 per month for regular homes, $64.64 for premium service and $18.92 for an additional container, Residential electric: a customer charge of $10.29 single phase and an effective billing rate of $0.13583 per kWh (energy $0.09518 and fuel $0.04065), Residential gas: a customer charge of $12.93 per month and an effective billing rate of $1.42287 per CCF, Water: a minimum charge of $17.75 per month and a 50% surcharge outside the City; sewer: a customer charge of $26.09 per month and $0.83458 per cgal
- About your utility bill · City of Tallahassee Utilities · retrieved Supports: Stormwater and Fire Service lines on the City's utility bill
- Department: Electric and Gas Utility · City of Tallahassee (OpenGov) · retrieved Supports: The Electric Utility serving over 128,000 customers in a 221-square-mile service territory, Natural gas through 965 miles of underground mains serving over 34,000 customers in Leon, Gadsden and Wakulla counties
- Tallahassee sued over fire services fee charged through utility bills · Fire Law Blog · retrieved Supports: A Fire Services Fee imposed since 1999 as a flat monthly charge on City utility bills, at two monthly rates by geographic zone, the inner zone paying more, The City Commission's September 2025 decision to readopt the fee and approve a 9.98% increase, effective 1 October 2025
- Complaint, Inman-Johnson et al. v. City of Tallahassee, Second Judicial Circuit · Fire Law Blog (court filing) · retrieved Supports: Filed electronically on 17 November 2025, Resolution 25-R-45, adopted in September 2025, implementing a 9.98% increase in the Fire Services Fee charged monthly to each residential utility customer
- City commissioners move forward with revised fire service fee · WTXL · retrieved Supports: The increase costing approximately $2 extra per month for most residents
- Leon County residents now pay fire fee on property tax bill · WCTV · retrieved Supports: Residents outside the city limits paying the fire services fee on the property tax bill, about $230 depending on the zone, The City Commission raising the fee by 10% only on its own residents
- Property taxes: discounts for early payment · Leon County Tax Collector · retrieved Supports: A 4% discount if paid in November, 3% in December, 2% in January and 1% in February
- Property Insurance Stability Report, July 1, 2026 · Florida Office of Insurance Regulation · retrieved Supports: Average premiums for Leon County from data reported as of 31 March 2026: homeowners $2,538 with wind and $1,710 without; condominium unit owners $846 and $441, Actual charged premium varying by company, insured value, deductibles and policy terms
- Florida homeowners insurance · NerdWallet · retrieved Supports: An average Tallahassee premium of $2,640 a year, $220 a month, against $8,345 in Miami, updated 20 February 2026
- Renters insurance in Florida · NerdWallet · retrieved Supports: An average Tallahassee renters premium of $138 a year, $12 a month
- Flood prevention and preparedness information · City of Tallahassee, Stormwater Management · retrieved Supports: A substantially improved or damaged home, where the repairs or renovations equal or exceed 50% of the structure's market value, brought up to the NFIP and City flood ordinance requirements, elevated to at least 2 feet above the base flood elevation, Tallahassee citizens and businesses receiving up to a 25 percent discount on flood insurance
- CRS eligible communities, April 2025 · Federal Emergency Management Agency · retrieved Supports: The City of Tallahassee (community 120144) in Class 5 from 1 October 2022, a 25% discount in the special flood hazard area; Leon County also Class 5
- National Flood Hazard Layer, FIRM panels · Federal Emergency Management Agency · retrieved Supports: Leon County's countywide FIRM, DFIRM 12073C, with panels effective 18 August 2009
- Tropical cyclone report: Hurricane Hermine (AL092016) · National Hurricane Center · retrieved Supports: Landfall along the Florida Big Bend coast just east of St. Marks at 0530 UTC on 2 September 2016, About 65% of electric customers (75,000 in all) without power in the City of Tallahassee, the most significant damage to its system since Hurricane Kate in 1985
- Hurricane Hermine (2016) · National Weather Service Tallahassee · retrieved Supports: Approximately 80% of customers in Tallahassee losing power during the hurricane
- NWS Tallahassee newsletter, June 2024 · National Weather Service Tallahassee · retrieved Supports: Three tornadoes through Leon County on 10 May 2024, two of them EF-2 with maximum winds of 115 mph converging on Tallahassee, More than 400 broken utility poles, more than Hermine, Irma and Michael combined on the City's count, and two storm-related deaths
- Post tropical cyclone report, Hurricane Helene: impact narratives · National Weather Service Tallahassee · retrieved Supports: In Leon County at the peak, roughly 53,000 City of Tallahassee utility customers and 35,000 Talquin Electric customers without power, A mandatory evacuation of mobile and manufactured homes, and 3 homes destroyed and 27 with major damage
- Documentary stamp tax · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: 70 cents on each $100 of consideration on a deed in every county except Miami-Dade, 35 cents per $100 on a promissory note, capped at $2,450
- Rule 69O-186.003, Florida Administrative Code: title insurance rates · Florida Department of State, Florida Administrative Code · retrieved Supports: An owner's title insurance premium of $5.75 per $1,000 of liability to $100,000 and $5.00 per $1,000 from $100,000 to $1 million
- Section 627.701, Florida Statutes: liability of insureds; hurricane deductibles · The Florida Legislature · retrieved Supports: An insurer offering hurricane deductibles of $500, 2%, 5% and 10% of the policy dwelling limits
- Flood: Citizens' flood insurance requirements · Citizens Property Insurance Corporation · retrieved Supports: Under section 627.715, Florida Statutes, most new and renewing Citizens personal residential policies with wind coverage required to carry flood insurance by 1 January 2027
- FloodSmart · Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Flood Insurance Program · retrieved Supports: Most homeowners insurance not covering flood damage
- SB 4-D (2022): Building Safety, chapter 2022-269, Laws of Florida · The Florida Senate · retrieved Supports: Milestone inspections required of condominium and cooperative associations, and a prohibition on waiving or reducing reserves for certain items after a specified date
- Florida Hometown Heroes Housing Program · Florida Housing Finance Corporation · retrieved Supports: Down payment and closing cost assistance for first-time, income-qualified buyers in eligible occupations employed full time by a Florida-based employer, Up to 5% of the first mortgage, a maximum of $35,000 and a minimum of $10,000, as a 0%, non-amortizing, 30-year deferred second mortgage that is not forgivable