Renting vs buying in Tallahassee
The Tallahassee metro's single-family median sale price is up 5.8% on the year and Zillow's index of every home in the city up 1.4%, and the City's median rent is down 0.4% on Apartment List's count. Here is the arithmetic, including a nine-line tax bill that the homestead exemption makes smaller, the City's charges on the utility bill that it does not touch, the two taxes Florida charges on the loan, and the mortgage insurance that stops in the middle of the model, and then the part the arithmetic misses.
Calculator
The short answer
Half the single-family homes sold in the four-county Tallahassee metro in June 2026 went for more than $364,950 and half for less, up 5.8% on a year earlier, on 364 sales. That is Florida Realtors' figure for Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon and Wakulla counties together, the closest published figure to the City, not the City's own. A three-bedroom rents for about $1,650. Run those against each other at a 2% appreciation assumption and the answer turns on how long you stay and on the mortgage rate, which was 7.28% on the 1 October survey.
The two price measures are not the same thing. The metro's median is up 5.8% and counts houses sold; Zillow's index of every home in the city, at $294,444, is up 1.4%, and its condominium index is down 1.0%. The City's median rent is down 0.4% on Apartment List's count, and Florida law forbids any cap.
The tax bill is nine lines and the utility bill carries the rest. Nine levies make 19.2060 mills. A homesteaded owner pays about $6,183 a year on the median house, 1.69% of the price, after the exemption. Fire, stormwater and garbage are not on that bill: the City charges them on the monthly utility bill, and the fire services fee, whose amount this site could not read, is in no figure here.
Getting in costs more than in Texas, and so does getting out. A buyer pays about $1,606 of tax on the loan on top of the usual closing costs, roughly $3,946 in all before lender fees. Selling costs about 6.7% once the commission, the deed stamp and the title policy are counted, or roughly $24,452 on this house, which is the shape that punishes a short stay.
The calculator below opens with real Tallahassee figures and every one of them is editable. Three warnings: the property tax rate is set to 1.69% of the price, the homesteaded rate, not the 19.2060 mills levied before the exemption, so if you will not live in the house, set it to 1.92%; no flood premium and no fire services fee is included anywhere; and below 20% down the owner is charged private mortgage insurance every month until the balance reaches 78% of the price, at which point it stops. All three are explained in the questions below.
Your situation
Compare like for like: the rent on somewhere you would actually be willing to live, not the cheapest listing in the city. Drop the price to around $300,000 and the rent to a one-bedroom figure to compare apartments instead, and put the condo fee in under Assumptions.
20.0% down. The renter starts with this plus closing costs: $76,936: invested instead.
The single biggest lever. Buying costs a lot to enter and a lot to exit, and only time amortizes that away.
Assumptions: every one of them editable
The Tallahassee metro's single-family median sale price is up 5.8% year over year, on 364 sales in June, and Zillow's index for the city is up 1.4%. Zillow's condominium index for the city, at $179,610, is down 1.0%. Try zero, and try a negative number for a condo.
What the renter earns on the down payment they never spent. This is the comparison's hidden lever. A renter who spends it instead of investing it does far worse than this model shows.
Florida forbids its counties and cities from controlling rents at all. The statute allowed a narrow exception (a declared housing emergency, a specific finding, and a referendum) and the legislature closed even that in 2023. There is no cap, no guideline and no prospect of one, so any rent-growth figure you enter here is a forecast rather than a legal ceiling.
Roofs, furnaces, fences, hail. Averaged out it is a real cost even in the years nothing breaks.
Zero for a house with no association. About 40% of Tallahassee owners pay an association fee, but the Census median is $44 a month, a neighborhood association's dues rather than a condominium's. A condominium fee carries the building's insurance and reserves: $300 a month is a reasonable middle, and an older building facing its milestone inspection can be more.
Commission and legal fees, charged against the price you eventually sell at. The owner's net worth below is after this comes off.
Net worth, side by side
The buyer's line is home value minus what is still owed minus the cost of selling, plus anything they invested in months when owning was cheaper. The renter's line is one portfolio: the down payment and closing costs they never spent, plus the monthly difference whenever renting is cheaper.
Show the year-by-year figures
| Year | Owner | Renter | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $58,158 | $98,835 | −$40,677 |
| 2 | $68,125 | $121,718 | −$53,593 |
| 3 | $78,458 | $145,634 | −$67,175 |
| 4 | $89,178 | $170,631 | −$81,454 |
| 5 | $100,305 | $196,764 | −$96,459 |
| 6 | $111,862 | $224,085 | −$112,223 |
| 7 | $123,874 | $252,654 | −$128,780 |
| 8 | $136,365 | $282,530 | −$146,165 |
| 9 | $149,365 | $313,777 | −$164,412 |
| 10 | $162,903 | $346,463 | −$183,560 |
| 11 | $177,009 | $380,655 | −$203,646 |
| 12 | $191,719 | $416,429 | −$224,710 |
| 13 | $207,068 | $453,862 | −$246,794 |
| 14 | $223,095 | $493,033 | −$269,938 |
| 15 | $239,841 | $534,029 | −$294,188 |
| 16 | $257,351 | $576,938 | −$319,586 |
| 17 | $275,673 | $621,854 | −$346,180 |
| 18 | $294,858 | $668,875 | −$374,017 |
| 19 | $314,959 | $718,104 | −$403,145 |
| 20 | $336,036 | $769,651 | −$433,615 |
| 21 | $358,151 | $823,627 | −$465,476 |
| 22 | $381,372 | $880,154 | −$498,782 |
| 23 | $405,770 | $939,355 | −$533,585 |
| 24 | $431,422 | $1,001,363 | −$569,940 |
| 25 | $458,413 | $1,066,315 | −$607,903 |
| 26 | $486,829 | $1,134,357 | −$647,528 |
| 27 | $516,767 | $1,205,641 | −$688,874 |
| 28 | $548,329 | $1,280,326 | −$731,997 |
| 29 | $581,624 | $1,358,581 | −$776,957 |
| 30 | $616,766 | $1,440,576 | −$823,810 |
- The rate is fixed for the life of the loan, so there is no renewal to model, but nothing here credits you for refinancing into a lower one either.
- Neither household is credited with tax on their investments, and the buyer's gain on a principal residence is tax-free while the renter's portfolio may not be.
An estimate from published figures, not a lender quote.
Questions people actually ask
Is it worth buying in Tallahassee right now?
It depends more on the house, the street and how long you stay than on the market. The median single-family home in the four-county Tallahassee metro, Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon and Wakulla, sold for $364,950 in June 2026, up 5.8% on the year, on 364 sales; that is Florida Realtors' figure as Tallahassee Reports printed it, for the metro rather than the City, and houses only, though Leon County is almost 90% of the sales. Zillow's model of a typical value inside the city, condominiums included, is $294,444, up 1.4%. On rents, Apartment List has the City's median down 0.4% on the year and Zillow's observed rent index for the City up 1.5%. At 7.28% on a 30-year loan, the mortgage on the median house with 20% down is $1,998 a month; add $515 of property tax and $220 of homeowners insurance and the owner's month is about $2,733, before flood cover or the City's charges on the utility bill, against a three-bedroom rent of about $1,650.
How long do you have to stay for buying to beat renting in Tallahassee?
Getting in costs about $3,946 before lender fees, and $1,606 of that is Florida's tax on the loan itself. Getting out costs about 6.7%: around 5.5% of commission, the seller's 0.7% documentary stamp on the deed and, where the seller buys it, the owner's title policy, $1,900 at this price on the state's promulgated rate. On a $364,950 house that is about $24,452. On the defaults below owning never catches renting at all: the renter is ahead in every one of the 30 years the model runs. The friction alone is a shorter and different answer: at a 2% appreciation assumption those two ends take about 4.0 years to earn back. In a city where a quarter of the residents are students, a buyer who expects to leave with a degree should look hard at that number.
Why does this page use 1.69% property tax when Tallahassee is charged 19.2060 mills?
Because of Florida's homestead exemption, not because of any assessment lag: a purchase resets the assessment to what you paid. The bill has nine lines, one of them at zero. Leon County levies 9.0644 mills across its general levy, its Emergency Medical Services levy and its voted debt, which is zero this year; the Children's Services Council of Leon County 0.3477; the School Board 5.3660 over three lines; the Northwest Florida Water Management District 0.0207; and the City 4.4072, 19.2060 in all for 2025. Outside the city the same stack is 14.7988, and in the Downtown Improvement Authority's district 20.2060. The School Board's lines are charged on the price less $25,000; everything else on the price less a second slice as well. On a homesteaded $364,950 house that comes to about $6,183 a year, 1.69% of the price. Without the exemption, which is what a landlord pays and what a buyer who never files pays, the same house owes about $7,009. The second slice is indexed to inflation: the Department of Revenue published $25,722 for 2025 rather than the $25,000 this page assumes, which takes the bill to about $6,173. For 2026 the County kept 8.3144, and the City's 4.4072 and the School Board's 5.3430 were tentative when this page was written, so the 2025 stack is the one used throughout.
What does the City charge on the utility bill, and is it in that rate?
No, and one of the charges could not be priced at all. A house inside the City has no fire, stormwater or garbage line on its tax bill. The City bills stormwater at $11.00 a month and residential garbage at $28.19 on the monthly utility bill, $39.19 together or $470 a year, with its metered electric, water, sewer and gas charges, because the City owns all four utilities. None of this includes the City's fire services fee. A house inside the City of Tallahassee has no fire, stormwater or garbage line on its tax bill: the City charges all three on the monthly utility bill instead, stormwater at $11.00 and residential garbage at $28.19, and the fire services fee beside them, a flat charge per household in two zones that the City raised 9.98% from 1 October 2025, about $2 a month for most residents, and that residents challenged in a lawsuit filed on 17 November 2025. This site could not read the fee's amount, so ask the City's utility customer service for the fee at the address, and read the seller's last utility bill as closely as the tax bill. Outside the city limits the County's fire fee is on the tax bill instead.
Why is the seller's tax bill so much lower than the figure here?
Save Our Homes, mainly. A homesteaded property's assessed value may rise no more than 3% a year, or the change in the consumer price index if that is lower, for as long as the same owner keeps the exemption, and it resets to market value on the roll after a sale. A neighbor who bought years ago can be taxed on a fraction of what you will be for the same house. If you are selling a Florida homestead, you can carry up to $500,000 of that accrued benefit to the new one if you establish it within three years, on an application due by 1 March.
What are the closing costs, and why do they get bigger if I put less down?
Florida taxes the loan as well as the house. The documentary stamp on the deed, 70 cents per $100, is the seller's by convention. Yours is a second documentary stamp on the promissory note at 35 cents per $100 and a non-recurring intangible tax on the mortgage at 0.2%. On a $291,960 loan that is $1,606, and because it is charged on the borrowing rather than the price it rises as your down payment falls: at 5% down it is $1,907. With a settlement fee around $850, the buyer's title charges, an inspection at about $700 (in Florida that is really three reports, the general one plus wind mitigation and four-point, and the last two are what an insurer asks for) and the clerk's recording, the buyer's side comes to roughly $3,946 before lender fees.
Does this include flood insurance, and what do storms do here?
No. The $220 a month here is homeowners insurance, which in Florida covers wind, with a separate hurricane deductible of 2%, 5% or 10% of the dwelling limit, and does not cover rising water. Tallahassee is inland, so its storms are wind, falling trees and lost power rather than surge: Hermine in 2016 cut power to about 75,000 of the City's electric customers, about 65% of them on the National Hurricane Center's count and about 80% on the National Weather Service's; two EF2 tornadoes converged on the city on 10 May 2024 and broke more than 400 utility poles; and Helene in September 2024 left about 53,000 City utility customers without power at its peak. Flooding here comes from rain and creeks. The City is in Class 5 of FEMA's Community Rating System, which takes 25% off a flood policy in a special flood hazard area, and FEMA's map panels for Leon County are dated 18 August 2009. The Office of Insurance Regulation's average Leon County homeowners premium with wind cover was $2,538 a year in March 2026, far below the coast's, so get a quote on the specific house, with its wind mitigation report and, in a flood zone, its elevation certificate.
What is FEMA's substantial improvement rule, and does it matter here?
Only in a flood zone, but there it decides whether an older house is a renovation or a rebuild. The City applies it to any house in a special flood hazard area that does not meet current flood standards: if the cost of repairing or improving it reaches 50% of the structure's market value, the whole house has to be brought up to the National Flood Insurance Program's and the City's flood rules, with its lowest floor raised at least 2 feet above the base flood elevation. Whether the City counts earlier repairs toward that line was not read here, so ask its floodplain staff before you plan work on a house in a flood zone.
How much do you need for a down payment in Tallahassee?
Legally, nothing sets a floor: this is a lender's decision rather than a rule. Conventional loans start at 3% down and FHA at 3.5%. On a $364,950 house, 3% is $10,949 and 20% is $72,990. What the low end costs you on a conventional loan is private mortgage insurance: at 3% down, about $257 a month until the balance reaches 78% of the price, which takes 12.8 years and about $39,500. At 5% down it is $194 a month and $28,100. In Florida a smaller down payment also means more tax on the loan at closing. Florida Housing's Hometown Heroes program lends up to 5% of the loan, between $10,000 and $35,000, to first-time buyers in teaching, health care, first response, the military and other listed jobs.
Does Florida have rent control?
No, and Tallahassee is not permitted to introduce it. Florida forbids its counties and cities from controlling rents at all. The statute allowed a narrow exception (a declared housing emergency, a specific finding, and a referendum) and the legislature closed even that in 2023. There is no cap, no guideline and no prospect of one, so any rent-growth figure you enter here is a forecast rather than a legal ceiling. Rents here are down 0.4% on one of the two indexes this page cites and up 1.5% on the other, which is a market condition rather than a protection. If you are renting long-term, set the rent-growth input above the 2% default and see what it does to the answer.
Why are the rents here so much lower than elsewhere in Florida?
Partly because so much of the market is students. On the Census Bureau's 2024 survey 27.2% of the city's residents aged three and over were enrolled in college or graduate school, owners occupy only 44.5% of its homes, and the median household income is $56,511. Apartment List's medians for the City, $1,100 for one bedroom and $1,309 for two, describe apartments, and Zillow's observed rent index for the City, which counts houses too, was $1,470 in August. The calculator opens on a three-bedroom rent of $1,650, Zillow's single-family rent index for the metro, a little above the Census Bureau's three-bedroom median gross rent for the city, $1,592; replace it with the rent on the house you would otherwise lease.
What is the calculator not accounting for?
Federal tax, mainly, and it cuts both ways. Mortgage interest and property tax are deductible if you itemize, and whether itemizing beats the standard deduction depends on the household: first-year interest on the median loan is about $21,200 and property tax about $6,183. A principal residence's gain is excluded up to $250,000 single or $500,000 married under section 121, and the renter's portfolio is not. None of that is modeled, and none of it is advice. Three Tallahassee things it also cannot price: the flood policy; the City's fire services fee on the utility bill, whose amount this site could not read; and the condominium market, where Zillow's City index is down 1.0% on the year and an association fee carries reserves the state no longer lets a board waive.
Which figures here are estimates
The prices, rents, millage, exemptions, utility charges and title premiums above come from published sources, each one listed below with the period it describes, and the tax figure is derived from that millage through Florida's own exemption rules. These do not:
- The headline price as a Tallahassee figure: it is Florida Realtors' single-family median for the four-county Tallahassee metro, Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon and Wakulla, as Tallahassee Reports printed it for June 2026, and no one publishes a median for the City or for Leon County alone
- The three-bedroom rent, at $1,650 a month: Apartment List publishes one- and two-bedroom medians only, and $1,650 is Zillow's single-family rent index for the metro, a little above the Census Bureau's three-bedroom median gross rent for the city
- The condominium fee, at $300 a month: the Census Bureau's median association fee in the city, $44, is a neighborhood association's dues rather than a condominium's
- Home insurance at $220 a month, NerdWallet's Tallahassee average on a sample policy, with a hurricane deductible of its own and no flood policy in it
- The settlement fee, the buyer's title charges and the inspection, which are the state's estimates rather than Leon County's own
- Who buys the owner's title policy, which the contract decides: the cost of selling assumes the seller does, as in most of Florida
- The utilities an owner pays over a renter, at $100 a month, which leaves out the City's fire services fee because its amount could not be read
- Maintenance at 1% of the home's value a year, which leaves out tree work, a real cost on a wooded lot
- Every forward-looking rate: appreciation, rent growth, cost inflation and the return on the invested difference
- The private mortgage insurance rate, which is priced per borrower by credit score rather than published as a schedule
If you want the payment side on its own, with the biweekly plan, prepayments, the month mortgage insurance stops and the two taxes Florida charges on the loan, the mortgage calculator covers it in more detail. To work out where rather than whether, start with the neighborhood guides.
Sources
- 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
- Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places and counties, 2020 to 2025 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved Supports: A population of 204,902 for Tallahassee city on 1 July 2025, against 204,025 a year earlier and an April 2020 estimates base of 196,182, all of it in Leon County, A population of 299,048 for Leon County on 1 July 2025
- 2025 Gazetteer files: places, Florida · United States Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: A land area of 102.578 square miles and a water area of 2.913 square miles for Tallahassee city
- 2025 Leon County Taxing Authority Code Descriptions (final millage) · Florida Department of Revenue, Property Tax Oversight · retrieved Supports: Code 1, City of Tallahassee, 74,605 parcels: Leon County 8.3144, EMS MSTU 0.7500, Children's Services Council 0.3477, county voted debt 0.0000, School Board required local effort 3.1180, discretionary 0.7480 and capital outlay 1.5000, Northwest Florida Water Management District 0.0207, City of Tallahassee 4.4072, total 19.2060, Code 2, Leon County unincorporated, 14.7988; code 3, Downtown Improvement, 709 parcels, the City's levies and 1.0000 more, 20.2060, City lowered from proposed rate of 4.4200; received 7 October 2025, Totals for code 1 of 18.7835 in 2022, 19.3495 in 2023 and 19.2379 in 2024, with the City at 4.10, 4.45 and 4.42
- 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
- Table 1: comparison of taxes levied, county and municipal governments, fiscal years 2024-25 and 2025-26 · Leon County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: The City of Tallahassee at 4.4200 for 2024-25, a rolled-back rate of 4.2080 and 4.4072 adopted for 2025-26, a levy of $81,772,259, 4.7% above the rolled-back rate; Leon County at 8.3144 and its EMS levy at 0.7500
- 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
- Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, single-family and condominium series, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical home value of $294,444 for the City of Tallahassee (region 47945, Leon County) in August 2026, against $290,281 in August 2025, up 1.4%, A typical single-family value of $305,442 against $300,921, up 1.5%, and a typical condominium value of $179,610 against $181,439, down 1.0%, from the single-family and condominium files
- Zillow Observed Rent Index, by city and single-family by metro · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: An observed rent index of $1,470 for the City of Tallahassee in August 2026, against $1,448 a year earlier, up 1.5%, A single-family observed rent index of $1,650 for the Tallahassee metro area in August 2026, against $1,619 a year earlier, from the metro single-family file
- 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
- School enrollment by level, tables B14001 and B14007, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates · United States Census Bureau, via the Census Reporter API · retrieved Supports: Tallahassee city: 199,776 residents aged 3 and over, 43,399 of them enrolled in college undergraduate years and 10,954 in graduate or professional school
- 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
- Crime Data Explorer: summarized agency data, Tallahassee Police Department (FL0370300) · Federal Bureau of Investigation · retrieved Supports: 1,302 violent offenses in 2025, about 635 per 100,000 on the Census Bureau's 2025 population for the city, A violent crime rate of about 248 per 100,000 for all reporting Florida agencies in 2025
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 1 October 2026 · Freddie Mac · retrieved Supports: A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 7.28%, up from 7.03% the week before and 6.34% a year earlier
- 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
These are estimates built from published figures, not a lender quote, a pre-approval or financial advice. Rates, premiums and state and federal rules change; confirm anything you plan to act on with a mortgage professional and read the sourcing methodology.