Tallahassee Industries and Jobs Guide

Government is the biggest Tallahassee industry by far, with 60,500 of the metro area's 200,500 nonfarm jobs in August 2026, preliminary (BLS).

That is roughly three jobs in ten in the Tallahassee metropolitan area. The Bureau of Labor Statistics figures below are not seasonally adjusted, and the August 2026 column is marked preliminary (BLS Economy at a Glance).

The Tallahassee civilian labor force was 206,300 in August 2026, with 196,100 employed and an unemployment rate of 4.9 percent, all preliminary and not seasonally adjusted (BLS). Manufacturing is small in Tallahassee at 4,400 jobs, and it is one of the four sectors the Office of Economic Vitality recruits for, covered below.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Office of Economic Vitality, Innovation Park, MagLab and Florida State University websites.

Government held 60,500 Tallahassee-area jobs in August 2026 (preliminary), down 0.7 percent from a year earlier, after 64,400 in March 2026 (BLS).

The Tallahassee monthly path in 2026 is worth reading closely: 64,400 government jobs in March, 64,300 in April, 60,300 in May, 59,900 in June, 59,500 in July and 60,500 in August (preliminary) (BLS). From May through August 2026 the count ran between 3,900 and 4,900 jobs below the March figure, so a single month can mislead.

In the occupational survey, office and administrative support was the largest Tallahassee group at 12.5 percent of employment in May 2025, and business and financial operations made up 11.3 percent, against 6.8 percent nationally (BLS OEWS).

Deeper Tallahassee guide: the state government employment guide covers state government employment in Tallahassee.

Tallahassee-area workers averaged $28.64 an hour in May 2025, against $33.54 nationwide, while legal occupations paid a Tallahassee mean of $51.59 (BLS).

Legal jobs made up 1.8 percent of Tallahassee employment in May 2025, more than twice the 0.8 percent share nationally (BLS OEWS). Management occupations paid a mean of $54.94 and healthcare practitioners and technical occupations $45.88, the other higher-paying groups the Bureau named.

Source for the table: BLS Occupational Employment and Wages in Tallahassee, May 2025. Farming, fishing and forestry is a tiny share of Tallahassee jobs at 0.1 percent.

Deeper Tallahassee guides: the legal services industry guide covers legal work in Tallahassee, and the agribusiness guide covers agriculture, food processing and timber in Leon County.

Florida State University reports that it had 44,308 students, 42,507 of them on the Leon County campus, and employed 16,069 people in 2024 (FSU Economic Impact).

On its economic impact page, last updated June 2026, FSU estimates that including indirect effects it contributed $3.95 billion of total industry output and 36,034 jobs (FSU Economic Impact). The same page says its Tallahassee-area campuses include over 400 buildings on over 1,600 acres, and its other locations include the Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering facility and the MagLab. The Office of Economic Vitality counts three major institutions of higher learning in Tallahassee and says more than 48 percent of the population holds a bachelor's degree or higher (Office of Economic Vitality).

Of the 16,069 FSU employees in 2024, 7,414 were regular-salaried, full-time staff, and the university's budget for 2024-2025 was approximately $3 billion, up from about $2.1 billion in 2023-2024 (FSU Economic Impact). FSU also estimates that, including indirect effects, economic activity it generated in fiscal year 2024 supported $1.94 billion in labor income.

Deeper Tallahassee guide: the higher education economy guide covers FSU, FAMU and the university-driven economy.

Innovation Park is a 208-acre research park in southwest Tallahassee, run by the Leon County Research and Development Authority, and the National MagLab was dedicated there in 1994 (Innovation Park).

The authority was established by Florida Statute in 1978, the park opened for business in 1982, and its first tenant, the Northwest Regional Data Center, is still there (Innovation Park). Florida State University, with the University of Florida and Los Alamos National Laboratory, won the bid to house the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, dedicated at the park in 1994.

The MagLab says it is funded by the National Science Foundation and the State of Florida, has seven user facilities across three campuses, and draws more than 1,800 researchers a year, most at no cost to them (MagLab). It lists its address as 1800 E. Paul Dirac Drive, Tallahassee, FL 32310.

The Leon County Research and Development Authority works with local government, Florida State University, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee State College to start, grow and attract companies that create high-wage jobs in Leon County (Innovation Park). The Innovation Park site lists North Florida Innovation Labs, SBIR/STTR and a TechGrant Program under its entrepreneurship pages, and its office is at 1729 W Paul Dirac Drive, Suite 219, phone 850-575-0343.

Deeper Tallahassee guides: the Innovation Park guide covers the Leon County research park beside the MagLab, and the National MagLab guide covers the lab.

The Tallahassee-Leon County Office of Economic Vitality targets four sectors: applied sciences and innovation, manufacturing and transportation/logistics, professional services and information technology, and health care (Office of Economic Vitality).

Its Targeted Business Program offers incentives to businesses expanding or relocating to Tallahassee-Leon County in those sectors (OEV). In health care, Florida State University reported that it and the City of Tallahassee completed the legal transfer of city-owned hospital assets on April 10, 2026, after City Commission approval on March 11 (Florida State University News). Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare continues to operate the hospital and remains responsible for patient care, employees and daily operations, as the clinical anchor of FSU Health.

Education and health services held 27,600 Tallahassee-area jobs in August 2026 (preliminary), up 1.5 percent over the year (BLS).

Deeper Tallahassee guide: the healthcare industry guide covers the anchor hospitals, academic medicine and the Big Bend region.