Higher Education Economy in Tallahassee

Federal IPEDS data for fall 2024 count 43,889 students at Florida State University, 12,455 at Tallahassee State College and 9,313 at Florida A&M University, all three on campuses inside Tallahassee (College Navigator, FSU).

Graduate students are concentrated at FSU, where IPEDS lists 11,169 graduate students, against 1,423 at FAMU (FSU profile; FAMU profile). Tallahassee State College reports no graduate enrollment, and IPEDS classifies it as a 4-year, primarily associate's public institution with a student-to-faculty ratio of 25 to 1 (TSC profile).

The faculty columns count people by primary function. At FSU, IPEDS also lists 2,949 part-time graduate assistants, 1,805 of them instructional and 1,144 in research, listed on a separate line from the faculty totals (FSU profile). FAMU lists 80 graduate assistants (FAMU profile). Tallahassee State College is the only one of the three with more part-time than full-time faculty: 456 part time against 262 full time (TSC profile).

The BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages counts 11,439 state government jobs in NAICS 611310, colleges and universities, in Leon County for 2025, spread over 3 establishments at an average annual pay of $78,165 (BLS QCEW Leon County 2025).

The state university line carries an employment location quotient of 6.05 in the Leon County file, against 5.21 for the broader state government educational services line (QCEW location quotients). The local government junior college line carries a location quotient of 3.27 and grew by 165 jobs, or 13.5 percent, from 2024 to 2025 (QCEW).

In Leon County, the QCEW private line for colleges and universities shows 97 jobs at 14 establishments, against 11,439 on the state government line (QCEW private ownership rows). The local government elementary and secondary schools line (NAICS 6111) is included in the table only as a size comparison; it is not higher education.

Florida State University reports 16,207 total employees on its own fast facts page, while the federal QCEW count for all state government colleges and universities in Leon County is 11,439 jobs (FSU About; BLS QCEW).

BLS describes QCEW as a count of employment and wages reported by employers covering more than 95 percent of U.S. jobs, tabulated for workers covered by state unemployment insurance laws, and it excludes proprietors, the unincorporated self-employed and some other groups (BLS QCEW overview). The FSU figure is the university's own total, and the same page lists FSU campuses in Tallahassee, in Panama City, Florida, and in Panama City, Republic of Panama, with 397 buildings on 1,850.2 acres, of which the main Tallahassee campus is 487.6 acres (FSU fast facts). The page states both numbers without choosing one.

Enrollment shows the same kind of gap. FSU's fast facts list 46,184 students, while IPEDS reports 43,889 for fall 2024 (FSU About; IPEDS). FAMU says it enrolls nearly 10,000 students, and IPEDS lists 9,313 for fall 2024 (FAMU About; IPEDS). The federal figures are labeled fall 2024; the university pages do not give a term for their own totals.

A smaller conflict concerns faculty. FSU's page cites 2,837 traditional faculty, and IPEDS lists 2,222 full-time and 524 part-time faculty for fall 2024 (FSU About; IPEDS).

Florida State University describes itself as founded in 1851, the oldest continuous site of higher education in Florida, with the Carnegie classification "Doctoral Universities: Highest Research Activity" (FSU About).

The same page lists 274 degree programs and research expenditures of $488 million for FY 2025, which FSU calls an all-time high (FSU fast facts). It reports a 17:1 student to faculty ratio, a 97 percent retention rate for freshmen and an 82 percent graduation rate within four years (FSU fast facts). IPEDS lists the FSU general information line as (850) 644-2525 and its campus setting as City: Midsize (College Navigator).

FSU's own fast facts also give an operating budget of $3 billion for the 2024 to 2025 fiscal year (FSU About). The budget and the university's estimated wider effect on the region belong to the separate FSU economic impact guide in the Tallahassee economy section; this page stays with students, faculty and jobs.

Florida A&M University was founded October 3, 1887, and describes itself as a public, historically Black university in Tallahassee that is part of the State University System of Florida (FAMU About).

FAMU is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, and its page says students come from across the United States and more than 70 countries (FAMU About). Beyond the main Tallahassee campus, FAMU lists the College of Law in Orlando and sites of its College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Public Health, in Crestview, Tampa, Jacksonville and Miami (FAMU About). The university's quick facts list a retention rate of 90.7 percent and an acceptance rate of 17.25 percent, beside a 2025 to 2026 academic profile of admitted first time in college students (FAMU quick facts).

The address differs between sources: the FAMU website footer gives 1601 S. Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Tallahassee, FL 32307, and IPEDS lists 1500 S Martin Luther King Jr Blvd with the general line (850) 599-3000 (FAMU About; College Navigator). IPEDS gives FAMU a student-to-faculty ratio of 14 to 1 (College Navigator).

Tallahassee State College, listed in IPEDS at 444 Appleyard Dr with the general line (850) 201-6200, says that for more than half a century it has provided post-secondary education for the citizens of Leon, Gadsden and Wakulla counties (College Navigator; TSC About).

Tallahassee State College says it offers more than 100 degree and certificate programs, including an Associate in Arts degree for transfer to a state university (TSC About). IPEDS lists awards from certificates of less than one year up to the bachelor's degree, and no campus housing (College Navigator). The college's home page says it was named one of 10 community colleges nationwide competing for the 2027 Aspen Prize, and the only Florida college to reach the finalist stage (TSC home page). The Florida Department of Education calls its 28 member Florida College System colleges the primary access point to higher education for Floridians (Florida College System).

In the federal job data the college system and the universities are counted under different owners: QCEW records one local government junior college establishment in Leon County with 1,383 jobs in 2025, separate from the 3 state government university establishments (BLS QCEW). QCEW does not name the employer behind each row.

The Florida Board of Governors coordinates the State University System and oversees the FSU Board of Trustees, according to FSU, and the Board of Governors lists 12 universities, FAMU and FSU among them (FSU About; State University System universities).

The State University System office itself sits in Tallahassee, at 325 West Gaines Street, phone (850) 245-0466 (Board of Governors). Tallahassee State College lists a District Board of Trustees (TSC About), and the Florida Department of Education says Florida College System colleges are governed locally by district boards of trustees under the jurisdiction of the State Board of Education (Florida College System).

Last verified: October 18, 2026, by re-reading the fall 2024 IPEDS profiles of all three campuses, the 2025 QCEW file for Leon County and the institutions' own fact pages.