Renting Near FSU in Tallahassee

Tallahassee's median gross rent is $1,293 a month in the ACS 2020-2024 five-year estimates for the city (Census ACS DP04, Tallahassee city).

That median covers 49,553 occupied rental units that pay rent across the city, not only the blocks around Florida State University, and it is a 2020-2024 survey estimate rather than a 2026 asking rent. Leon County as a whole comes out almost the same, at $1,291 (Census ACS DP04, Leon County).

HUD's newer benchmark runs higher. For fiscal year 2026, HUD set the Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit in the Tallahassee, FL HUD Metro FMR Area at $1,352, up from $1,321 in FY 2025. HUD builds that figure from a 2019-2023 ACS base rent of $1,121, then applies a recent-mover factor of 1.0975, a 2023 to 2024 gross rent inflation factor and a trend factor to bring it forward to the current fiscal year (HUD User FY 2026 FMR documentation). The Florida state minimum two-bedroom FMR used in that check is $973, well under the Tallahassee figure.

Source: HUD User FY 2026 FMR documentation.

In the Tallahassee schedule, four bedrooms is the one size where the FY 2026 figure fell, from $1,832 to $1,790; HUD's rule keeps each FY 2026 FMR from dropping below 90 percent of the FY 2025 level (HUD User FY 2026 FMR documentation).

Renters occupy 59.4 percent of Tallahassee's occupied homes, or 50,650 of 85,311 households, against 34,661 owner households, in the ACS 2020-2024 estimates (Census ACS DP04, Tallahassee city).

Across all of Leon County the renter share drops to 47.4 percent, with 58,151 renter households out of 122,597 (Census ACS DP04, Leon County). Owner households make up the other 40.6 percent of occupied homes inside Tallahassee city.

Most Tallahassee rents fall in a narrow band. In the city table, 43.1 percent of units paying rent cost $1,000 to $1,499 a month and another 23.1 percent cost $1,500 to $1,999, while 21.7 percent rent for $500 to $999. Only 2.8 percent rent for less than $500. At the top, 6.0 percent rent for $2,000 to $2,499, 1.9 percent for $2,500 to $2,999 and 1.3 percent for $3,000 or more (Census ACS DP04, Tallahassee city).

About half: 52.0 percent of the Tallahassee renter households counted in the Census rent-burden measure spend 35 percent or more of household income on gross rent (Census ACS DP04, Tallahassee city).

Another 8.6 percent of those 47,776 city renter households spend 30.0 to 34.9 percent, and only 8.2 percent spend under 15 percent (Census ACS DP04, Tallahassee city). The Leon County share at 35 percent or more is 50.2 percent (Census ACS DP04, Leon County).

In the middle bands, 11.9 percent of city renter households spend 20.0 to 24.9 percent and 10.9 percent spend 25.0 to 29.9 percent (Census ACS DP04, Tallahassee city). For comparison, the HUD benchmark for a one-bedroom Tallahassee unit in FY 2026 is $1,204 a month, below the citywide median gross rent of $1,293 (HUD User FY 2026 FMR documentation).

FSU University Housing tells students to start early, saying many Tallahassee apartment communities begin lease launches for the following academic year as early as October (FSU Off-Campus Housing).

The university's off-campus guide suggests searching 6 to 12 months before the move-in date, especially in competitive areas such as College Town, and it names Midtown, Downtown and Tharpe as other neighborhoods students weigh, describing Tharpe as more affordable with a quieter residential feel. It advises asking about application, administrative, security deposit and parking fees and which utilities are included, and it warns that a student without enough income or rental history will likely need a guarantor (FSU Off-Campus Housing).

For fall 2026, University Housing is holding The Ultimate Housing Quest, an off-campus housing fair, on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, from 11 AM to 3 PM at Landis Green, with local landlords and lease and budgeting tips (FSU University Housing). The office is at 109 Askew Student Life Building, open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at (850) 644-2860, and its guide points students to the FSU Off-Campus Online Housing Marketplace for filtering rental communities (FSU Off-Campus Housing). The guide also reminds students that a financial aid refund goes to a personal bank account and that the student is responsible for budgeting it to cover all rent payments for the term (FSU Off-Campus Housing).

Florida's landlord and tenant law requires at least 24 hours of notice before a landlord enters a Tallahassee rental for repairs, and the entry must fall between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. (Section 83.53, Florida Statutes).

Security deposits follow section 83.49. When a lease ends and the landlord makes no claim, the deposit must come back within 15 days. A landlord who intends to keep part of it must send written notice within 30 days by certified mail or e-mail; the tenant then has 15 days after receiving that notice to object in writing, and a landlord who misses the 30-day notice forfeits the right to impose a claim on the deposit (Section 83.49, Florida Statutes).

For students leaving Tallahassee at the end of the spring term, a forwarding address matters: the statute sends the claim notice to the tenant's last known mailing address, and its required lease disclosure tells tenants to give the landlord a new address on moving out (Section 83.49, Florida Statutes). FSU's guide adds a practical step: document any existing damage with photos and videos during a move-in walk-through (FSU Off-Campus Housing).

The City of Tallahassee Housing Division, on the third floor at 435 North Macomb Street (850-891-6566), works with community agencies to build and preserve affordable housing and runs a program supporting landlords who house at-risk tenants (City of Tallahassee Housing Services).

The City's community resources list points renters with low to moderate incomes to the Tallahassee Housing Authority, which runs Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) and Public Housing programs funded by HUD, and to Big Bend 2-1-1, where staff give information and referrals 24 hours a day (City of Tallahassee community resources). The Housing Division can also be reached at [email protected] (City of Tallahassee Housing Services).

Last verified: October 18, 2026, when the city and Leon County DP04 rent tables, HUD's FY 2026 Tallahassee FMR schedule, FSU University Housing's lease guide and October 28 fair notice, sections 83.49 and 83.53, and both City housing pages were reread.