Its main campus is located in Tandag, with additional sites in Bislig, Tagbina, Lianga, Cagwait, San Miguel, and Cantilan.

[1] The Bukidnon State University, formerly Bukidnon State College (BSC), established the campus within its external studies center at Rosario, Tandag, Surigao del Sur in 1982.

Through the years, the Surigao del Sur Polytechnic College (SSPC) was instituted in 1992 by virtue of Republic Act 7377 approved on April 10, 1992, by President Corazon C. Aquino integrating the BSC External Studies Center in Tandag, Cagwait School of Arts and Trades in Cagwait, Surigao del Sur Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture in Lianga, Tago River Valley Institute of Agriculture in the shared boundaries of San Miguel and Tago, and Tagbina-Barobo National Agricultural High School in Tagbina.

Republic Act 9998, authored by Rep. Philip Pichay, converted Surigao del Sur Polytechnic State College into Surigao del Sur State University (SdSSU) and was signed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2010.

[3] In 2019, the Bislig Campus of the University of Southeastern Philippines was formally turned over to the Surigao del Sur State University making it its seventh campus.