The Tallahassee Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of the following four Florida counties: Leon, Gadsden, Wakulla, and Jefferson.

[2][3] *denotes principal city in the MSA The Tallahassee Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area was first defined in 1965, and at that time included only Leon County.

[6] Greater Tallahassee straddles the boundaries of the Red Hills Region, the Cody Scarp, and the Woodville Karst Plain.

As such, the northern half of the metropolitan area, including much of the city of Tallahassee, is substantially more hilly than the rest of the state of Florida.

The area also straddles four watersheds, from west to east: Apalachicola, Ochlockonee, St. Marks, and Aucilla.

The latter three all drain into the Gulf of Mexico either within or at the edges of the metropolitan area, with the Ocholockonee and Aucilla Rivers forming parts of the western and eastern borders.