The city's leading football club, and only professional side, is Exeter City. The club became founder members of the Football League's new Third Division (south) in 1920, but have never progressed beyond the third tier of the English football league system and in 2003 were relegated to the Conference, reclaiming their place in 2008, before completing successive promotions to League One in 2009. Exeter Cricket Club play in the Premier Division of the Devon Cricket League at both First and Second XI level.

The University of Exeter has a strong reputation in sport and regularly wins or comes close to winning national trophies in inter-university sports. Exeter rowing Club enjoys much success both locally and nationally, and has a recorded history stretching back to the early 19th century.

The Devon & Exeter Squash club is one of the most active squash clubs in the region, annually hosting the Exeter Diamonds which is a professional team of world class players. The club also has a strong membership, high standards and a notable junior team. The Great West Run half marathon is run through the streets of Exeter in late April or early May each year

Exeter's speedway team, Exeter Falcons, was founded in 1929 and were located at the County Ground until its closure in 2005. In a fixture during the 2004 season, they beat Rye House by the maximum score of 75-18 scoring 5-1s in every heat. Exeter Falcons are hoping to ride again in a proposed new location, possibly at Exeter Racecourse in 2008. The site was where Exeter Falcons legend Australian Jack Geran trained youngsters in the art of the shale sport on a speedway training track in the late 1970s and early-1980s. Speedway was also staged briefly at tracks in Alphington and Peamore after the Second World War. The history of Speedway in Exeter up to the mid-1950s has been recorded in three books by Tony Lethbridge. Rugby league team Exeter Centurions play in the South West Division of the Rugby League Conference.

Home Office policing in Exeter is provided by the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary.

The fire service is provided by the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, which is headquartered at Clyst St. George near Exeter. It has two fire station located in Howell Road and Middlemoor.

The Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust has a large hospital located to the south east of the city centre. Ambulance services in Exeter are provided by South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust. The West Trust Divisional HQ and 999 control is in Exeter which provides cover for Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and the Isles of Scilly.

The Exeter Book, an original manuscript and one of the most important documents in Anglo-Saxon literature, is kept in the vaults of the cathedral. The Exeter Book dates back to the 10th century and is one of four manuscripts that between them contain virtually all the surviving poetry in Old English. It includes most of the more highly regarded shorter poems, some religious pieces, and a series of riddles, a handful of which are famously lewd. Some of the riddles are inscribed on a highly polished steel obelisk in the High Street, placed on 30 March 2005.

The Inquisitio Eliensis, the "Exon Domesday" (so called from the preservation of the volume at Exeter), is a volume of Domesday Book that contains the full details which the original returns supplied.

One of Rosemary Sutcliff's best-known children's books, The Eagle of the Ninth, begins in Roman Isca Dumnoniorum.

The Crowner John Mysteries by Bernard Knight are a series of books set in 12th century Exeter.