Since the pandemic, so many people have been shifting their lifestyles, and that includes where they live.
Nashville, and the entire state of Tennessee, have seen a lot of migration in the past few years.
According to the latest data gathered from the U.S. Census, over the past decade, the population of Tennessee has grown almost 9%. The upward trend is continuing, with nearly 56,000 residents having been added to the population of the Volunteer State from 2020 to 2021.
It’s the Nashville metro that’s seeing the most growth in the state. Between 2020 and 2021, around 17,133 new residents started to call the Music City home. From January 2021 through March 2022, Nashville had the third-highest increase in residents. It’s not just the urban center of Nashville that’s seeing growth. A lot of people are choosing to buy houses in Mount Juliet and other Nashville suburbs.
So why is it such a popular place among new residents?
Cost-of-Living
Around one-fifth of the people who are moving to Tennessee are coming from California, which is notoriously known for its high cost of living. The average price of a house in Tennessee is about half the average price in California.
Tennessee also has some of the lowest property taxes of any state, and there is no individual income tax at the state level. If you’re coming from California or Illinois, this can be a major decision-making factor since both are among the states with the highest income taxes in the country.
Overall, the cost-of-living index is 89, although Nashville is more expensive than a lot of parts of the state. The cost-of-living index for Nashville is about 14% higher than the state average, which is why the suburbs can be appealing to some residents.
Even though Nashville might be more expensive than Tennessee, it’s still cheaper than much of the rest of the country.
The Job Market
Tennessee is considered a business-friendly state, and Nashville, as of 2020, had the second-largest job market in the U.S. Nashville not only has a lot of current business and job opportunities but it’s expected to continue growing.
A lot of people feel like it’s actually harder to find a house in Nashville than to find a job.
It’s not just the hospitality industry that’s big in Tennessee either—a lot of tech companies are moving into the area and investing heavily there, and businesses like Amazon are also creating a presence.
Nashville is becoming a tech hub. It’s not as big as Silicon Valley, but there’s a lot of growth and progress in the tech scene of Nashville.
There’s a Lot to Do
Nashville has the perks of southern living in that the pace tends to be somewhat relaxed, there are a lot of single-family homes, and they often have big outdoor spaces.
At the same time, there are things that are city-like that come with Nashville. If you head to certain parts of the city, there’s a lot going on. It’s called Music City for a good reason. There are huge events, like the Country Music Awards, but then there’s also live music going on at pretty much any time of day or night.
Even if you don’t like the Honky Tonks and country music, there are also classical, jazz, and rock performances frequently happening in Nashville.
While the music scene is a huge part of Nashville, there’s a lot more to the cultural scene as well.
For example, Nashville is home to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts and the Cheekwood Art & Gardens.
Along with music and cultural activities, Nashville is becoming a sports city. It’s home to the Tennessee Titans football team and the Nashville Predators. There’s also a minor league baseball team, the Nashville Sounds.
The Nashville riverfront area was recently redeveloped, and that led to the creation of an 11-acre park—the West Riverfront Park. There’s an amphitheater for outdoor performances, a dog park, trails, and playground equipment.
Centennial Park is another favorite outdoor area of Nashville residents, and there are parks that aren’t in the urban area where you can hike and feel like you’re well outside of an urban area, including Shelby Bottom and Radnor Lake.
While some cities have seen an exodus of people in the past few years since the pandemic hit, Nashville is not one of them. As a result, this in-demand city has seen a rise in housing costs and a tight real estate market, but with interest rates having gone up, it could be a good time to think about buying.
