Nashville, TN
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Nashville ranks 40th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 63rd for income. A household earns $88,800 a year while median rent runs $1,627/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 4% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is affordability (40th of 300), while commute is the soft spot (265th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 241st and home prices 243rd among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Nashville, your take-home is worth about $63,644 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 63rd of 300↑26.4%$88,800
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 170th of 30096 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $92,175
- Per-capita income
- $49,568
- Full-time pay
- $50,460
Housing
- Median rent
- 241st of 300↑42%$1,627/mo
- Home value
- 243rd of 300↑57.6%$449,300
- Property tax
- $2,140/yr · 0.5%
- Sales tax
- 9.56%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 57th of 3003.4%
- Bachelor's+
- 44th of 30043.3%
- Avg commute
- 265th of 30028.7 min
People
- Population
- 2,151,715
- Population change
- +11.3%
- Median age
- 37.1 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 10.1%
- Broadband
- 94.5%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 234th of 30051
- Natural-hazard loss
- 153rd of 300$13/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 170th of 30019.1%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 10.9%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Job market
- + Education
Watch-outs
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Commute
- – Air quality
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — nashville intl ap.
What jobs pay in Nashville
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $211,370
- IT managers
- $165,970
- Financial managers
- $156,860
- Lawyers
- $142,540
- Pharmacists
- $137,590
- Software developers
- $126,610
- General & operations managers
- $119,990
- Civil engineers
- $98,650
- Registered nurses
- $84,040
- Web developers
- $78,990
- Accountants & auditors
- $78,080
- Police officers
- $68,780
- Secondary school teachers
- $64,710
- Electricians
- $63,340
- Elementary school teachers
- $61,460
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $60,630
- Plumbers
- $60,100
- Carpenters
- $55,770
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $48,780
- Construction laborers
- $46,190
- Customer service reps
- $45,510
- Janitors
- $36,130
- Retail salespersons
- $34,420
- Cashiers
- $30,570
- Waiters & waitresses
- $29,390
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Nashville metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Tennessee are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- California7,895
- Florida7,184
- Texas5,670
- Illinois4,818
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Nashville
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Nashville metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Nashville metro?
- Median gross rent across the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metro Area is $1,627 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Nashville.
- What is the median household income in the Nashville metro?
- A typical household in the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metro Area earns $88,800 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Nashville expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metro Area runs about 4% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Nashville metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $92,175 (versus its face value of $88,800). CityLedger rates the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Nashville metro?
- The median home value across the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metro Area is $449,300 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Nashville metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metro Area is 3.4% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).