That Music City Allure: Nashville Ripe for Migrations

Nashville, Tennessee, home to the Grand Ole Opry, the Johnny Cash Museum, and the Country Music Hall of Fame, boasts a city population of 689,000 (but over 2 million in the Census’s metropolitan area) may not be a well know migration destination spot, but it reappeared on Redfin’s latest inbound/outbound migration report for the first time since 2021 in October, with most people transplanting from Los Angeles. 

“A lot of Nashville locals have been priced out of homeownership, but when you're coming from somewhere like California or New York, housing prices here still seem reasonable,” said local Redfin Premier real estate agent Kristin Sanchez. “Nashville has relatively low property taxes, insurance costs and utility prices, along with no state income tax, all of which definitely help if you’re looking for a lower cost of living.” 

Specifically, those moving from Los Angeles found much more affordable housing, going form an average of $880,000 in California to $448,918 in Tennessee. 

Sanchez said a lot of her clients are from California, but she has also been working with people from Chicago, New York and Florida. In addition to people moving to Nashville in search of affordability, some buyers are relocating for work. Amazon has a corporate hub in Nashville and financial firm AllianceBernstein has moved its corporate headquarters there. 

At the top of the migration list for October layed Sacramento, California, which was again the most popular destination for homebuyers looking to move to a new metro area last month. The typical home that sold there in October went for $578,000, roughly a million dollars less than the $1.5 million typical home in San Francisco—the most popular origin of buyers moving to Sacramento. 

Las Vegas and Orlando, FL were the second and third most popular destinations for homebuyers looking to relocate. 

Myrtle Beach, SC ranked fourth after making its debut on Redfin’s list of most popular destinations in July at #9. In addition to Orlando, three other Florida metros made the top 10: North Port-Sarasota, Cape Coral and Tampa. 

Many of these metros have a few things in common: They’re more affordable than the most common origin of homebuyers moving in, they’re in the Sun Belt and they face intensifying climate risks. Florida, for example, is endangered by hurricanes and flooding, and Sacramento and Las Vegas face risk from high heat. Insurers have pulled out of vulnerable areas in recent months, which could ultimately lead to a decline in home values in some places. 

Click here to see the report, including statistics for outbound migration cities, from the source.