Nashville, TN cityscape
Markets / Tennessee / Nashville
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Nashville, TN

Nashville merits selective investigation by buyers prioritizing employment growth and positive household migration, but yield-focused investors and those unwilling to absorb leasing or flood risk should avoid it.

Median price$458k
Median rent$1,810
Gross yield4.8%
Job growth▲ 0.6%
Metro Area · CBSA 3498040 public sourcesChecked nightly
SCORE / 10039RANK #426 / 571
Composite Market ScoreRank #426 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer

How much is rent in Nashville, TN?

Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,810 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 0.38% from a year earlier.

Zillow ZORI$1,8102026-06-30

All homes and bedroom counts

Realtor asking rent$1,4792026-05

Studio, 1BR and 2BR listings

Census ACS gross rent$1,528ACS 2024 5-year

Occupied rental units paying rent

HUD 2BR FMR$1,730FY2026 FMR

Two-bedroom standard

These figures are not averaged together. Zillow and Realtor describe asking-rent markets, ACS measures rent paid by surveyed households, and HUD publishes administrative bedroom standards.

Exact county schedules

HUD rent benchmarks inside Nashville

Every row keeps its own county FIPS schedule. No county is selected as a metro proxy and no synthetic metro FMR is calculated.

FY2026 FMR · FY2026 · monthly gross-rent standards
CountyStudio1 BR2 BR3 BR4 BR
Davidson County, TNFIPS 47037$1,507$1,578$1,730$2,211$2,696
Rutherford County, TNFIPS 47149$1,507$1,578$1,730$2,211$2,696
Williamson County, TNFIPS 47187$1,507$1,578$1,730$2,211$2,696
Sumner County, TNFIPS 47165$1,507$1,578$1,730$2,211$2,696
Wilson County, TNFIPS 47189$1,507$1,578$1,730$2,211$2,696
Maury County, TNFIPS 47119$1,131$1,138$1,349$1,701$1,912
Robertson County, TNFIPS 47147$1,507$1,578$1,730$2,211$2,696
Dickson County, TNFIPS 47043$1,507$1,578$1,730$2,211$2,696
Cheatham County, TNFIPS 47021$1,507$1,578$1,730$2,211$2,696
Macon County, TNFIPS 47111$847$887$972$1,290$1,504
Hickman County, TNFIPS 47081$827$832$992$1,277$1,664
Smith County, TNFIPS 47159$796$801$1,051$1,368$1,392
Cannon County, TNFIPS 47015$1,507$1,578$1,730$2,211$2,696
Trousdale County, TNFIPS 47169$1,507$1,578$1,730$2,211$2,696
The read

Why this market scores where it does

Nashville merits selective investigation by buyers prioritizing employment growth and positive household migration, but yield-focused investors and those unwilling to absorb leasing or flood risk should avoid it. CES employment grew 0.6%, while tax-filing migration was a net inflow of 9,480 households.

The median home value was $457,809 after a 0.91% annual decline, while median asking rent was $1,810 after only 0.38% growth. That is a softer entry backdrop, not stronger income performance: gross yield was 4.75%, and price remained 5.36 times median income.

Supply is the main operating counterweight: 16,562 permits, 4.4 months of inventory, and price drops on 25.21% of listings show competition for buyers. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and annual climate loss equals 0.1432% of building value, making property-level exposure and insurance terms critical to the decision.

Frequently Asked Investor Questions

Are the demand signals positive?
CES jobs grew 0.6%, and tax-filing data show 51,433 households moved in versus 41,953 moved out, for net migration of 9,480.
What are the current entry and rental economics?
Median home value is $457,809, median asking rent is $1,810, gross yield is 4.75%, and price-to-income is 5.36.
What physical hazard is most relevant?
Inland flood is the dominant hazard, with an annual climate loss ratio of 0.1432% of building value.

Investor Quick Takeaways

Gross Yield: 4.8%

Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.

Rent Momentum: ▲ 0.38%

Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.

Investor Activity: 9.2%

Originated investment purchase share (CFPB HMDA).

Climate Exposure: FEMA NRI

Annualized loss ratio evaluated for flood & hurricane risk.

Run Cash-Flow Test for Nashville
Market pulse

The current market in eight signals

Fast-moving Redfin conditions sit beside the slower fundamentals so a buyer can separate today's negotiating climate from the long-run investment case.

Months of supply4.4 mo.▲ from 4.2 mo. a year ago
Median days on market62 days▲ from 55 days a year ago
Listings with price drops25.2%▼ from 27.1% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio98.3%2026-05-01
Home value growth▼ 0.9%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 0.38%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield4.8%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▲ 0.6%CES · 12m to 2026-06
Release-to-release evidence

What actually changed

This comparison exists because at least one underlying source period advanced. Rebuilding the same data never creates a new observation.

Published score held steady3939
0 pts

The published component scores did not move in this release.

Weights were unchanged at metro-2026-07-v2-omb2023, so the movement comes from refreshed evidence and percentile ranks.

The named source periods advanced, but the measured values on this page held steady.

Composite breakdown

What each component measures

Weights are published, not hidden, and the arithmetic is shown. Five components, each measured as a national percentile across all tracked metros.

Jobs70Rent trend9Affordability44Supply11Climate safety50
Published arithmeticComponent × weight = points
39
SignalScoreWeightPoints
Job growth7030%21.00
Rent trend925%2.25
Affordability4415%6.60
Supply pressure1115%1.65
Climate risk5015%7.50
Published score39
Nashville, TN scoreRank #426
39
Job growth70/100

CES employment grew 0.6% -> a positive but modest demand-side signal.

Rent trend9/100

Median asking rent rose 0.38% and gross yield was 4.75% -> income momentum and current yield are limited.

Affordability44/100

Rent was 25.43% of median income while price was 5.36 times income -> renting looks more affordable than buying at the metro medians.

Supply pressure11/100

Permits totaled 16,562 and months of supply was 4.4 -> buyers have meaningful existing and prospective inventory to evaluate.

Climate risk50/100

Inland flood is the dominant hazard and annual climate loss ratio is 0.1432% -> water exposure and insurance terms require property-level review.

The numbers

What this market costs and what it earns

Every derived ratio below recomputes from the same source record used by the article and score.

ZHVI Median Price
$458k
YoY ▼ 0.9%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,810
YoY ▲ 0.38%
Gross Rental Yield
4.8%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,810 × 12 ÷ $457,809
Job Growth (YoY)
▲ 0.6%
CES payrolls
Job signal 70/100
Median Household Income
$85k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
25.4%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
5.4x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,730
Market rent 104.7% of FMR
Historical affordability context

Compare aligned 2019 and 2024 asking-rent and nominal household-income endpoints across the direct-overlap metro set.

Independent rent evidence

One market, several legitimate rent benchmarks

These releases observe different homes and different moments. RentMarker keeps them separate: ZORI remains the scoring baseline, while the other sources test how sensitive the market story is to bedroom mix and measurement method.

Monthly benchmark5 of 5 reported values
Zero-based scale
Monthly rental benchmarksIndependent monthly rent measures shown on a zero-based scale. Missing source values are labelled unavailable and are not inferred.$0$500$1,000$1,500$2,000Zillow ZORI2026-06-30$1,810Realtor asking rent2026-05$1,479HUD 1BR FMRFY2026 FMR$1,578HUD 2BR FMRFY2026 FMR$1,730Census ACS gross rentACS 2024 5-year$1,528Monthly rental benchmarksIndependent monthly rent measures shown on a zero-based scale. Missing source values are labelled unavailable and are not inferred.$0$1,000$2,000Zillow ZORI2026-06-30$1,810Realtor asking2026-05$1,479HUD 1BR FMRFY2026 FMR$1,578HUD 2BR FMRFY2026 FMR$1,730ACS gross rentACS 2024 5-year$1,528
The chart compares published levels without averaging them. A longer bar does not mean a source is more accurate; it means that source measures a higher rent under its own definition.
Typical observed market rentZillow ZORI
$1,810Primary RentMarker baseline
2026-06-30

All homes and bedroom counts

A smoothed metro rent index for observed rentals; it is the primary rent used by RentMarker scores and career ratios.

View source release ↗
Median asking rentRealtor asking rent
$1,479−$331 vs ZORI
2026-05

Studio, 1BR and 2BR listings

The median advertised rent in Realtor.com's 50-largest-metro rental report; source NAs remain unavailable.

View source release ↗
Fair Market RentHUD 1BR FMR
$1,578−$232 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR

One-bedroom standard

An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.

View source release ↗
Fair Market RentHUD 2BR FMR
$1,730−$80 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR

Two-bedroom standard

An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.

View source release ↗
Median gross rentCensus ACS gross rent
$1,528−$282 vs ZORI
ACS 2024 5-year

Occupied rental units paying rent

A five-year survey estimate of contract rent plus applicable tenant-paid utilities; it is not a current asking-rent index.

View source release ↗
Take the next step

Keep Nashville as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.

Direct local rental evidence

Recent leases and rental-market liquidity in Nashville, TN

These Apartment List observations match the exact metro CBSA code 34980. They are kept separate from Zillow asking rent, Census occupied-home rent and property-level comparables.

Direct recent-lease rent history

Monthly overall-rent index; missing observations are not filled from another geography.

$1,511$1,301$1,0902017-012026-07
Recent-lease rent$1,3732026-07 · -2.3% year over year
Rental vacancy8.1%2026-07 · +0.2 percentage points year over year
Time on market33 days2026-07 · +3.0 days year over year
Measured rent retention

How much of gross yield survives the first two measured deductions?

This bridge subtracts direct rental vacancy and effective property tax only. It is not net yield, NOI, cap rate or property cash flow.

Gross-to-retained yield bridgeApartment List 2026-07
Gross yield bridged to measured rent-retention yieldGross yield of 4.7%, less property-tax drag of 0.5% and vacancy drag of 0.4%, leaves measured rent retention of 3.9%.3.9%4.7%RETAINEDGROSS
measured retention property tax vacancy
Gross yield
4.7%
Vacancy
8.1%
Effective tax
0.5%
Retained yield
3.9%
Regional price level

What feels expensive inside Nashville

BEA compares each category with the United States, which equals 100. This is a 2024 price-level comparison—not annual inflation.

BEA Regional Price Parities · 2024US = 100
Regional price parity categories for Nashville, TNHorizontal bars compare all-items, housing, goods, utilities and other-services price levels with the United States benchmark of 100.60708090100110All items96.3Housing104.6Goods96.2Utilities72.0Other services95.1
Orange extends above the national level; emerald extends below it. The chart does not convert rent or income into purchasing power.
Occupation wage lens

How asking rent sits against major local occupations

Annualized Zillow asking rent is divided by each BLS annual median wage. This is a screening ratio for one wage, not a household budget or affordability verdict.

Six largest published major groupsannual rent ÷ median wage
Annualized asking rent compared with major occupational median wages in Nashville, TNHorizontal bars show annualized Zillow asking rent as a share of the BLS annual median wage for six major occupational groups with the largest published employment.0%10%20%30%40%50%60%Office and AdministrativeSupport Occupations$47,960 median wage45.3%Transportation and MaterialMoving Occupations$43,280 median wage50.2%Food Preparation and ServingRelated Occupations$32,150 median wage67.6%Sales and Related Occupations$37,880 median wage57.3%Management Occupations$126,320 median wage17.2%Healthcare Practitioners andTechnical Occupations$83,100 median wage26.1%
Office and Administrative Support Occupations$47,960 median wage
45.3%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations$43,280 median wage
50.2%
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations$32,150 median wage
67.6%
Sales and Related Occupations$37,880 median wage
57.3%
Management Occupations$126,320 median wage
17.2%
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations$83,100 median wage
26.1%
BLS OEWS 2025-05; Zillow rent 2026-06-30. The 30% line is a visible screen, not a RentMarker score or a claim about household costs.
Supply pipeline

What is being built, and for whom

Permits are the 12-to-24 month early warning. The total matters less than the mix: apartments compete with a rental the day they open.

National supply context

Compare this authorization pipeline with asking-rent growth, jobs and for-sale liquidity across the evidence-complete metro set.

Building permits by structure type
units per year · latest year annualised
Download CSV ↓
22,595201926,805202031,900202127,977202223,419202319,875202419,094202516,41820265+ unit buildingssingle family
16,418 units authorised in 2026, 20% of them in 5+ unit buildings. A meaningful share is apartments, which discount first when they lease up. ✓ recomputed from series
Source: Census Building Permits Survey
Who is arriving, and who is buying

Demand, and the competition for it

Tax filings say how many households moved and what they earn; mortgage disclosures say how many local purchases went to someone who will not live there. Moves between counties inside this metro are netted out of both flow figures.

Net Household Move
+9,480
51,433 in vs 41,953 out (IRS SOI)
▲ 18.4% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
+$10,612
Arriving $87,637 vs leaving $77,025
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
9.2%
2,819 of 30,687 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
inland flooding
0.143% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: water
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →
Households arrive mainly from: Montgomery County · Shelby County · Los Angeles County · Orange County · Hamilton County
51,433 in − 41,953 out = 9,480 net
Direct market links

Where tax-return households moved from and to

These are the largest flows where both counties map to a RentMarker market area. They are a documented subset of the all-US IRS totals above.

Explore every route
Leading inbound markets
  1. Los Angeles, CA1,730 arriving
  2. Clarksville, TN1,715 arriving
  3. Chicago, IL1,248 arriving
Leading outbound markets
  1. Clarksville, TN2,369 leaving
  2. Atlanta, GA833 leaving
  3. Knoxville, TN741 leaving
The other side

What would make this a bad buy

Generated from the same figures with the instruction to argue against the score, and published unedited. A page that only agrees with itself is an advertisement.

Three ways the case breaks

  1. Median asking rent rose only 0.38%, while gross yield was 4.75%, limiting current income performance.
  2. The market recorded 16,562 permits, 4.4 months of supply, and price drops on 25.21% of listings, creating supply and repricing pressure.
  3. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.1432% of building value.
Statistical peers

Market areas that behave like Nashville

Nearest neighbours on price level, income, yield and job growth — not on geography. Every market page gets a different peer set, which is the point.

Market areaScorePriceRentYieldJob Growth
Nashville, TN (Target)39$458k$1,8104.8%▲ 0.6%
Richmond, VA59$400k$1,7725.3%▲ 0.2%
Albany, NY75$378k$1,6795.3%▲ 0.8%
Charlotte, NC46$391k$1,7505.4%▲ 1.1%
Boise City, ID67$497k$1,8744.5%▲ 1.0%
Provenance

Where every figure came from

“Checked nightly” means every source is re-pulled and re-verified each night. It does not mean every source moves nightly — the release column tells you how fresh each number can possibly be.

Dataset SourceMethodRelease PeriodPulled Date
Census ACS 5-year — household income and gross rentdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-08-05
Census ACS 5-year — historical household incomedirectACS 2019 and 2024 5-year2026-08-05
Census ACS 5-year — populationdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-07-26
Apartment List Rent Estimates — recent-lease rent indexdirectApartment List 2026-072026-08-08
Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquiditydirectApartment List 2026-072026-08-08
Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancydirectApartment List 2026-072026-08-08
BEA County Personal Income — income and populationdirect2024 County Personal Income (released 2026-02-05); history 1969-20242026-08-03
BEA Regional Price Parities — metropolitan price levelsdirect2024 Regional Price Parities (released 2026-02-19); history 2008-20242026-08-03
BLS CES — payroll employmentdirectCES SM current2026-07-26
BLS LAUS — resident employmentdirectLAUS current2026-07-26
BLS OEWS — occupation employment and wagesdirectMay 2025 OEWS estimates (released 2026-05-15)2026-08-03
BLS QCEW — county employment and wagesdirectannual county employment and wages 2021-2025; latest 2025 vs 20242026-08-02
OMB/BLS delineation — metro geographydirectOMB July 2023 delineation2026-07-30
Census Building Permits Survey — permitted unitsdirectBPS through 20262026-07-26
Census ACS 5-year — city population, households and housingdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-07-29
Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stockdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-07-30
Census ACS 5-year — cities and communitiesdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-07-30
Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and incomedirectACS 2024 5-year ZCTA2026-08-08
FEMA National Risk Index — hazard loss ratiosmodelledNRI counties (FEMA ArcGIS)2026-07-26
FHFA House Price Index — annual county appreciationdirectannual county HPI history 1975-2025; latest 20252026-08-02
HMDA / CFPB — purchases by occupancy typedirectHMDA 2024 purchase originations2026-07-26
HUD CHAS — renter burden by HAMFI income banddirectHUD CHAS 2018-2022 ACS 5-year (released 2025-12-23)2026-08-03
HUD Fair Market Rents — Section 8 standarddirectFY2026 FMR2026-07-26
HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallbackdirectZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR FY20262026-07-26
HUD-USPS ZIP-to-county residential-address crosswalkdirectHUD-USPS 2026Q12026-08-09
IRS SOI — county migration and mover incomedirectSOI migration 2022-20232026-07-26
Freddie Mac PMMS — mortgage ratesdirectweek of 2026-07-302026-08-06
Census ACS 5-year — effective property taxdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-08-06
Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventorydirectcounty inventory 2026-062026-07-28
Realtor.com Rental Report — top-50 asking rentsdirecttop-50 rental asking rents 2026-052026-08-05
Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cutsdirectmetro tracker through 2026-05-012026-07-26
Redfin Data Center — ZIP resale activity and supplydirectZIP rolling 3 months through 2026-06-30; updated 2026-07-032026-08-12
USDA ERS — Rural-Urban Continuum CodesdirectUSDA ERS 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes2026-08-02
Zillow ZHVI and ZORI — county values and rentsdirectcounty ZHVI/ZORI 2026-062026-07-26
Zillow ZHVI — metro home valuesdirectMetro_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv2026-07-26
Zillow ZHVI — city home valuesdirectzillow_zhvi_city.csv2026-07-29
Zillow ZORI — metro market rentsdirectMetro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csv2026-07-26
Zillow ZORI — city market rentsdirectzillow_zori_city.csv2026-07-29
Zillow ZORI - metro market rents, not seasonally adjusteddirectMetro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv2026-08-15
Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rentsdirectZORI ZIP 2026-062026-08-08