Moving to Nashville, TN

Nashville is a city of opportunity, beauty and spicy food.  However, above all else, it’s a city of sound.  Music City, as it’s known, is the world capital for country music, honky tonk, Christian bands and gospel songs.  For anyone who is looking to break into those scenes, or is simply of fan of the genres, Nashville is the place to be.

However, like a good song, there’s more to Nashville than its chords.  It is widely recognized as one of America’s friendliest large cities, and it’s deeply entrenched in the insurance and health care industries, giving it a strong economic base for its populace.

Scroll down for the pros and cons of moving to Nashville.

Layout of Nashville

Nashville is located on a flat plain, called the Nashville Basin.  The city is situated on the Cumberland River, which runs through Kentucky and upper Tennessee, before emptying into the Ohio River.  The area is naturally covered in forests and grassland and has a number of lake and smaller rivers.

Nashville is part of a larger metropolitan area that includes the cities of Mufreesburo and Franklin.  The city is home to over 600,000 people, and the metro is home to over 1.5 million.  Nashville is about a three-hour drive from both Knoxville and Memphis.

Positives of Moving to Nashville

• Music row – Nashville’s Music Row is a section of the city that is home to a number of records labels, recording centers and record shops, with a focus on the country, gospel and Christian music genres.  It’s the place to be for those who are or who want to be a part of the music industry.  The city is also home to the Country Music Awards show and music fest.
• Friendly – Nashville is well known as a city where the populace is generally happy, wavy and smiley.
• Health care – Just behind the music industry comes the health care industry, which is huge in Nashville, with over 250 companies contributing over 94,000 jobs to the area.  And that’s not even considering Vanderbilt University, which has its own medical center.
• Affordable – Tennessee only has a sales tax, and housing is generally cheap, making Nashville a very affordable big city to live in.

Negatives of Moving to Nashville

• Transportation – Nashville has thin, windy roads, few bike lanes and a non-existent public transit system.  Amtrak used to run through the city, but it stopped services recently, and an attempt to create a local rail system has effectively stalled.  This makes getting anywhere dependant on the car, and getting there will involve some hefty traffic.
• Lack of Alternatives – Nashville isn’t a huge city, and it’s dominated by a very particular scene.  For those who want to have different experiences, whether in music, museums or food, Nashville might seem a bit constricted.
• Weather – Nashville is a southern town that gets very cold in the winters, with temperatures regularly reaching into the 20’s.  and its summers aren’t much better – they’re hot a humid.  Oh, and spring and fall are inundated with serious storm fronts.  That makes for a full year of miserable.

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