Nashville: Where Is Everyone Coming From?
Nashville is currently one of the most popular cities to both live and visit making it a prime location for real estate investing and it doesn’t seem like it’s slowing down much. On this year’s July 4th (2019), there was a record breaking 343,000 people just downtown Nashville- just to give you an idea of the massive amounts of people here! That’s 150,000 more (give or take) from 2014, the previous record breaking year. We’re a city of amazing southern hospitality so we love all the folks, but where is everyone coming from?!?
If you’re new to Nashville, within the last 7 years or so, you’ll quickly realize it’s hard to find a Nashville native. It seems that everyone is from somewhere else. And it’s somewhat true depending on your social and work circles. For me personally, I have friends here from all over the country- Colorado, Georgia, Arizona, California, New York, Illinois (Chicago), Texas and Arkansas. I even have friends from all over the world- South Africa, UK, Australia, Mexico, Canada and others!
Since I’m a very visual person, I wanted a map showing where everyone was coming from. So I went over to the U.S. Census Bureau website and got some information. I was mostly interested in seeing where in the United States people where moving from, to the Nashville area, including surrounding counties. Taking 5 maps, showing inbound movers, I laid them on top of each other in Photoshop, multiplying the shades of purple color together showing lighter and darker areas where people are migrating from, to the Nashville area. Then, I overlaid a “city name map” over the top. The dark regions indicating more people moving to Nashville.
Here’s the result (click to enlarge):
This was done quickly, and the map resolution from the .gov website was pretty low so it’s not perfect, but you can still see the data. As you can see yourself, most of the migration is within Tennessee counties. However, looking at some of the darker purple areas, you’ll notice people are coming from very interesting places like Southern California, Phoenix and surrounding areas, Chicago, Detroit, NYC, Boston, major cities of the Northwest, and from most all the major cities of Florida.
The most current U.S. Census accounts for the years 2012-2016. This map represents movers from other states and counties who are moving to the counties of Davidson (Nashville), Williamson (Franklin/Brentwood), Maury (Spring Hill/Columbia), Rutherford (Murfreesboro), and Sumner (Hendersonville) which are the red targeted areas in TN. Obviously there are a lot of people moving to Middle, TN. But naturally, people are also moving away. However, every targeted county is netting positive movers. Meaning more people are moving in than leaving.
Here are the numbers of NET growth from other states and countries (not including movers from other Tennessee counties):
• From Other States: 14,986
• From Other Countries: 8923
• Total inbound from other states & countries: 23909 people, which is 398 people a month, and 13 people a day.
Remember, this is NOT INCLUDING all the people from other counties in Tennessee also moving in, which is a higher number. So when you hear that about 1000 people a month are moving to the area… you’ve heard correctly. Also remember the above growth is NET growth. For example, the number of people who actually moved just to Davidson County (Nashville) was 27,733, but there was also 20,139 people who moved away, leaving a net growth of 7594 people from other states, plus another 5740 people from other countries. That’s 13,334 people total.
Here are the top 10 counties of other states with the number of people that are moving just to Davidson County (Nashville), with margin of error:
• Cook County, IL (Chicago) with 707
• Los Angeles County, CA with 541
• DeKalb County, GA (Atlanta) with 434
• Palm Beach County, FL with 401
• Middlesex County, MA with 357
• Dallas County, TX with 334
• Buncombe County, NC (Ashville) with 327
• Fulton County, GA (Atlanta) with 325
• Jefferson County, AL with 314
• Mecklenburg County, NC (Charlotte) with 302
The Atlanta (DeKalb, Fulton, and Cobb Counties) area has the most migration to Nashville, with Cook County (Chicago) being the #1 single county with the most migration. With the neighboring Lake County near Chicago added, the Chicago area comes in at a close #2 behind the Atlanta area with almost the same number of people migrating to the Nashville-Middle Tennessee area.
There you have it! Hope you enjoyed this little migration report as much as I did as I now feel satisfied. I personally had to know and now it feels like a weight has been lifted. Not really haha. You are an amazing human being! Til next time.
– Aaron
QUICK RESOURCES
• Search for 100% all properties like an agent, with real time updates, demographic reports, and other great info on each home like shopping, schools and crime with HomeScout here.
• Get my Monthly Market Analysis to stayed updated with amazing free knowledge for buying, selling, and investing!
• Let me serve you in crafting your lifestyle. Reach out to me by TEXT/CALL HERE or by EMAIL HERE.