I recently visited Nashville. Austin looks and feels the most like Nashville in terms of demographics, being college towns (UT versus Vanderbilt), and hosting the state government. It makes sense why people are looking at these tourism meccas with a lower cost of living (compared to CA, WA, Chicago, and the Northeast). Austonia highlighted the similarities recently.
Just like Texas, zero state income tax awaits new residents. Nashville powers ahead of Austin with lower property taxes for real estate investors. New build properties in the Austin metro area carry 3% or more annual property taxes. Nashville is generally below 1%. For those relocating based on cost sensitivity, this is especially important: State property tax ranking
If you are an investor, there are nice suburbs worth looking into around the Nashville metro area. The Austin suburbs are pricier. I’m still bullish on Austin over Nashville because I’m in the tech industry. However, I can see Nashville becoming more popular because of the natural scenery and accessibility to the midwest and east coast.
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