Best PlacesDavidson County, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Davidson County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Davidson County ranks 1,152nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $88,437, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are noise, the weather, and the schools.
The best neighborhoods in Davidson County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Davidson County
The parts of Davidson County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Forest Hills & Belle Meade
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Brentwood & Oak Hill
More residents vote, though homes cost more.
Madison, Hermitage & Old Hickory
Fewer homes sit empty.
Antioch & Nashville
More households have young kids, though health care is harder to reach.
Joelton & Whites Creek
Health outcomes score lower and crime runs higher.
Davidson County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Davidson County's strengths and weaknesses
Davidson County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Transit, fast internet, and state finances carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Noise, the weather, and the schools hold the score down. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Davidson County ranks high
- TransitBetter than 95% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of counties
Where Davidson County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 7% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 12% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Davidson County
A household needs to earn about $125,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Davidson County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $88,437, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Davidson County's effective rate of 0.58%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Davidson County
Davidson County runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Davidson County.
Who works in Davidson County, and how
Work in Davidson County centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Davidson County
Davidson County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 84% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Davidson County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Davidson County growing, and who is moving in?
Davidson County has grown about 9% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Nashville, TN metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Davidson County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Davidson County, month by month
Davidson County sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 40° | 30° |
| April | 75° | 61° | 48° |
| July | 94° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 78° | 64° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Davidson County
Nashville International sits about 4 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.6 million passengers in 2025, with 158 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Davidson County
Schools across Davidson County average a D+, better than 7% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Lockeland ElementaryA+ · 85% proficient
- Julia Green ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Glendale ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Meigs MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Valor Voyager AcademyA− · 54% proficient
- West Wilson Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Hume - Fogg HighA+ · 93% proficient
- Martin Luther King Jr SchoolA · 76% proficient
- Valor Flagship AcademyA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Davidson County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Davidson County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Davidson County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Davidson County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 20% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Davidson County
Is Davidson County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Davidson County ranks 1,152nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on transit, fast internet, and state finances, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Davidson County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $494,130. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $88,437 median income, cost of living beats 88% of counties.
Is Davidson County safe?
Davidson County is safer than 12% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $747 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Davidson County?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 53 with lows near 30. That works out to about 60 pleasant days a year, more than 6% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Davidson County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Forest Hills & Belle Meade, Brentwood & Oak Hill, and Madison, Hermitage & Old Hickory. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Davidson County good for families?
Schools beat 7% of counties, crime safety beats 12%, and childcare runs $811 a month.
Is Davidson County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 95% of counties. About 20% of workers already work from home.
Compare Davidson County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Davidson County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Davidson County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Davidson County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Davidson County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Davidson County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Davidson County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Davidson County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Davidson County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.