Pros and Cons of Living in Franklin, TN

You’ve thought about moving to Franklin, TN but you still have some questions and wonder how it compares to where you currently live.

As a Franklin, TN native who has lived here for decades, I gathered some Pros and Cons of living here from friends, family, and clients who have moved here over the years. Here’s what they said:

If you haven’t downloaded our Mamas Moving to Franklin, Tn guide, you can find that here

Pros and Cons of living in Franklin, TN:

• Southern hospitality & friendly people!
• No state income tax, low property tax
• Highly rated schools (Franklin is in Williamson County)
• Safety – low crime rates – Violent crimes are far below the national average
• Sense of freedom
• Strong job growth
• Historic downtown area/Main street – voted America’s favorite main street. It’s like a hallmark movie at Christmas
• 4 true seasons here – Winters are pretty mild. In Jan., the avg high is 48 and avg low is 31. It’s very green in Spring and summer. And the Fall season here is just beautiful!
• Easily accessible to an international airport and 20/30 min to Nashville
• Professional sports teams – We have the Tennessee Titans (NFL), Predators (NHL), Nashville SC (MLS), Nashville Sounds (Minor League Baseball). Vandy and Belmont for college sports. The Memphis Grizzlies are the closest NBA team (3 hours) and The Atlanta Braves for major league baseball is about 4 hours from Franklin.
• Lots of great state parks nearby with hiking, canoeing, outdoor activities
• Several lakes within a couple hours of Nashville for a summer or second home, or just to visit
• 3 hours to the mountains of east TN, 6.5 hours to the panhandle of FL with beautiful white sand beaches, easy access to other major cities for road trips
• Neighborhoods with a community feel & amenities – most neighborhoods have a pool/playground/clubhouse
• Good sized backyards if you are coming from somewhere like CA or NY
• Great healthcare and hospital options here – multiple different brands/companies to choose from
• You can have your own mini farm (chickens, cows, etc) and still be pretty close to everything
• Fun annual events like Pumpkinfest, Pilgrimage festival, Dickens of a Christmas, Main Street Festival
• The talented musicians! So many very talented people are chasing their dreams here so you can always find music being played locally somewhere – many times for free
• Nashville is a foodie area – Franklin is starting to add more locally owned places too. There’s lots of craft breweries too if that’s your thing.

• Hot and HUMID summers
• Lots of bugs/wasps in summer months (If you’re from out west, you’ll think summer nights are so loud here!)
• Ticks and Spiders – You’ll have to be diligent with checking for ticks in the summer and keep an eye out for spiders. You may have an increase in spider activity, especially if you back up to woods. We have brown recluses here (best way to get rid of them is to place sticky traps around your home and remove any cardboard ASAP), and some black widows. I’ve seen brown recluses, I’ve never seen a black widow here.
• Tornadoes in the spring. This can cause real anxiety, especially if you aren’t used to storms. (I’ll add that I’ve lived in TN my whole life and I’ve never actually seen a tornado. And I’ve only really had to take cover in the bathroom a few times. With tornadoes, there is a heads up that you’ll know it can be possible). I follow NashSevereWX on twitter for my weather tracking. 
• Rain – We actually get more rain here than Seattle, but it tends to be more concentrated (mostly in the spring)
• Winters can be dark and gloomy – it gets dark around 4:30pm.
• High sales tax – about 9-10% depending on county
• Cost of child care and the long wait lists that go with them. For 2 kids in daycare here, it’s about $42k/year.
• Cost of beauty routines – nails, haircuts, etc may be more than you are used to paying. Especially if coming from CA.
• Closest mountains are 3 hours and closest beach is 6.5 hours (I put this on both pro and cons depending on how you look at it!)
• Cost of housing, in Franklin especially, is higher than many other areas. The hope is that the low property tax, no income tax and great public schools help with your bottom line, but it’s not always the case. A 4 bedroom, 3 bath home in Franklin with a quarter acre starts around $1M. 
• No great children’s museum. Closest aquarium is 2 hrs away
• This is just my personal opinion, but I think we could use more family-friendly restaurants or places that cater to adults AND children. We’ve seen lots of cool places when we’ve traveled. I know my family could use more of this!
• Traffic can be rough in some spots are certain parts of the day, especially with the growth of the area. Although my clients who have moved from places like ATL and LA say it’s a breeze here.