- Tennessee added nearly 83,000 residents between 2021 and 2022, according to census data.
- Brenna Foster has helped many people move to her state since the start of the pandemic.
Tennessee has popped up on lists of the best, most affordable, and most moved-to states in the US, with cities like Chattanooga and Knoxville gaining recognition for their population booms during the pandemic.
Many people have already made the move. Data from the US Census Bureau shows that Tennessee ranked seventh out of all 50 states in population growth from July 1, 2021 to July 1, 2022, adding 82,988 residents.
Brokers who help relocators find rental apartments and buy houses have a front-row seat to the action. Brenna Foster — a 25-year-old Knoxville native who now works as an agent in Murfreesboro, a town about 30 miles outside of Nashville — said she's helped clients find homes since the hordes of relocators picked up in 2020.
"I have clients moving from California, New Jersey, and New York," Foster told Insider. "It's been crazy just in the last year."
She details the pros and cons of life in Tennessee — from a lower cost of living to a bad allergy season — on her YouTube channel, WelcomeToTN, which has more than 5,000 subscribers.
Foster has found that many of her clients are electing to buy houses outside the city limits of places like Nashville or Memphis.
"I think a lot of people want to get away from that city life," she said. "They see that they could get country living, mixed in with amenities and still within driving distance of the Costco and the Kroger."
Foster shared five reasons movers are choosing Tennessee.
Homes are relatively cheap
While Tennessee has not been exempt from rising housing costs across the country, it still remains one of the more affordable places to live compared to other parts of the country.
In December 2022, the median sales price for new houses nationally was $442,100. During that same timeframe, the median sales price in Tennessee was $367,900, according to Redfin.
"Especially for the people that are able to maintain their salaries with a work-from-home job, they are able to afford a lot more over here," Foster said.
Taxes are lower
People leaving states like California or New York often cite high income and property taxes as key motivations for their departure. In the same vein, a large number of movers say they choose Florida because of the anticipated savings from no income tax. (It's not all cheap: some new Floridians have been surprised by rising property taxes.)
Like Florida, Tennessee has no income tax, as well as a property tax rate well below the national average. According to financial information and advice company SmartAsset, Tennessee's median annual property tax paid is $1,317, which is about half the national average.
Foster said her clients are eager to take advantage.
"One of the reasons why they're considering Tennessee is because of the affordability in terms of taxes," Foster said.
There are four seasons…with balmy winters
Foster said that she talks to a lot of clients from the north looking to relocate to an area with gentler winters, but who still want to experience all four seasons.
"We have super mild winters, but definitely some hot summers," she said. "That's a big reason why a lot of my clients have reached out to me — especially the Northern ones."
According to Foster, the diversity in weather allows for a range of outdoor activities from hiking and kayaking for most of the year to even skiing in the winter.
It's easy to get to other major cities
Tennessee is the definition of landlocked. Tennessee and Missouri border the most other states — eight — but that works to its advantage.
"We have immediate access to eight different interstate highways," Foster said. "We can reach 60% of the US population within an 11-hour drive, which is crazy to think about."
Major cities like Atlanta and Indianapolis are under 250 and 350 miles away, respectively.
Southern hospitality is alive and well
In Florida, one of the most popular places to move to in the country, residents can sometimes be standoffish toward newcomers, even blaming them for problems like traffic.
In Tennessee, however, residents seem to be more welcoming, according to Foster.
"My clients said that they were expecting some hostility," she said, "and they really haven't received any of that here in Tennessee."