Written by Nick Allison
To most people, population growth is a good thing. It is usually a sign that things are going well in the county/city/state/country that you run. However, when growth gets too big, it leads to a poorer quality of life for residents. In this case, Nashville is a primary example of this. According to CNBC, the city has seen 35,624 new people make it their home which was roughly 98 new people per day.1 Because of this growth, Tennessee’s population is now beyond 7 million.2 Because of this, there have been some changes in the cost of living. A family in Nashville now needs to earn $124,095 per year to be able to afford a median-priced home in Nashville which is 19% higher than before. Before, it was $114,627 a year to purchase a median-priced home.3 That is due to the concept of supply and demand. In this case, the thousands of people flocking to Nashville would be the demand, and the housing market would be the supply. In simple terms, because so many people are moving to Nashville and the housing market is not big enough to accommodate everyone, it becomes scarce and prices go up. It becomes unfair to actual residents when they can’t afford to buy a house or do anything because of this. It leads to increased homelessness.4 We need to build more affordable homes in the city and make it easier and cheaper to do so.
- Dore, “Nashville added nearly 100 new residents per day in 2022. Here’s why people are moving to Music City”, CNBC, November 30, 2023 ↩︎
- Fitzpatrick, Beharaj and Tamburin, “Tennessee now has more than 7 million residents”, Axios, May 15, 2023 ↩︎
- Anderson, “Homebuyers must earn $115,000 to Afford the Typical U.S. Home. That’s About $40,000 More Than the Typical American Household Earns”, Redfin, October 17, 2023 ↩︎
- Carrion, “Nashville facing an affordability crisis, real estate adviser warns”, Fox Business, November 17, 2023 ↩︎
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