Best Nashville Suburbs for Rental Property Investors in 2026

When investors talk about the Nashville real estate market, it’s easy to focus exclusively on Nashville itself. But some of the most interesting opportunities for rental property investors are actually found in the communities surrounding the city.

Greater Nashville includes a wide range of submarkets, each with its own combination of home prices, rents, employment, population growth, schools, new construction and access to Nashville.

At IPS, we don’t believe that simply buying in a growing city automatically makes something a good investment. The property still has to make sense.

That means looking at the relationship between:

• Purchase price and achievable rent
• Rental demand and competing supply
• Employment and population growth
• Access to major job centers
• New construction and future development
• Schools and neighborhood quality
• Property taxes, HOA fees and operating expenses
• Expected lease-up time
• Long-term resale potential

Here are several Greater Nashville submarkets that we believe rental property investors should understand.

Smyrna

Approximately 24 miles southeast of downtown Nashville, Smyrna provides access to Nashville while also functioning as its own employment and residential center. Apartment List puts the drive to downtown at roughly 28 minutes under its stated conditions.

Why IPS Watches Smyrna

Smyrna has been one of the more interesting Nashville-area markets for us because we continue to find new-construction properties with reasonable price-to-rent ratios.

The area offers a combination of established neighborhoods, retail, restaurants, employment and convenient I-24 access.

For investors, we’re particularly interested in properties that differentiate themselves from the growing supply of rentals—such as townhomes with 2-car garages, better floor plans, main-level primary bedrooms or stronger community amenities.

La Vergne

Located between Nashville and Smyrna along the I-24 corridor, La Vergne offers renters access to the broader Nashville employment market while generally providing housing at a lower price point than many closer-in suburbs. Apartment List describes it as an industrial and residential hub about 20 miles from downtown.

Why IPS Watches La Vergne

Affordability is one of the primary reasons this market gets our attention.

When new-construction pricing is right, La Vergne can provide an attractive combination of lower acquisition cost and competitive rents.

Its location also gives tenants convenient access to Smyrna, Murfreesboro and Nashville.

Antioch

Antioch is particularly interesting because it provides a more affordable entry point while remaining relatively close to Nashville.

Rather than treating Antioch as one large market, IPS evaluates opportunities at the neighborhood and project level. Location, surrounding development, access, competing rental inventory and property quality can vary considerably.

Why IPS Watches Antioch

We have found new-construction townhome opportunities here that combine proximity to Nashville, attainable purchase prices and strong rental layouts. That’s a combination we like.

The key is identifying communities where the product should compete well with existing rentals and where future supply isn’t likely to overwhelm demand.

Lebanon

Lebanon sits roughly 31 miles east of downtown Nashville, with direct access along I-40. Apartment List estimates approximately a 32-minute drive to Nashville and highlights Cumberland University as another local demand driver.

Why IPS Watches Lebanon

Lebanon is increasingly interesting because investors don’t have to rely exclusively on downtown Nashville to create housing demand.

The city has its own employment, retail, education and residential base while remaining connected to the broader Nashville economy.

We’re especially interested in early phases of new communities where builders may initially offer better pricing or incentives before increasing prices as the project gains momentum.

Gallatin

Gallatin is approximately 30 miles northeast of Nashville and serves as an important Sumner County employment and residential center. Apartment List reports a population of roughly 48,000 and an average two-bedroom rent of about $1,800 in its dataset.

Why IPS Watches Gallatin

Gallatin gives investors access to a larger suburban tenant base without having to purchase closer to downtown Nashville.

We’ve seen several new-construction townhome communities here where the rent-to-price relationship gets close to our target underwriting.

The challenge is being disciplined on purchase price. Two similar communities can produce very different investment returns based on builder incentives, HOA costs and achievable rent.

Goodlettsville

Goodlettsville sits just north of Nashville and straddles Davidson and Sumner counties. Apartment List places it roughly 14 miles from downtown, with convenient I-65 access.

Why IPS Watches Goodlettsville

Its proximity to Nashville is one of the biggest attractions.

Investors can potentially acquire newer housing outside Nashville’s core while still offering tenants relatively convenient access to downtown and employment centers.

We pay particular attention to townhome pricing, garage availability and competing rental inventory in this area.

Murfreesboro

Murfreesboro is much more than a Nashville bedroom community. With a population exceeding 160,000 in the Census data cited by Apartment List, it’s a significant city in its own right. Middle Tennessee State University also provides an important local economic and housing-demand anchor.

Why IPS Watches Murfreesboro

Scale matters.

Murfreesboro has a large employment, education, retail and residential base, which creates multiple sources of housing demand.

There is also substantial new construction, however, so investors need to pay close attention to competing supply.

A good Murfreesboro deal isn’t simply a new townhome in a growing city. We want the property to have something that separates it from the dozens of other rental choices available to tenants.

White House

White House sits north of Nashville along I-65. Apartment List highlights the city’s growth, schools, relative affordability and commuter access to Nashville.

Why IPS Watches White House

White House represents the type of outer-ring Nashville suburb that can become interesting as housing costs push residents farther from the urban core.

New construction is expanding, and the lower acquisition cost can create better investment economics than some closer-in suburbs.

Columbia

Columbia is farther from Nashville—roughly 46 miles from downtown according to Apartment List—but has increasingly developed as its own residential and economic market.

Why IPS Watches Columbia

The primary attraction for investors is acquisition price.

New construction can sometimes be purchased meaningfully below comparable Nashville-area properties. The question is whether local rents are high enough to compensate for being farther from Nashville.

That’s why we underwrite Columbia primarily on local rental demand, rather than assuming Nashville’s growth will automatically support the investment.

The IPS Approach to Greater Nashville

There isn’t one “best” Nashville suburb for every rental property investor.

A $300,000 townhome in Lebanon can be a substantially better investment than a $300,000 townhome somewhere else—even if the other location looks stronger on paper.

That’s because market selection is only the first step.

At IPS, we evaluate the actual property:

Purchase Price → Rent → Expenses → NOI → Cap Rate → Cash Flow

Then we look beyond the spreadsheet:

Rental Demand → Competing Supply → Lease-Up → Location → Builder → Floor Plan → Amenities → Future Development

The goal isn’t simply to find a growing market. The goal is to find the right property within the right market at the right price.

That’s why IPS continually tracks new-construction communities throughout Greater Nashville and underwrites individual properties as builders release inventory, adjust pricing and introduce incentives.