Frontline 05 · Field · Neighborhoods
Neighborhood guides
Nineteen neighborhood guides for the greater Franklin area. Each one follows the same shape: a short video, the numbers on homes and taxes, zoned schools, honestly timed commutes, where the week happens, and the trade-offs nobody selling you a house will mention.
Start here.
Franklin
The town the rest of the county is measured against. What a house costs by tier, the county-city-FSSD tax stack with a worked example, two school districts and four high schools, the honestly timed I-65 commute, the six character areas, the 2026 festival calendar, and the trade-offs nobody selling a house will mention.
Franklin.
Downtown and historic Franklin
The 1799 grid and five National Register districts: Hincheyville, Lewisburg Avenue, Adams Street, Natchez Street. What 1828-to-2026 homes cost, the overlay rules, FSSD schools, floods, festivals, parking.
Westhaven
The master-planned town-within-a-town: alleys, porches, a Kroger and a stage in the town center, five pools, a golf course, and an association that runs it like a municipality. The 2026 market, the real HOA math, the surprising school zones.
Cool Springs and east Franklin
The employment and retail corridor and the housing hung off it on both sides of I-65: Cool Springs East, Forrest Crossing, the Mallory Lane condos, and Cottonwood. The 2026 market, the FSSD tax line, Centennial versus Ravenwood, and what the Galleria rebuild means.
Berry Farms and south Franklin
Boyle's town center at exit 61 and the subdivisions that grew up around it since 2012: Lockwood Glen, Stream Valley, Waters Edge, Simmons Ridge, and the Goose Creek side. The 2026 market, the Independence-or-Page split, the I-840 ramp, and what is still being built.
Fieldstone Farms
Franklin's largest finished subdivision: 2,137 houses from 1989 to 2001 on a lawyer's old summer farm, two pools, a swim team, a Publix and an elementary inside the fence, and the best price per square foot in the city. The 2026 market, the $60 HOA, and the 30-year-house budget.
McKay's Mill, Ladd Park and Liberty Pike
Two big family subdivisions ten years apart: McKay's Mill around its village center and Publix, finished in 2014, and Ladd Park along two miles of the Harpeth, still building. The 2026 market, the Clovercroft-or-Creekside school paths, ten miles of greenway, and the Liberty Pike rebuild.
Sullivan Farms, Founders Pointe and Hillsboro Road
The established ring inside the loop road: Founders Pointe, Chestnut Bend, Carlisle, and the 1970s ranches on Hillsboro Road and 96 West; Willowsprings and Boyd Mill on Downs; Sullivan Farms south of the square. Five minutes to Main Street, four high schools, and the FSSD line street by street.
Franklin's gated communities
Laurelbrooke, Legends Ridge, Temple Hills and its Reserve, Avalon, and the acreage off Old Hillsboro Road. The 2026 market from $690K townhomes to an $11.8 million hilltop, the only staffed gate in Franklin, what the club costs, why most of it pays no city tax, and why half the listings never sell.
North: Brentwood.
Brentwood
One-acre minimum lots, its own school cluster, and the shortest Nashville commute in the county. The Concord Road and Franklin Road sides, compared.
Brentwood's gated and club communities
Governors Club, Annandale, Witherspoon, and the golf-course neighborhoods. Membership structures, gate logistics, and the resale picture.
East: Nolensville, Arrington & College Grove.
Nolensville
The fastest-growing town in the state. A 1797 crossroads, a wave of 2010s subdivisions, one road under construction until 2036, and a $700,000 discount to Brentwood that no longer includes the tax bill.
Arrington and College Grove
Kings' Chapel, the Grove, Troubadour, Hardeman Springs, and the five-acre farms between them. No town, no city tax, three club gates, and I-840 instead of a main road.
West: Leiper's Fork, Grassland & Fairview.
Leiper's Fork and the rural west
The village, the Natchez Trace, and the farms along Southall, Pinewood, and Bear Creek. A six-acre median lot, easements that run forever, soil that decides whether a lot is a lot, and a market that sells by phone.
Grassland
The unincorporated village on Hillsboro Road with its own K-8 cluster, a 76-acre ball park, acre lots under 1960s houses, a Franklin address without Franklin tax, and three kinds of sewer to ask about.
Fairview
The county's affordable west edge: a $583K median with half the sales built since 2023, a 722-acre park, its own school cluster and city hall, the county's highest city rate, and 40 minutes to Nashville on I-40.
South: Thompson's Station, Spring Hill & Columbia.
Thompson's Station
The county's other growth town: a $690K median with 43% of sales new, Williamson schools at the lowest town rate in the county ($1.403), a sewer plant that decides who builds, and 16 minutes to Franklin's square on a two-lane road.
Spring Hill
One city on two counties: a $550K median that is $715K on the Williamson side and $490K on the Maury side, two school districts, two tax rates, the GM plant and its 5,000 jobs, and a state consent order deciding who gets a sewer tap.
Columbia
The county seat, and the cheapest median in the series: $385K, a rate that just reset to $1.9758, a courthouse square that came back, school zones that ignore the mailing address, and a $520M bet on the Duck River paid for out of the water bill.
The numbers
Nineteen guides, side by side.
The median sale, the price per foot, the tax rate, the morning drive to Nashville and the high schools, as each guide reports them. Every figure is the guide's own, with its source and date there.
| Guide | Median sale | Per sq ft | Tax per $100 | To Nashville | Zoned high schools |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FranklinWilliamson County seat · 37064 · 37067 · 37069 | $970K | $324 | $1.566$2.2433 in the FSSD | 45–60 min | Franklin, Centennial, Independence, Page |
| Downtown & Historic FranklinHistoric core | $675K | $339 | $2.2433 | 45–60 min | Franklin |
| WesthavenWest Franklin | $1.36M | $476 | $1.566 | 50–65 min | Independence |
| Cool Springs & East FranklinEast Franklin | $750K | $305 | $1.566$2.2433 in the FSSD | 35–50 min | Centennial, Ravenwood |
| Berry Farms & South FranklinSouth Franklin | $1.08Mhouses | $315–$426 | $1.566 | 35–50 min | Independence, Page |
| Fieldstone FarmsNorthwest Franklin | $714K | $328 | $1.566 | 40–55 min | Franklin |
| McKay's Mill, Ladd Park & Liberty PikeEast of Mack Hatcher | $855K–$980KMcKay's Mill, then Ladd Park | $264–$314 | $1.566$2.2433 in the FSSD | 30–45 min | Centennial, Page |
| Sullivan Farms, Founders Pointe & Hillsboro RoadInside the Mack Hatcher loop | $445K–$1.38Mby pocket | $276–$377 | $2.2433$1.566 in the city, outside the FSSD | 40–55 min | Franklin, Centennial, Independence |
| Franklin's gated & estate communitiesEstate & gated | $969K–$4.85Mby community | $297–$721 | $1.30$1.566 in the city, outside the FSSD | 35–50 min | Franklin, Ravenwood |
| Brentwood | $1.64M | $374 | $1.49 | 25–40 min | Brentwood, Ravenwood |
| Brentwood's estate & club communitiesEstate & gated | $2.14M–$3.4Mby community | $343–$503 | $1.49 | 35–50 min | Ravenwood, Brentwood |
| Nolensville | $922KWilliamson side | $312 | $1.64 | 35–50 min | Nolensville, Ravenwood, Page |
| Arrington & College GroveRural east | $1.5M | $352–$359 | $1.30 | 45–65 min | Page, Summit |
| Leiper's ForkRural west | $1.98M | $590 | $1.30 | 50–70 min | Independence, Franklin, Fairview |
| GrasslandBetween Franklin & Brentwood | $935K37069 zip | $347 | $1.30 | 30–50 min | Franklin |
| FairviewFar west | $583K | $244 | $2.1404 | 45–65 min | Fairview, Independence |
| Thompson's Station | $690K | $310 | $1.403 | 45–65 min | Independence, Summit |
| Spring Hill | $550K | $240 | $2.009$2.108 Maury side | 55–80 min | Summit, Independence, Spring Hill, Battle Creek |
| ColumbiaMaury County | $385K | $188 | $1.9758 | 56 minfree-flow | Columbia Central, Spring Hill, Battle Creek |
Medians are each guide's headline figure, over the window and from the sources the guide names; a range means the guide prices it by pocket or community. Tax is the combined 2026 rate per $100 of assessed value for the zone most addresses are in, then any other zone the guide covers; assessment is 25% of appraisal. High schools are the Williamson County or Maury County schools the guide's addresses zone to. Drive times are weekday mornings between 7 and 8:30, except Columbia's, which are free-flow with no rush allowance.
How the guides work
Every guide, the same sections, in the same order.
So you can compare like with like. Numbers come with a source and a date, commutes are measured at rush hour, and the trade-offs section is written by someone who does not earn a commission.
- The placeWhere it sits, what it feels like, and how it got that way, with photographs.
- Homes & marketMedian price, price per foot, tiers, home styles, HOA and taxes.
- SchoolsZoned public, private nearby, early childhood.
- Getting aroundRush-hour drive times to six places, plus walk, bike, and transit scores.
- Daily lifeEat, coffee, errands, parks, health and fitness.
- The yearWhat the neighborhood does together, month by month.
- Trade-offsThe case for, the case against, and a verdict.
- Map & FAQWhere it sits and what people ask before they move.
- CompareThree neighborhoods to look at next.