Neighborhood guide · North
Brentwood.
The one-acre city between Nashville and Franklin. Forty-one square miles that decided in 1972 to be lots of an acre with the shops kept to the two interstate ends, and have held to it since. This guide is the whole city, split the way residents split it: the Franklin Road side west of I-65, the Concord Road side east of it, and the Split Log Road frontier where the new construction is. Which side goes to Brentwood High and which to Ravenwood, what the acre costs now, why the 1960s house next door is about to be a $5 million one, and why a quarter of the homes with a Brentwood address are not in Brentwood at all.
B-roll · coming soon
Neighborhood video. Ninety seconds of B-roll: Franklin Road at Church Street at 7:45 on a school morning, the Concord Road bridge over I-65, a 1968 ranch in Brenthaven with a dumpster in the drive and the framing going up two doors down, the Crockett Park loop at dusk, the Eddy Arnold Amphitheater filling for a June concert, and Ravenswood's front porch at Smith Park. No narration.
01 · The place
An acre, a school, and a city that was built to stay a suburb.
Brentwood had 1,065 people in 1960 and a sewage plant by 1972, and between those two dates it made the only decision that still matters: houses on an acre, and the commerce kept to the two ends of the interstate. The city incorporated on April 15, 1969, with about 3,400 residents, fought its developers in court for three years over the office park Truman Ward's 400-acre horse farm was becoming, lost, and then drew the line around it. Maryland Farms got its first office building in 1974; the rest of the city got one-acre zoning, and 45,373 people in the 2020 census live on it. The result is a place with no downtown, no through-street grid, a 1942 manor house that is now a restaurant, 15 parks on more than a thousand acres, and a property tax rate the city has not changed in 36 years.
Residents describe it by road. The Franklin Road side, west of I-65, is the older money: Belle Rive, Meadow Lake, McGavock Farms, and Brentwood Country Club on the streets that run up to Granny White Pike, with Hill Center and Maryland Farms at the north end. The Concord Road side, east of the interstate, starts with Brenthaven, the city's largest subdivision at 800-plus houses from 1969, runs past the library, Crockett Park, and Brentwood Baptist, and then splits: Wilson Pike and Moores Lane toward Cool Springs, where Raintree Forest and Carriage Hills sit a mile from Ravenwood High, and Split Log Road toward Nolensville, where Rosebrooke, Primm Farm, and Telluride Manors are putting $3 million to $5 million houses on the last farms. The line between Brentwood High and Ravenwood follows the same fork, and so does about $330,000 of median price.
What the sides share is the market's new shape. On the same streets, a 1969 house on an acre sells for $1.26 million and a 2024 house on the same acre sells for $4.6 million. Brentwood closed 118 new-construction sales last year at a $2.81 million median and $519 a foot, 37 of them over asking, while the originals sold at 96 percent of the ask and 27 Brenthaven listings expired or were cancelled. The acre is now worth more than the house on it, and the city is being rebuilt one lot at a time under the same zoning that made it.
Who moves here
Nashville commuters who want Williamson County Schools at the shortest distance from a downtown desk, 10.6 miles. Executives at Maryland Farms and Cool Springs, where UnitedHealth's 3,083 employees and Tractor Supply's 2,000 are the largest two of many. Families choosing between Brentwood High and Ravenwood, who tend to choose the side first and the house second. Builders and buyers with a $4 million budget who would rather have a 1968 lot in Brenthaven or Meadow Lake than an unbuilt one in Rosebrooke. And a quieter group: people who bought the townhomes at Brentwood Pointe or Mooreland Estates for $330,000 to $530,000 because the zip and the schools came with them.
What it is not
Walkable, cheap, or serviced the way Franklin is. Nothing here is within a mile of a coffee shop except Meadow Lake, which backs onto Hill Center. The Williamson-side median is $1,637,500, and the under-$1 million market is 137 sales a year, most of them townhomes or the Davidson County side. The city does not pick up the trash, does not allow a short-term rental unless you live in the house, and does not have a Main Street. And a Brentwood address is not Brentwood: 277 of last year's 1,011 sales in the 37027 zip were in Davidson County, with Metro schools and Metro's tax rate.
02 · The sides
Three sides of the interstate, a ring of townhomes, and a zip code that keeps going.
West to east, then south. The high school column is the one most buyers read first; the build-year column is the one that explains the price. Brentwood's gated and club communities, Governors Club, Annandale, Witherspoon, Windstone, and Hampton Reserve, get their own guide and appear here only where they set a side's ceiling.
| Side | Where, and when | What you find | Last 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Franklin Road side1965–2026 · Brentwood High · west of I-65 | Franklin Road and Granny White Pike, from Old Hickory Boulevard south to Murray Lane | Meadow Lake's 317 houses from 1965 on 1.03 to 1.16 acres beside Hill Center, half of them now rebuilt; Belle Rive's 1979 to 2001 brick on 0.6 to 2 acres; McGavock Farms and Brentwood Country Club's 1988 to 2006 customs on the fairways; Stonehenge's 1977 half-acres at the interstate with a park and tennis courts. Scales Elementary, Brentwood Middle, Brentwood High on every one. Dues $300 to $540 a year, or none. | Belle Rive 14 · $1.96M · 40 days; Meadow Lake 10 · $3.89M; McGavock 11 · $2.15M; Stonehenge 7 · $875K |
| The Concord Road side1969–2026 · Brentwood High · east of I-65 | Concord Road from the library east to Wilson Pike | Brenthaven: 800-plus houses from 1969, most on 0.74 to 1.25 acres, no HOA, on the Crockett Park loop, with 1,769-square-foot originals at $385 a foot and 7,914-square-foot replacements at $610. Brentmeade's 275 customs from 1986 to 2020 on 0.86 to 1.41 acres at Wilson Pike, dues $100 to $150 and voluntary in places. Lipscomb or Edmondson, Brentwood Middle, Brentwood High. | Brenthaven 30 · $1.35M (originals $1.26M, new $4.63M); Brentmeade 25 · $1.875M |
| Wilson Pike & Moores Lane1987–2026 · Ravenwood · the Cool Springs edge | South of Concord toward the Galleria | Raintree Forest's 15 MLS sections from 1988 to 2006 on 0.31 to 0.96 acres, with a pool, tennis, and the greenway, dues $740 to $1,380, and its Reserve of 2020 to 2026 customs at $1,200 to $2,500 with its own pool and pickleball; Carriage Hills' 1987 to 1995 colonials on a third to a half acre, a mile from Ravenwood, dues $530 to $630. Crockett or Kenrose, Woodland Middle, Ravenwood. Governors Club and Witherspoon are the ceiling here. | Raintree 34 · $1.28M (established $1.11M, Reserve $2.75M); Carriage Hills 9 · $1.05M |
| The Split Log frontier2014–2026 · Ravenwood · the last farms | Split Log and Sunset Roads to the Nolensville line | Rosebrooke's 248 lots on 365 acres at Sunset and Split Log, Ford Classic, Insignia, and Aspen at $727 a foot for the custom work; Primm Farm and Telluride Manors by Drees and others; Calistoga's all-brick Turnberry houses on an acre off Sam Donald Road; Morgan Farms' 200 houses from 2014 with a pool, clubhouse, and chapel. Jordan or Kenrose, Sunset Middle, Ravenwood; the far edge zones Nolensville High, 45 sales last year at $2.1M. | Rosebrooke 21 · $4.93M · 60 days; Primm Farm 13 · $3.0M; Telluride 15 · $2.52M; Calistoga 12 · $2.11M |
| The townhome ring1979–2024 · mixed zones · the interstate ends | Old Hickory Boulevard, Franklin Road, and Moores Lane | Mooreland Estates' 1979 townhomes with a pond, dues $320 to $335 a month, Lipscomb and Brentwood High; Brentwood Pointe's 1984 to 1992 units at Moores Lane, $220 to $435, zoned Walnut Grove and Franklin or Centennial High, not Brentwood; St. Martin Square and Barrington Place, gated, 2006 to 2007; Courtside at Southern Woods; Shadow Springs, 2024, the new $930,000 townhome at $350 a month. | 116 attached · $405K; Mooreland 18 · $510K; Brentwood Pointe 24 · $373K; Shadow Springs 3 · $930K |
| The Davidson side of 370271936–2026 · Metro schools · not the city | North of Old Hickory Boulevard and east of Nolensville Road | Autumn Oaks, Fredericksburg, Hearthstone, Williams Grove, Hemmingwood, Cottonport, Cloverland Acres: 0.17-acre median lots, 2,563-square-foot houses, John Overton, Hillsboro, or Cane Ridge High, and Metro's tax rate. A Brentwood mailing address on every one of them, and none inside the city. | 277 sales · $635K · $263 / sq ft · 24 days |
Sources: MLS closed sales by subdivision, trailing 12 months to summer 2026 (nashvillehome.guru); Grant Hammond's six-month cut to September 2026 for Mooreland and Brentwood Pointe; the City of Brentwood and the Williamson Herald on the 1972 zoning and Maryland Farms. Jurisdiction checked against OpenStreetMap's city boundary: Brenthaven, Raintree Forest, Carriage Hills, Stonehenge, Belle Rive, and the Split Log frontier inside; Hearthstone, Fredericksburg, and Southern Woods across the line in Davidson County. Bands are for choosing a side, not pricing a house.
03 · Homes & market
What a house costs, and what you get for it.
The 37027 zip closed 1,011 sales last year from $210,000 to $9,327,883, at a $1.3 million median and $344 a foot. Strip out the Davidson County side and the city itself is 734 sales at $1,637,500 and $374 a foot, on a median 0.79 acres, in 14 days. The number that explains the rest is the build year: the market is two markets sharing one street.
Sources: MLS closed sales, trailing 12 months to summer 2026, as compiled by nashvillehome.guru for the 37027 zip (1,011), the Williamson and Davidson halves, new construction (118, August 2025 to August 2026), Brenthaven (30), Meadow Lake (10), Raintree Forest (34), Belle Rive (14), Brentmeade (25), Carriage Hills (9), Stonehenge (7), and the attached-home cut; its February 2026 report for the sale-to-list and supply figures (43 single-family closings, 88 days list to contract). Grant Hammond's six-month cut to September 2026 shows 461 closings at $1.32 million and $346 a foot, 349 active listings, and a 43-day median on market.
| Tier | What you get | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| TownhomeBrentwood Pointe, Mooreland, St. Martin Square, Barrington Place | 1979 to 2007, two or three bedrooms, dues of $220 to $705 a month with the exterior. Check the zone: Mooreland is Brentwood High, Brentwood Pointe is Franklin or Centennial, the Old Hickory ones are Metro. | $290K–$570K |
| Davidson-side houseAutumn Oaks, Fredericksburg, Hearthstone, Williams Grove | A 1980s house on a fifth of an acre with a Brentwood address, Metro schools, and Metro's tax bill. The cheapest detached house in the zip, and not in the city. | $535K–$800K |
| The half-acre originalStonehenge, Carriage Hills, Raintree Forest's first sections | 1977 to 2006, 1,556 to 3,853 sq ft on a third to a half acre, a park or a pool in the dues, Brentwood High at Stonehenge and Ravenwood at the other two. The floor for a Williamson-side house. | $875K–$1.11M |
| The acre originalBrenthaven, Brentmeade, Belle Rive | 1969 to 2001, 1,769 to 7,383 sq ft on 0.74 to 2 acres, no HOA or a nominal one, Brentwood High on all of it. Price it by the lot: 9 of 24 Brenthaven originals cut the price, a median $110,000, before they sold. | $1.26M–$1.96M |
| The club streetMcGavock Farms, Brentwood Country Club, Meadow Lake's originals | 1988 to 2006 customs of 3,183 to 8,086 sq ft on the fairways and the streets behind Hill Center, $433 to $578 a foot. Golf frontage without the membership, which is a separate contract. | $1.8M–$2.3M |
| New on the frontierCalistoga, Telluride Manors, Primm Farm, Raintree Reserve, Rosebrooke | 2020 to 2026 by Turnberry, Drees, Ford Classic, Insignia, and Aspen on half an acre to an acre, 14 days to contract, a third of them over asking. Ravenwood on all of it. | $2.1M–$4.9M |
| The teardown, rebuiltBrenthaven, Meadow Lake, Belle Rive, Concord Road | A 1965 lot with a 2024 house of 4,079 to 9,950 sq ft on it, $610 to $751 a foot, sold at 100 percent of ask. The top of the market: $9,327,883 on Concord Road, $839 a foot, and a $16 million active listing. | $4.6M–$9.3M |
- The 1960s ranchBrenthaven and Meadow Lake's first houses: one story or a split-level, brick, a carport later enclosed, on an acre of mature hardwoods. The lot is why it sells; the house is why it is torn down.
- The 1970s and 80s colonialBelle Rive, Stonehenge, Carriage Hills: two stories, symmetrical, brick front and siding sides, a two-car garage turned to the side, on a half acre to two. Most have had one kitchen already.
- The 1990s GeorgianBrentmeade, McGavock Farms, Raintree Forest, Brentwood Country Club: all brick, 3,500 to 7,000 sq ft, a two-story foyer, a bonus room over a three-car garage, on the Concord Road acre or the fairway.
- The builder house on an acreCalistoga, Primm Farm, Telluride Manors, Arcadia, by Turnberry and Drees: four or five bedrooms, all brick or brick and stone, ten-foot ceilings, a three-car garage, from a pattern book, $437 to $487 a foot.
- The rebuildWhat replaces the ranch: a painted-brick or board-and-batten transitional of 5,000 to 9,950 sq ft with a main-floor primary, a pool, and a detached garage with a room above, set back to the same line the ranch stood on.
- The townhomeMooreland's 1979 cedar-and-brick rows around a pond, Brentwood Pointe's 1980s units, St. Martin Square's gated 2006 brick, and Shadow Springs' 2024 three-story units at $930,000: the only way into the zip under $600,000.
| Line item | Notes | 2026 rate or cost |
|---|---|---|
| Williamson County property tax | Assessed at 25% of appraisal. The county's rate inside Brentwood | $1.30 per $100 |
| City of Brentwood property tax | Unchanged for 36 years; the county's combined total for the city is $1.49 | $0.19 per $100 |
| Special school district | None. Every city address is Williamson County Schools, and no Brentwood address pays the Franklin Special School District's $0.7673 | $0 |
| Metro Nashville property tax | The Davidson County side of the 37027 zip only; Metro's urban services rate | about $2.81 per $100 |
| HOA dues, acre subdivisions | Brenthaven and Meadow Lake none; Brentmeade $100–$150 and voluntary in places; Belle Rive $300–$540; Stonehenge $419–$447; Carriage Hills $530–$630; Raintree Forest $740–$1,380, its Reserve $1,200–$2,500 | $0–$2,500 / yr |
| HOA dues, townhomes | Brentwood Pointe $220–$435 a month; Mooreland $320–$335; St. Martin Square $450–$705; Shadow Springs $350, with the exterior | $2,640–$8,460 / yr |
| Garbage collection | Not a city service. Contract with Republic, Waste Management, GoRecycles, or Brentwood Disposal; the county's convenience centers take drop-offs | Quoted by hauler |
| Water and sewer | The city's own system for the central part of Brentwood, buying water from Harpeth Valley Utility District and Metro; HVUD or Nolensville/College Grove direct at the edges | City or district rates |
| The club | Brentwood Country Club on Franklin Road and Governors Club's Arnold Palmer course are separate memberships, not tied to the deed; frontage is not membership | On inquiry |
Worked example on the city's $1,637,500 median: assessed $409,375. County $5,322 + city $778 = about $6,100 a year in property tax, and no special district. The same house inside Franklin outside the FSSD would pay about $6,410; on the Davidson County side of the zip, about $11,520. A Brentwood Pointe townhome at $332,500: assessed $83,125; about $1,240 a year, plus $2,640 to $5,220 in dues. Sources: Williamson County 2026 rates and combined totals ($1.30 county, $1.49 in Brentwood, $1.566 in Franklin outside the FSSD); City of Brentwood FY2026–27 rate; nashvillehome.guru on Metro's rate and on HOA figures by subdivision.
04 · The city, and its rules
What a $0.19 city rate buys, and what you do yourself.
Brentwood runs lean on purpose. The things Franklin does for you and Brentwood does not are the surprises on the first month's bills; the things Brentwood does that nobody else does are why the streets look the way they do. As of September 2026:
| Question | The answer | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| The acreSince 1972 | Residential zoning is a one-acre minimum lot, adopted after the sewer plant opened in 1972 and kept, in the city's own words, under pressure to change it. Older sections platted before the ordinance, Stonehenge's half-acres and Carriage Hills' third-acres, are the exceptions, and the townhomes sit in the commercial ends. | You cannot split the lot. The lot is the asset, which is why a 1968 ranch on one sells for $1.26 million. |
| The shopsTwo ends only | Commerce is confined to the Old Hickory Boulevard end (Maryland Farms, Hill Center, Brentwood Place, City Hall) and the Moores Lane end at Cool Springs. The middle six miles of Franklin Road and Concord Road are houses, churches, schools, and parks. | Every errand is a drive to one end or the other. Meadow Lake, beside Hill Center, is the one walkable exception. |
| GarbageNot a city service | The city does not collect residential trash. Each household contracts a private hauler; the city names Republic Services, Waste Management, GoRecycles, and Brentwood Disposal and suggests asking the neighbors. Williamson County's convenience centers take household garbage, brush, and recycling. | One more bill, and three haulers' trucks on the same street on three different days. |
| Fire and policeThe city's own | Brentwood Fire & Rescue runs four stations: headquarters on Maryland Way, Wilson Pike, General George Patton Drive, and a fourth. The city created the department in the 1980s and bought the water company the same decade. Brentwood Police is its own force. | City fire and police for $0.19; the insurer's rating reflects it. |
| Water and sewerCity in the middle, districts at the edges | The city's water system serves the central part of Brentwood, buying from Harpeth Valley Utility District and Metro Water; it runs no treatment plant of its own. Harpeth Valley and the Nolensville/College Grove district serve the edges directly. Sewer is the city's. | Ask which system by address; the bill and the tap fee differ. |
| Short-term rentalsSection 78-19(e) | A rental of less than three months is not permitted in a residential zone unless the owner lives in the house full time. The city has cited homeowners who kept listing after being told to stop, and in 2024 it closed the loophole of renting the pool by the hour. | No Airbnb income on a Brentwood house. Plan the numbers without it. |
| Permits and the rebuildPlanning and Codes | Teardowns go through the city's Planning and Codes department: setbacks, height, tree preservation under the Tree Board's ordinance, and stormwater on the acre. Brenthaven and Meadow Lake have no architectural review board; the city is the only review. | The rebuild next door is legal by right. Yours is too. |
| Trees and parksWhere the $0.19 goes | Fifteen parks on more than a thousand acres, 12 miles of paved greenway, an Arbor Day every spring at the library, and Windy Hill, 52 acres on Old Smyrna Road, opened December 13, 2025. Crockett Park is 170 acres with the amphitheater; Smith Park is 397 with Ravenswood, six miles of hiking, and seven of singletrack. | The parks are the city's downtown. The summer calendar happens at one of them. |
In one line
Brentwood does fire, police, water, parks, and zoning, and leaves the trash, the Airbnb, and the walk to you. The acre rule is the whole city in one sentence.
05 · Schools
Two high schools, one fork in the road, and a zip code that lies.
Inside the city the question is which of two A-plus high schools, and the answer follows the road: Franklin Road and inner Concord Road go to Brentwood High through Brentwood Middle; Wilson Pike, Moores Lane, and Split Log go to Ravenwood through Woodland or Sunset Middle. No subdivision in this guide splits between them. Outside the city line, a Brentwood address can mean Franklin High, Centennial, Nolensville, or three Metro Nashville schools, and 349 of last year's 1,011 sales did.
| School | Grades | Neighborhoods | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scales ElementaryFranklin Road side · WCS | K–5 | Belle Rive, Meadow Lake, McGavock Farms, Brentwood Country Club, Stonehenge, Windstone | About 780 students; 80% math, 75% reading; top 5% in Tennessee. All 14 Belle Rive closings. |
| Lipscomb ElementaryConcord Road · WCS | PK–5 | Brenthaven, Mooreland Estates, Annandale, a corner of Brentmeade | About 570 students; 86% math, 76% reading; 9th of 1,008 Tennessee elementaries on SchoolDigger. |
| Edmondson ElementaryEdmondson Pike · WCS | K–5 | Brentmeade, Southern Woods | Top 20 in the state; five stars on SchoolDigger. |
| Brentwood MiddleMurray Lane · WCS | 6–8 | Every Scales, Lipscomb, and Edmondson address | Niche's 6th-ranked middle school in Tennessee. |
| Brentwood HighMurray Lane · WCS | 9–12 | The Franklin Road side and inner Concord Road | About 1,650 students; Niche A+. 362 of last year's sales zoned here, at a $1,477,500 median: the larger and cheaper of the two zones. |
| Crockett ElementaryConcord Road side · WCS | K–5 | Raintree Forest (29 of 34 closings), Governors Club, Witherspoon, Hampton Reserve | About 700 students; 81% math; top 20 in the state. |
| Kenrose ElementaryMoores Lane side · WCS | PK–5 | Carriage Hills, Morgan Farms, Raintree Forest's south end | About 700 students; 81% math, 74% reading. |
| Jordan ElementarySplit Log Road · WCS | PK–5 | Rosebrooke and the Split Log frontier | 17th of 1,008 in Tennessee; five stars. Feeds Sunset Middle. |
| Woodland MiddleConcord Road side · WCS | 6–8 | Crockett and Kenrose addresses | About 960 students; Niche's 2nd-ranked middle school in Tennessee. |
| Sunset MiddleSunset Road · WCS | 6–8 | Jordan and Sunset Elementary addresses | About 730 students; 12th in Tennessee. Splits to Ravenwood and Nolensville High by address. |
| Ravenwood HighWilson Pike · WCS | 9–12 | Wilson Pike, Moores Lane, and Split Log | About 1,975 students, 20:1; Niche A+, 3rd public high school in Tennessee. 299 sales zoned here at $1,810,000; 45 more at the Nolensville edge at $2.1M. |
| Not Brentwood's schoolsWith a Brentwood address | K–12 | Brentwood Pointe and the Moores Lane townhomes; everything north of the county line | Franklin or Centennial High for 28 sales at $440K–$675K; John Overton (195 sales, $685K), Hillsboro (56, $707,500), and Cane Ridge (25, $500K) in Metro Nashville. |
Sources: WCS zoning as recorded on 2025–26 MLS closings by subdivision (Belle Rive 14 of 14, Meadow Lake 10 of 10, Brenthaven 30 of 30, Brentmeade 25 of 25, Raintree Forest 34 of 34, Carriage Hills 9 of 9, Stonehenge 7 of 7, Rosebrooke); the high-school counts from the 37027 zip cut; NCES, Niche, U.S. News, Public School Review, and SchoolDigger enrollment and ratings. Confirm any address with the WCS zone finder; the district redraws lines when it opens a school, and Sunset Middle already splits.
- Brentwood AcademyGrades 6–12 on Granny White Pike, inside the city; the independent school most Brentwood families mean when they say private.
- Currey Ingram AcademyK–12 on an 83-acre Brentwood campus for students who learn differently; small classes, boarding for the upper school.
- Christ Presbyterian Academy & Franklin Road AcademyCPA on Old Hickory Boulevard for a Christian K–12; FRA on Franklin Road just over the county line, PK–12.
- Lipscomb Academy & Harding AcademyThe Green Hills and Belle Meade independents up Granny White and Hillsboro Pike.
- Montgomery Bell Academy, Harpeth Hall & EnsworthThe west Nashville single-sex schools and Ensworth's Highway 100 campus; the Franklin Road side is closest.
- Battle Ground AcademyPK–12 in Franklin, the other direction: 15 minutes from the Concord Road side down Wilson Pike or Franklin Road.
- The church preschoolsBrentwood Baptist on Concord Road, Brentwood United Methodist on Franklin Road, and the congregations along both run the weekday programs with the longest waiting lists in the city.
- Maryland Farms and Cool SpringsThe corporate-corridor centers at the two commercial ends, on the way to the office.
- The YMCA and the county pre-KBrentwood Family YMCA on Concord Road for the after-school and summer programs; WCS pre-K at Lipscomb, Kenrose, and Jordan by lottery.
06 · Getting around
The drive, honestly timed.
Times are from Franklin Road at Church Street, the center of the Franklin Road side, on a weekday morning between 7 and 8:30. The Concord Road side adds five minutes to Nashville and seven to the interstate, and subtracts them from Cool Springs. The commute is the reason Brentwood exists: downtown Nashville is 10.6 miles, the shortest in this series by half.
Mobility scores
Meadow Lake to Hill Center, and the townhomes at the two ends to a grocery. Everywhere else the acre and the zoning put the nearest coffee two miles away, and the older sections have no sidewalks.
Twelve miles of paved greenway link Crockett, River, Concord, and Smith Parks, the YMCA, and the library, and the new Franklin Road section carries a ten-foot trail. The roads themselves have no shoulder.
None inside the city. Franklin Transit stops at its own line and Metro's WeGo buses at theirs; the nearest park-and-ride is on the interstate.
The I-65 ramps at Old Hickory and Concord from 7:30 to 9 and 5 to 6:30, and Franklin Road when a wreck on the interstate sends everyone onto it. Concord Road carries 20,000 cars a day and I-65 through the county 120,000; TDOT widened Franklin Road to five lanes from Concord to Moores Lane, and Concord Road is mid-upgrade.
07 · Daily life
Where the week actually happens.
- Hill CenterThe 17 acres at Franklin Road and Maryland Way, opened 2016: Del Frisco's Grille, Uncle Julio's, Nama, Holler & Dash, and the patios. Brentwood's dining room, and Meadow Lake's front yard.
- Mere BullesIn Maryland Manor, the 1942 house Truman Ward built from salvaged brick at the center of his horse farm, on Maryland Way since the office park grew around it. The anniversary dinner.
- Puffy MuffinThe bakery and lunch room at 229 Franklin Road that has fed every school fundraiser in the city; the cake comes from here.
- The Franklin Road strip55 South, Karrington Rowe, and the Brentwood Place and Maryland Farms rooms between Old Hickory and Church Street: the weeknight table.
- Cool Springs & McEwenThe Galleria corridor and McEwen Northside, the Concord Road side's nearer end.
- Main Street, and the musicDowntown Franklin's rooms are 15 minutes down Franklin Road; we track the shows nightly.
- CremaThe Nashville roaster's Brentwood room in Brentwood Place on Franklin Road; the serious cup in the city.
- Just Love & The PerchJust Love's fair-trade room open 7 to 7, and the Perch for crepes and waffles with the coffee.
- Silver FoxThe newest, with house pastries; the one the Concord Road side claims.
- The Coffee AtlasTwenty Franklin shops, ranked by the community, 15 minutes south.
- Kroger at Brentwood Place330 Franklin Road, the Franklin Road side's grocery run since the 1980s.
- Publix at Maryland Farms & the Fresh Market at Hill CenterThe other two at the north end, a mile apart.
- Target at Old Hickory & I-65The north end's big box, with the Old Hickory Boulevard strip around it.
- Costco, Whole Foods & the GalleriaSeaboard Lane, McEwen, and the mall at the south end: the Concord Road side's run.
- City Hall, theirs and oursBrentwood's is on Maryland Way; permits, water bills, and the Tree Board go there. We cover Franklin's, 15 minutes south, and the county.
- Storefronts we've profiledLocal businesses, one at a time.
- Crockett Park170 acres on Concord Road: the two-mile loop, the fields, the Eddy Arnold Amphitheater, and the Cool Springs House, moved here in 1974. Brenthaven's back yard.
- Marcella Vivrette Smith Park397 acres off Wilson Pike with Ravenswood, the 1825 mansion, six miles of hiking, and seven of mountain-bike singletrack since 2024. The largest park in the city, and the one Raintree Forest walks to.
- Windy Hill Park52 acres on Old Smyrna Road, opened December 13, 2025: a 400-meter loop, playground, workout stations, and a greenway link. The city's 15th park.
- River Park & Concord ParkThe two-mile path along the Little Harpeth that ties Crockett to Concord Park, the spine of the 12-mile greenway.
- Deerwood Arboretum & Granny White ParkThe Franklin Road side's two: 27 acres of labeled trees on the river, and the ball fields and playground on Granny White Pike.
- The clubs, and Radnor LakeBrentwood Country Club on Franklin Road and Governors Club's Arnold Palmer course, private; Radnor Lake State Park is five minutes north of the Old Hickory end.
- Williamson Medical CenterThe county hospital and 24-hour ER at Carothers and Mack Hatcher, ten minutes from the Concord Road side.
- Maryland Farms medicalThe office park is half clinics: Vanderbilt, Ascension Saint Thomas, and the specialists, on Maryland Way and Virginia Way.
- Brentwood Family YMCAOn Concord Road beside the library and Crockett Park, on the greenway.
- Lap swimmingThe Williamson County Indoor Sports Complex pool at Crockett Park year round; the subdivision pools at Raintree, Morgan Farms, and the townhomes in season.
- Working from homeOr at the office park: UnitedHealth's 3,083 and Tractor Supply's 2,000 are the two largest employers, both inside the city. Fiber is citywide.
- John P. Holt Brentwood LibraryThe city's own, at Concord Road and I-65: the tree lighting, Arbor Day, and the room everyone's book club meets in.
08 · The year
What the city does together.
With no downtown, the calendar happens at Crockett Park and the library. The city's own days, and the two Franklin ones that pull Brentwood south:
- SpringArbor DayThe Tree Board's Saturday at the library, with the seedling giveaway. The city's biggest turnout for anything that is not a concert.
- MaySummer Concert Series opensMay 31, 2026, 6 to 8, at the Eddy Arnold Amphitheater in Crockett Park: the British Invasion set. Food trucks from 5; free; park at the amphitheater. June 14 is the classic-rock night.
- JuneBrentFestSaturday, June 27, 2026, 6 to 9 at Crockett Park: dueling pianos and Rubiks Groove. Sixth year.
- JulyRed, White & BoomJuly 4 at Crockett Park, 5 to 10: food trucks, the America 250 program, the Downtown Band at 7, fireworks at 9. The Brenthaven lawns are the overflow seating.
- SummerBrentwood Farmers MarketThursday afternoons, 4 to 7, at 7100 Executive Center Drive in Maryland Farms, producer-only, mid-May to mid-October. Confirm the season's dates with the market before you plan a week around it.
- SeptemberPilgrimageThe festival at Harlinsdale in Franklin the last weekend of the month; Franklin Road is the Brentwood way in, and the way home is slow.
- OctoberVetFest & Heroes StrollSaturday, October 3, 2026: VetLinx's ninth annual, the city's veterans day.
- NovemberHoliday paradeThe Chamber's parade down Franklin Road the Saturday after Thanksgiving, 44th in 2026, with the city's tree lighting after it.
- DecemberTree lightingMonday, December 7, 2026, 5:30 at the John P. Holt Brentwood Library.
09 · Trade-offs
The case for, and the case against.
What you gain
- The commute. 10.6 miles to a downtown Nashville desk, 16 minutes when the interstate is clear, and Cool Springs in eight. No other Williamson County address is closer to both.
- Two A-plus high schools, no line to read. Brentwood High or Ravenwood by road, with the state's second- and sixth-ranked middle schools feeding them, and every subdivision in this guide zoned as one.
- The acre. A 0.79-acre median lot under trees the city protects, on a street that cannot be subdivided, ten minutes from a Costco.
- A city rate of $0.19, for 36 years. $1.49 combined, no special district, about $6,100 a year on the median house, with city fire, police, and water for it.
- The parks. Fifteen of them on more than a thousand acres, 12 miles of greenway, an amphitheater, and a 397-acre park with an 1825 mansion in it, all in the $0.19.
What you give up
- The price. $1,637,500 for the median house inside the city, $374 a foot for a used one and $519 for a new one, and 137 sales a year under $1 million, most of them townhomes.
- The neighbor's rebuild. The 1968 ranch next door is a $4.6 million house in eighteen months, with a dumpster and a framing crew in between, and no review board to slow it.
- Selling an original. The used house sells at 96 percent of ask after a $110,000 cut, 27 Brenthaven listings expired or cancelled last year, and 74 percent of February's sales closed below asking. The new one sells over ask in 14 days.
- Service. No trash pickup, no transit, no Airbnb, no sidewalks in the older sections, and no downtown to walk to.
- The address that is not the city. A quarter of Brentwood sales are Davidson County, Metro schools, and Metro's $2.81; the mailing address will not tell you which side you are on.
The verdict
Buy the side, then the house. The Franklin Road side if the reason is Brentwood High, Hill Center, and the shortest drive to Nashville. The Concord Road side if it is Brenthaven's acre without an HOA and Crockett Park at the end of the street. Wilson Pike and Moores Lane if it is Ravenwood at the lowest price it comes at, in Carriage Hills or Raintree's first sections. The Split Log frontier if it is new construction and a builder's warranty. And a townhome at Mooreland if the reason is the zip and Brentwood High for $510,000. Whatever the reason, check the county line before the school line, and price a used house by the lot, because that is what the buyer is paying for.
10 · Map
Where it sits.
Forty-one square miles between the Davidson County line at Old Hickory Boulevard and Franklin's line at Moores Lane, split by I-65. Franklin Road and Granny White Pike run the west side; Concord Road crosses the interstate at the library and forks at Wilson Pike toward Cool Springs and Split Log Road toward Nolensville. The 37027 zip keeps going north past Old Hickory into Nashville.
11 · Questions
What people ask before they move here.
Is every 37027 address in Brentwood?
No. The 37027 zip crosses the county line at Old Hickory Boulevard into Davidson County, and 277 of the 1,011 homes sold with a Brentwood address last year were on the Nashville side: Metro Nashville schools (John Overton, Hillsboro, Cane Ridge), Metro's property tax of about $2.81 per $100 of assessed value, and a $635,000 median on a 0.17-acre lot. The City of Brentwood is entirely in Williamson County; its 734 sales had a $1,637,500 median on 0.79 acres, Williamson County Schools, and a $1.49 rate. Autumn Oaks, Fredericksburg, Hearthstone, Williams Grove, Hemmingwood, and Southern Woods are the Davidson side. Check the county on the tax record, not the mailing label.
Which neighborhoods go to Brentwood High, and which to Ravenwood?
Brentwood High takes the Franklin Road side and the inner Concord Road neighborhoods: Belle Rive, Meadow Lake, McGavock Farms, Brentwood Country Club, Stonehenge, Windstone, and Annandale through Scales or Lipscomb Elementary, and Brenthaven and Brentmeade through Lipscomb or Edmondson, all by way of Brentwood Middle. Ravenwood takes the Wilson Pike, Moores Lane, and Split Log Road side: Raintree Forest, Carriage Hills, Governors Club, Witherspoon, Hampton Reserve, Morgan Farms, and Rosebrooke, through Crockett, Kenrose, or Jordan Elementary and Woodland or Sunset Middle. Last year 362 sales zoned Brentwood High at a $1,477,500 median and 299 zoned Ravenwood at $1,810,000; the far edge of the Sunset Middle zone goes to Nolensville High, 45 sales at $2.1 million.
What is the property tax?
$1.49 per $100 of assessed value for tax year 2026: Williamson County's $1.30 plus the city's $0.19, which the commission has left alone for 36 years. Assessment is 25 percent of appraisal, so the median house at $1,637,500 pays about $6,100 a year, $5,322 of it to the county. The same house inside Franklin outside the special school district would pay about $6,410, and inside the FSSD about $9,180; on the Davidson County side of the zip, about $11,520. No Brentwood address pays a special school district.
Does the city pick up the trash?
No. Brentwood does not provide residential garbage collection. Every household contracts its own hauler; the city lists Republic Services, Waste Management, GoRecycles, and Brentwood Disposal and suggests asking the HOA or the neighbors, and Williamson County's convenience centers take household garbage, brush, debris, and recycling. The city does run its own fire department with four stations, its own police, and its own water and sewer system for the central part of the city, buying water from Harpeth Valley Utility District and Metro.
Can I rent it on Airbnb?
Not unless you live in it full time. A rental of less than three months is not permitted in a residential zone except by an owner who occupies the house, under section 78-19(e) of the municipal code. Enforcement is active: the city has cited homeowners who kept listing after being notified, and in 2024 it wrote the rule to cover renting the pool or the yard by the hour. Long-term leases are governed by each subdivision's covenants, where there are any; Brenthaven and Meadow Lake have none.
Why does a new house sell over asking while the one next door sits?
Because they are two markets. New construction, 118 closings last year at a $2.81 million median, went to contract in a median 14 days with 37 over asking; the rebuilt houses in Brenthaven and Meadow Lake sold at 100 percent of ask. The originals on the same streets sold at 96 percent after price cuts, a median $110,000 in Brenthaven, and 27 Brenthaven listings expired or cancelled. A 1969 house is being bought for its lot by a builder or by a family who will renovate, and both price it that way; the seller who prices it as a finished house waits. Citywide, 74 percent of February's single-family sales closed below asking and listings took 88 days to contract.
How does Brentwood compare to Franklin?
Closer to Nashville by ten miles, more expensive by $700,000 at the median ($1.32 million to $949,995 on Grant Hammond's six-month cut), the same price per foot ($346 to $345), and a different kind of city. Franklin has a Main Street, a special school district on part of it, city trash pickup, transit, and Westhaven-style density; Brentwood has the acre, no downtown, private haulers, and two high schools that both rank in the state's top five. Franklin's combined rate is $1.566 outside the FSSD and $2.2433 inside it against Brentwood's $1.49. The Cool Springs guide covers the Franklin side of the same Galleria; the gated Franklin guide covers the same product as Brentwood's estate communities, on the other side of the line.
12 · Compare
If you like Brentwood, also look at.
Brentwood's estate & club communities.
Governors Club, Annandale, Witherspoon, Windstone, Hampton Reserve: the top of this city, with the gate, the golf, and the membership questions.
The ceilingCool Springs & East Franklin.
The other side of the Galleria: the same corridor, Franklin's schools and services, and a median $700,000 lower.
Same Galleria, half the priceFranklin's gated & estate communities.
Laurelbrooke, Legends Ridge, Temple Hills: the acre with a gate, on the county side of the line, with no city tax at all.
No city taxSources & method
- Sales, medians, ranges, price per square foot, days to contract, sale-to-list ratios, price cuts, expired-listing counts, home and lot sizes, build years, HOA figures, and school zoning counts: MLS closed sales, trailing 12 months to summer 2026, as compiled by nashvillehome.guru for the 37027 zip (1,011 sales, with the Williamson and Davidson County halves, the eight high-school zones, and the top subdivisions), the city's new-construction cut (118 closings, August 2025 to August 2026), the under-$1 million cut (193), the attached-home cut, and its subdivision pages for Brenthaven (30), Brentmeade (25), Belle Rive (14), Meadow Lake (10), Raintree Forest (34, with the Reserve split), Carriage Hills (9), Stonehenge (7), and the ten-neighborhood roundup (Governors Club 25, Witherspoon 15, McGavock Farms 11, Brentwood Country Club 9, Annandale 5, Windstone 4, Hampton Reserve 4); its February 2026 market report for the sale-to-list share, months of supply, and list-to-contract days. Grant Hammond's Brentwood report, six months to September 7, 2026, for the citywide comparison to Franklin, active inventory, the Mooreland and Brentwood Pointe counts, and the top sale and listing.
- City facts: the City of Brentwood on incorporation (April 15, 1969), the one-acre ordinance, garbage service, water and sewer, fire stations, the events calendar, and property tax; the Williamson Herald's "Brentwood: a rags to riches tale" and Williamson Source on Maryland Farms (Truman Ward, 1937 to 1970, first building 1974) and Maryland Manor (1942); the 2020 census (45,373; 41.5 square miles); Wikipedia and the city on the parks (Crockett 170 acres, Smith Park 397, Windy Hill 52, opened December 13, 2025), employers, and the Cool Springs House; the Williamson Scene and Citizen Portal on the FY2026–27 rate and its 36 unchanged years; the Brentwood municipal code, section 78-19(e), and the Williamson Scene on short-term rentals.
- Jurisdiction: OpenStreetMap's City of Brentwood boundary, checked by reverse-geocoding a point in each subdivision (Brenthaven, Raintree Forest, Carriage Hills, Stonehenge, Belle Rive, and the Split Log frontier inside; Hearthstone, Fredericksburg, and Southern Woods in Davidson County). Confirm any one lot by parcel with the county.
- Tax rates: Williamson County 2026 property tax rates page (county $1.30; Brentwood $0.19; combined $1.49; Franklin $1.566 outside the FSSD and $2.2433 inside it); nashvillehome.guru's 37027 page for Metro Nashville's rate (about $2.814).
- Schools: WCS zoning as recorded on MLS closings by subdivision; NCES, Niche, U.S. News, Public School Review, and SchoolDigger on Scales, Lipscomb, Edmondson, Crockett, Kenrose, Jordan, Brentwood Middle, Woodland, Sunset, Brentwood High, and Ravenwood; Private School Review and the schools on tuition (Brentwood Academy, Franklin Road Academy, MBA, BGA).
- Commute: OpenStreetMap routing (OSRM) free-flow times from Franklin Road at Church Street, Brenthaven, Carriage Hills, and Raintree Forest, with a weekday 7 to 8:30 a.m. allowance from Google Maps typical traffic; nashvillehome.guru and the Nashville's MLS drive-time guide on the rush-hour windows; TDOT and the Williamson Scene on the Franklin Road and Concord Road projects.
- Daily life: Hill Center Brentwood and the Williamson Herald on the center (17 acres, 2016); Mere Bulles on Maryland Manor; Puffy Muffin; Kroger, Publix, and Costco store locators; the City of Brentwood on parks, greenways, and the library; Brentwood Parks on Smith Park's trails.
- Events: City of Brentwood on the 2026 Summer Concert Series (May 31, June 14, BrentFest June 27, Red, White & Boom July 4) and the December 7, 2026 tree lighting; Williamson Source on VetFest (October 3, 2026); the Brentwood Chamber on the holiday parade; the market's own listing for the farmers market (Thursdays 4 to 7 at 7100 Executive Center Drive, mid-May to mid-October; dates unconfirmed for 2026); WKRN on Arbor Day; Visit Franklin on Pilgrimage.
- Photograph: Brentwood City Hall, 2011, by Concord715, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (File:Brentwood_Tennessee_Town_Hall.jpg); cropped to 4:3.