Williamson County, TN: every town compared on price, tax and schools

Williamson County at a glance

Williamson County towns and nearby cities: Zillow home values

Zillow Home Value Index (Zillow's typical home value: the middle of the market, all home types, smoothed and seasonally adjusted), September 2026. City figures cover each city's limits.

Which Williamson County town to tour first

Start with your budget, then look at the yearly tax, because the two pull against each other here. The county's highest values sit in the places with the lowest 2026 rates, and the two towns under $600,000 pay the highest rates outside Franklin's school district. A cheaper house can still carry a bigger share of its price in tax.

If your budget is around $700,000 to $750,000, tour Thompson's Station first: Zillow's typical value is $728,431 and the town adds only 10.3 cents to the county's $1.30 rate. Under $600,000, go to Spring Hill on its Williamson side or Fairview, and budget their higher rates into the monthly payment.

Rates come from the Williamson County Trustee's 2026 rate sheet; tax is value × 25% × rate ÷ 100. Miles are free-flow driving routes from each town's center (OpenStreetMap routing), so add rush-hour time yourself.

Williamson County under $600,000: Spring Hill and Fairview

These are the only two Williamson towns where Zillow's typical value is under $600,000. Both are on the county's edge, and their 2026 city rates (73.9 and 84 cents) push the combined rate past $2.

Spring Hill, the cheapest Williamson County entry

At $518,832, Spring Hill's typical home costs about 43% less than Franklin's. The city straddles the Maury County line, so the county you land in decides your school system and the county portion of your tax bill. On the Williamson side the combined 2026 rate is $2.009, about $2,606 a year on the typical home.

The catch: from the city center it's about 33 miles to downtown Nashville, and Maury-side homes pay Maury County's own rate, which you'll need from the Maury County Trustee because Maury reappraised in 2026.

Fairview, on the I-40 side of the county

Fairview faces west toward Dickson and I-40 rather than I-65, with 722-acre Bowie Nature Park inside the city. Its typical value is $535,208. The city rate rose from 59 to 84 cents in 2026, which added about $335 to the typical bill, now $2,864. You save on the house and give part of it back every year in tax.

The middle of the Williamson County market: Thompson's Station and Nolensville

Between $700,000 and $850,000 you have two incorporated towns, south and east of Franklin, at 10.3 and 34 cents of city tax.

Thompson's Station, the lowest incorporated rate in Williamson County

Thompson's Station's town rate has stayed at 10.3 cents since at least 2023, so its combined $1.403 is the lowest of any incorporated town in the county. That's about $2,555 a year on the $728,431 typical home: less tax than Spring Hill pays on a house $210,000 cheaper. Utilities are the thing to check here: town sewer reaches only certain subdivisions.

Nolensville, east of Franklin and close to Nashville

Nolensville sits about 16 miles from downtown Nashville and about 14 from Franklin, so it suits a Nashville or Brentwood office as well as a Cool Springs one. The typical home is $834,285, roughly $79,000 under Franklin, and the 2026 bill on it is about $3,421. The catch is the route: there's no interstate, and Nolensville Road, the main way north, runs through the town's historic district.

Williamson County's top price band: Brentwood and Franklin

Brentwood and Franklin hold the county's main office parks (Maryland Farms and Cool Springs) and the two highest typical values of any Williamson town.

Brentwood, the highest typical value in Williamson County

Brentwood charges the lowest city rate of any Williamson city that levies one, 19 cents, yet sends the biggest typical bill: about $5,174 on $1,388,985. It's about 10 miles from downtown Nashville. Brentwood zones 90% of its land residential and only 5% commercial, so most of the city is subdivisions.

Franklin, the county seat

Franklin's typical home is $913,277, up 3.02% in a year. Inside the city two jurisdictions sit side by side: the regular city rate ($1.566) and the city plus FSSD ($2.2433). That line alone is worth about $1,546 a year on the typical home. Its largest employers include Williamson Medical Center, Community Health Systems and Nissan, which our guide to Franklin's major employers lists.

Franklin neighborhoods compared

Franklin has its own breakdown: the Franklin neighborhoods overview sorts 18 neighborhoods by the same trade-offs, from planned communities with shops inside like Westhaven to older streets near downtown. Zillow tracks Franklin areas from Southall ($570,803) to McLemore ($1,415,604), so the city alone spans most of the county's range.

Rural Williamson County: the unincorporated villages

Leiper's Fork, College Grove and Arrington have no city government. Each pays only the county's $1.30 rate, has its own county special area plan, and uses a Franklin, College Grove or Arrington mailing address. Zillow doesn't track them as cities, so the figures below are ZIP values, pulled up by large lots and club communities.

Leiper's Fork, west of Franklin

Leiper's Fork is about 9 miles from downtown Franklin. Homes generally carry Franklin 37064 addresses, and the county's village district zoning governs the main street. Rural county zoning surrounds the village, so on acreage the questions are water, septic and road frontage as much as the house.

College Grove, in the southeast corner

College Grove's 37046 ZIP value of $1,295,361 is the county's highest ZIP figure, and the ZIP includes gated golf communities with large new homes. Outside the gates it's farmland at the county-only rate. It's the longest drive on this list, about 34 miles to downtown Nashville.

Arrington, between Franklin and Triune

Arrington is about 10 miles from Franklin, and the county adopted a village plan for it in March 2025 that says the plan is not meant to bring new development. At the 37014 ZIP value of $1,278,009, county-only tax is about $4,154 a year.

Land for sale in Williamson County

Williamson County's rural acreage sits around these three villages and in the unincorporated county between them. Before you price a parcel, ask whether it has public water or needs a well, whether the soil has been tested for septic, and which zoning district applies. The county planning department publishes each village's special area plan, and every rural parcel pays the $1.30 county-only rate unless it sits inside a city.

Three lines that set your Williamson County tax, schools and utilities

A Franklin or Spring Hill mailing address doesn't tell you which jurisdiction a home is in. Three boundaries do, and each one shows on the parcel record in the Williamson County Assessor's property search.

City limits in Williamson County

A home with a Franklin address can sit outside the city and pay the county-only $1.30. On the county's $916,175 typical value, being inside Franklin's limits adds about $609 a year, before any FSSD levy. City limits also decide trash pickup, police and which utility serves the street.

The FSSD boundary

The Franklin Special School District (FSSD) runs PreK-8 schools inside its boundary, and its students then attend Williamson County Schools (WCS) high schools. Its levy is 76.73 cents per $100 assessed in 2026. Check any Franklin address on the FSSD district map and the WCS school zones lookup; our Franklin schools guide explains how the two systems split.

The Maury County line through Spring Hill

Spring Hill sits in two counties. On the Maury side, schools are Maury County Public Schools and the county tax comes from Maury County, not Williamson. Confirm the county on the parcel record before you compare a Spring Hill listing with anything else in this table.

Why Williamson County, TN is so expensive

The cost is in the house price far more than the tax. Zillow's typical Williamson County home is $916,175, more than twice Davidson County's $424,273. With 20% down at Freddie Mac's 7.4% average, that's about $2,725 a month more in principal and interest; the county-only tax on the Williamson home adds about $248 a month.

That gap has widened: Williamson rose 2.86% in the year to September 2026 while Davidson fell 2.57%. Our cost of living in Tennessee comparison sets the county beside the state's other metros.

Williamson County vs Davidson County home values

If you're weighing a Nashville address against a Williamson one, the same budget buys very different things. At $500,000 you're above Nashville's $425,889 typical home, and in Williamson County you're below the typical home in every town, with Spring Hill and Fairview the closest. Our comparison of Nashville suburbs sets Williamson against Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner towns.

Franklin's ten-year value change

Franklin's typical value is up 109.8% in ten years and was at its peak in September 2026, so don't expect Nashville-style price cuts here. The Franklin housing market report tracks the monthly figures.

Where is Williamson County, Tennessee?

Williamson County is directly south of Nashville and Davidson County, with Franklin as its county seat. It covers 584 square miles and borders Davidson, Rutherford, Marshall, Maury, Hickman, Dickson and Cheatham counties. I-65 runs north and south through Brentwood and Franklin, SR-840 crosses the south of the county, and I-40 clips the northwest corner near Fairview. For maps and the city's own boundaries, see where Franklin sits in Tennessee.

Cities and towns in Williamson County

The incorporated places are Franklin, Brentwood, Spring Hill (partly in Maury County), Nolensville, Thompson's Station, Fairview and a small piece of Smyrna, which is mostly in Rutherford County. Each of the first six has a city or town tax rate on top of the county's. Leiper's Fork, College Grove and Arrington are named communities without city governments.

How to shortlist Williamson County towns in one weekend

Use the table above, then cut the list with three questions.

Your Williamson County budget and yearly tax

Run the price you'd pay through the Williamson County property tax calculator for each town on your list. On a $500,000 home the 2026 bill runs from about $1,625 county-only to $2,804 in Franklin's FSSD area; the Williamson County property tax guide explains why.

Your commute from each Williamson County town

Map your office first. Nolensville and Brentwood are the shortest drives to Nashville; Thompson's Station, Spring Hill and Arrington are closer to Franklin and Cool Springs than to downtown. Drive the route at rush hour before you commit.

WCS, FSSD or Maury County schools

Decide which school system you want, then check each address in that system's own lookup. Don't rely on the listing's school names: assignments are set by the district and can change.

If you're still out of state, Bill can tour the shortlisted towns with you in person or by video; start from the Relocating to Franklin home page to reach him.