Neighborhood Report

East Nashville / Five Points, Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville's creative east bank: streetcar era porch streets around Five Points, where remote workers fill the cafes by day and the venues fill by night, about two miles across the Cumberland River from downtown.

Best for a Specific Need Angle: Best for remote workers and creatives Price band: Mid Data checked October 14, 2026

The short version

East Nashville / Five Points

Median $567,253 Walk Score 88 in the Five Points core About 2 miles to Downtown Nashville

The Woodland Street Bridge over the Cumberland River, seen from the East Nashville riverfront — The Woodland Street Bridge over the Cumberland River, from the East Nashville riverfront, 2022. Photo by Antony-22, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

At a Glance

Affordability 6.5/10 Median sale price, East Nashville$567,253Redfin, June 2026 1 year price changeDown 5.5% year over yearRedfin, June 2026 Average one-bedroom apartment rent, East Nashville$1,592 per monthApartments.com, July 2026 Priced above the Nashville middle and well under the downtown side of the river, and the year over year dip takes a little heat out of a market that ran hard for a decade.

Walkability 8.5/10 Walk Score, East End (the Five Points core)88 out of 100Walk Score, neighborhood Transit Score, East End38 out of 100Walk Score, neighborhood Bike Score, East End52 out of 100Walk Score, neighborhood The core genuinely runs on foot: coffee, groceries, dinner, and a show inside a short walk. The score fades as the streets climb into Lockeland Springs and Eastwood, where the car comes back.

Housing Variety 8/10 Housing stock, East NashvilleSingle-family homes make up about 68% of the housing mix, and roughly half of homes were built before 1970ApartmentList research, September 2026 Victorians and Craftsman bungalows, new infill pairs, duplexes, and the odd garage apartment: a remote worker can rent a porch, buy a bungalow, or take the new build with the roof deck.

Daily Life 9/10 Cafes that welcome laptops, a record store and studio culture with real history behind it, Shelby Park and the Shelby Bottoms greenway at the bottom of the hill, and a food scene deep enough to eat out nightly for months.

Commute 7.5/10 Distance to Downtown NashvilleAbout 2 milesEsri map measure, October 2026 Bus to DowntownWeGo routes 4 (Shelby) and 56 (Gallatin Pike) from Five PointsWeGo Public Transit schedules, 2026 Downtown is a short drive or bus ride across the Woodland Street Bridge, and the airport run is manageable. The commute most residents actually make is to a desk at home, and this neighborhood is built for exactly that.

Tennessee cost notes. Tennessee levies no state income tax on wages; the old Hall tax on interest and dividends was fully repealed on January 1, 2021. Sales tax carries more of the load: the combined rate in Nashville is 9.25 percent. Property tax in Nashville and Davidson County runs at a combined $2.814 per $100 of assessed value in the Urban Services District for FY2026, and homes are assessed at 25 percent of appraised value, so a home at the East Nashville median carries roughly $4,000 a year in property tax before exemptions.

Map of East Nashville in context, with a pin on Five Points and Downtown Nashville across the Cumberland River — East Nashville in context, across the Cumberland River from Downtown Nashville, pin on Five Points. Map: Esri, HERE, Garmin, © OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS user community.

The Story

East Nashville began as the far side of the river: farmland and the estates of Edgefield, the suburb that grew up across the Woodland Street crossings from downtown. When streetcar lines reached over the Cumberland in the late 1800s, developers subdivided the old estates into Lockeland Springs and East End, gridded streets of Victorian and Queen Anne houses, then Craftsman bungalows, marketed to families who wanted porch air and a short ride to work. That grid, and that housing stock, is still the neighborhood's skeleton.

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On the morning of March 22, 1916, wind did the damage. A fire that started near a planing mill in Edgefield ran through the frame houses for five hours before firefighters brought it under control. The Nashville Public Library's account counts more than 600 buildings destroyed across 35 blocks and more than 3,000 people left homeless, with a single fatality. East Nashville rebuilt on the same lots, largely in the Craftsman and bungalow styles that define its streets today, which is why so much of the housing stock dates to the years right after the fire.

Twice since, tornadoes have crossed nearly the same ground. An F3 tornado tore through East Nashville on April 16, 1998. In the early hours of March 3, 2020, an EF3 tornado followed a strikingly similar path through Five Points, gutting the Basement East music venue on Woodland Street hours after a rally crowd had gone home. Staff inside were unhurt. One partial wall survived, carrying the venue's mural: I Believe in Nashville. Co-owner Mike Grimes spent the next year repeating a promise to anyone who asked: we will rise. The venue rebuilt and reopened on March 4, 2021, a year and a day after the storm.

The pattern is the place. East Nashville's creative economy, the studios around Five Points including Woodland Studios, the record shops, the small venues, sits in buildings that fire and storms have tested repeatedly, on streets laid out for streetcars. Remote workers did not invent this neighborhood's work from home culture; they moved into a place that had been mixing houses, workshops, and small businesses on the same blocks for a century.

Photographs of East Nashville after the Great Fire of 1916 — East Nashville after the Great Fire of March 22, 1916. Photographs via Historic Nashville, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Timeline

Late 1800s: Streetcar lines cross the Cumberland River; Lockeland Springs and East End are subdivided from the Edgefield estates as streetcar suburbs.
March 22, 1916: The Great Fire destroys more than 600 buildings across 35 blocks of Edgefield and East Nashville; more than 3,000 people are left homeless.
1916 to 1930s: The neighborhood rebuilds on its streetcar grid, largely in Craftsman and bungalow styles.
April 16, 1998: An F3 tornado crosses East Nashville.
March 3, 2020: An EF3 tornado crosses Five Points on a similar path, destroying the Basement East; its I Believe in Nashville mural wall is left standing.
March 4, 2021: The Basement East reopens, rebuilt.

What It Actually Feels Like

Mornings start on the porches and in the cafes: laptops open at the coffee shops around Five Points, dogs doing the Shelby Park loop, contractors' trucks outside the next infill build. By midday the neighborhood is quiet in the way home office streets are quiet, with a delivery van rhythm and somebody practicing drums two doors down. Evenings reverse the flow: the patios fill, the Basement East and the Five Points bars turn the lights up, and the residential streets a block away go back to porch dark. Weekends belong to Shelby Bottoms, where the greenway runs along the river under the bluffs. The creative layer is not decoration here; it is the economy, and it shows in everything from the studio schedules to the murals.

Downtown Nashville and the Silliman Evans Bridge seen from Shelby Park in East Nashville — Downtown Nashville from Shelby Park, 2024. Photo by Antony-22, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Pros and Cons

Pros

A core you can run a daily life from on foot, with the strongest cafe and restaurant bench on the east bank.
Downtown sits across one bridge, close enough for meetings and shows, far enough for porch quiet at home.
Shelby Park and the Shelby Bottoms greenway give the neighborhood a river sized backyard.
Housing stock with real character and range, from 1900s cottages to new builds with roof decks.
Tennessee levies no tax on wage income, which remote workers paid from elsewhere feel immediately.

Cons

Prices sit above the Nashville median, and teardown infill keeps changing streets that buyers fell for.
Transit is bus only, and the schedules thin out at night; most households still keep a car.
Two tornadoes crossed these streets in a generation, and the 2020 path is still visible in rebuilt blocks.
Short term rentals and weekend crowds concentrate around Five Points.
The 2025 county reappraisal came with higher bills across East Nashville, and assessments are a live local argument.

Housing in Detail

Entry: older cottages and small homes on the side streets, from the low $400,000s; today's entry listing, a 1940 two-bedroom with a big covered deck and a flex room that works as an office, is the shape of it. Mid: renovated bungalows and new construction roughly between $600,000 and $850,000, including this week's balconied new build on Cahal Avenue and a 2015 four-bedroom on McEwen Avenue. Top: the character houses and large newer builds above $950,000, where a 2015 Tudor style house facing the park tops the current market. Renting is the softer side: apartments cluster near the corridors, and house rentals and garage apartments fill the streets behind Five Points.

Daily Life

Coffee and laptops in the morning, groceries and the greenway in the afternoon, and a dinner bench that runs from Five Points institutions to Gallatin Avenue newcomers. The Basement East anchors live music on Woodland Street, with smaller rooms and record shops around the same blocks. Shelby Park hosts the farmers market and the ballfields, and the Shelby Bottoms greenway carries runners and riders along the river. Errands run east along Gallatin and Main, where the supermarkets and hardware stores sit.

Best For / Think Twice If

Best for: remote workers who want a home office with a porch and a cafe scene to rotate through; creatives who want studios, venues, and collaborators on the same blocks; anyone who wants downtown access without downtown prices or a downtown tower.

Think twice if: you need rail transit; you want a brand new suburb's quiet and uniformity; tornado history will keep you up at night; you are buying at the top of the infill market expecting quick gains.

Top Properties Right Now

$424,999

932 West Ave, Nashville, TN 37206

2 beds, 1 bath, 950 sq ft. Built 1940.

The entry point: an updated 1940 cottage with a large covered back deck, a fully fenced yard, and a bonus flex room that works as the home office.

Listing verified on Redfin, October 14, 2026. View on Redfin

$669,900

1815 Cahal Ave, Nashville, TN 37206

3 beds, 2.5 baths, 2,218 sq ft. New construction, built 2026.

A contemporary new build with multiple balconies and decks and an attached garage, in the East Hill streets above Five Points.

Listing verified on Redfin, October 14, 2026. View on Redfin

$799,900

1819 McEwen Ave, Nashville, TN 37206

4 beds, 3 baths, 2,398 sq ft. Built 2015.

Four bedrooms with a front porch and a detached two-car garage on rear alley access; the price came down on September 30, 2026.

Listing verified on Redfin, October 14, 2026. View on Redfin

$1,175,000

1607 Electric Ave, Nashville, TN 37206

4 beds, 3.5 baths, 2,674 sq ft. Built 2015.

A Tudor style house facing a park, with a fenced yard and a two-car garage with EV charging, at the top of the current East Nashville market.

Listing verified on Redfin, October 14, 2026. View on Redfin

Nearby Alternatives

Inglewood: the next bend of the river north, more residential and a step down in price, with the same Gallatin corridor running through it.
Eastwood: inside East Nashville's orbit, a quieter set of streets around Eastland Avenue with its own small restaurant row.
Germantown: across the river by downtown, brick streets and a restaurant scene of its own at a higher price point.
The Nations: the west side's creative corridor, newer and flatter, for buyers cross-shopping the same lifestyle.

Sources

Data as of the dates shown above. Refresh due within 90 days for listings and 6 months for market data.

Redfin, East Nashville neighborhood page, median sale price and year change, June 2026: redfin.com
Apartments.com, East Nashville local guide, average one-bedroom apartment rent, July 2026: apartments.com
Walk Score, Nashville neighborhood scores (East End: Walk 88, Transit 38, Bike 52): walkscore.com
ApartmentList, Nashville neighborhood research, East Nashville housing mix and building age, September 2026: apartmentlist.com
Nashville Public Library, The Great East Nashville Fire (March 22, 1916): library.nashville.gov
WMOT Roots Radio, East Nashville's music community takes stock after a devastating storm, March 5, 2020: wmot.org
Pollstar News, Blown Away, Rising Again: Nashville's Basement East rebuilds, January 2021: pollstar.com
MusicRow, The Basement East to reopen tomorrow, March 2021 (reopening events March 4 to 6, 2021): musicrow.com
Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, FY2026 property tax levy (combined Urban Services District rate $2.814 per $100 of assessed value); Tennessee Department of Revenue (no state tax on wage income; Hall tax repealed January 1, 2021; Nashville combined sales tax 9.25 percent).
Redfin, 932 West Ave listing, October 14, 2026: redfin.com listing page
Redfin, 1815 Cahal Ave listing, October 14, 2026: redfin.com listing page
Redfin, 1819 McEwen Ave listing, October 14, 2026: redfin.com listing page
Redfin, 1607 Electric Ave listing, October 14, 2026: redfin.com listing page
Antony-22, Woodland Street Bridge, Nashville, 2022 (hero photograph), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0: commons.wikimedia.org
Historic Nashville, photographs of the East Nashville Fire of 1916 (story photograph), via Wikimedia Commons, public domain: commons.wikimedia.org
Antony-22, Nashville from Shelby Park, 2024 (photograph), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0: commons.wikimedia.org