Two Nashville ZIP codes appear on a national hot list tracking moving activity per capita

Nashville appears twice in a national ranking of ZIP codes with elevated moving activity

Two Nashville ZIP codes—37228 and 37203—have been listed among the nation’s “hottest” ZIP codes in a January 2026 national report that ranks places by moving activity. In that ranking, 37228 placed in the top five nationwide by moves per 1,000 residents, while 37203 also appeared within the broader list.

The ranking is based on moves per capita, a metric designed to compare relocation intensity across ZIP codes of different sizes. The report’s approach counts moves with a destination address inside a ZIP code, including moves that both start and end within the same ZIP, a detail that can elevate scores in areas with high within-neighborhood churn as well as inbound relocation.

What the numbers show for Nashville: 37228 and 37203

• 37228 (Nashville): ranked fifth nationally in the moves-per-capita list, at 11.9 moves per 1,000 residents.

• 37203 (Nashville): listed at 7.6 moves per 1,000 residents, placing it further down the national ranking.

How to interpret “hottest ZIP codes” rankings

Lists labeled as “hottest” can measure different realities depending on the dataset and methodology. In this case, the measure is mover activity rather than home prices, sales volume, or listing demand. That distinction matters for readers: a high moves-per-capita score can reflect a neighborhood’s role as a rental hub, an area with substantial apartment turnover, or a place where new housing supply is being absorbed quickly.

Moves-per-capita rankings are not the same as housing affordability rankings or home-sale “hotness” measures based on listings, days on market, or buyer traffic.

Local context: growth patterns and housing development

Both 37203 and 37228 overlap with parts of Nashville that have seen substantial multifamily development over the past several years. Federal housing market analysis for the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin housing market area identified large counts of rental units under construction by ZIP code as of March 2024, including 5,900 units in 37203 and 900 units in 37228.

Large construction pipelines do not, by themselves, explain a ZIP code’s moving rate, but they do provide context for why some areas may experience higher turnover: new buildings bring lease-ups, and dense rental inventory typically produces more frequent moves than predominantly owner-occupied neighborhoods.

Another lens on Nashville housing demand: sales concentration by ZIP code

Moves-per-capita rankings can diverge from where most home sales occur. In a separate ZIP-code view of local market activity, 37013 (Antioch) led Nashville in home-sale closings in 2025, followed by 37209. That local sales concentration highlights that “hot” can mean different things—relocation churn in the urban core versus transaction volume in fast-growing, more attainable purchase markets.

Taken together, the national moving-activity ranking and local sales patterns suggest a split-screen picture of Nashville’s housing dynamics: dense central ZIP codes showing elevated mobility, and outer neighborhoods absorbing a large share of purchase activity.