It’s been called the next Houston, or the next Atlanta, but people living there are having doubts about its rapid development. Nashville is the American metropolitan statistical area with the lowest unemployment rate, at 2.7%. Cameron McWhirter explains the city’s appeal at The Wall Street Journal:
As Southern cities draw more people from other regions, politicians, business leaders, economists and residents are increasingly focused on how to manage the growth to keep housing and other costs of living in line with wages.
For decades, part of the South’s appeal has been low housing costs, said Laurel Graefe, deputy regional executive of the Nashville branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. While corporate incentives and relatively low taxation are still drawing businesses and workers, housing demand in some places has far outstripped supply, driving up prices, she said.
Nashville area business leaders are increasingly worried about attracting and retaining workers, in part because of housing costs, Ms. Graefe said. “It’s been pretty jarring” how much the subject has come up, she said.
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