Retirement planning in Franklin and Brentwood, executive pay included.
For any household in Franklin or Brentwood, Robert Boeck plans Social Security, withdrawals and Roth conversions together, by Zoom from Chattanooga. If you hold deferred compensation or company stock, the timing of each payout goes into the same plan.
What does it cost to retire in Franklin and Brentwood?
Purchases in Franklin and Brentwood carry 9.75% sales tax, the state’s 7% plus 2.75% local, and groceries 6.75%. Brentwood’s combined 2025 property tax rate was $1.49 per $100 of assessed value; Franklin’s was $1.566, or $2.0633 inside the Franklin Special School District.
Assessed value is 25% of appraised value. A home appraised at $705,000, near Franklin’s median of $705,400, pays about $2,760 a year outside the school district and about $3,640 inside it; a Brentwood home appraised at $1,031,000, near its median of $1,031,300, pays about $3,840.
Williamson County freezes its share for homeowners 65 or older who apply, under a 2026 income limit of $69,150. Neither Franklin nor Brentwood has adopted the freeze.
Retirees here draw larger Social Security checks on average than in Davidson County: in Williamson County, 37,630 people drew retirement benefits in December 2025, averaging about $2,539 a month against $2,192 in Davidson (Social Security Administration county totals, our arithmetic). In the Census Bureau’s survey for 2020 to 2024, 14.7% of Franklin’s residents and 16.3% of Brentwood’s were 65 or older.
With median home values above $700,000 in both cities, the house is part of the plan, as a cost and as an asset, alongside when to claim Social Security, the order you draw your accounts and Roth conversions.
What do executives here decide before retiring?
You decide when deferred compensation pays out and when to sell company stock, which sets the tax year each one lands in. In the Census Bureau’s survey for 2020 to 2024, the median household earned $182,088 a year in Brentwood and $119,528 in Franklin, against $77,371 in Nashville. Both are home to corporate headquarters, among them Nissan North America and Community Health Systems in Franklin and Tractor Supply in Brentwood.
Executives at companies like these often carry deferred compensation and equity awards. Most of that timing is set years ahead: a deferred compensation payout date is chosen when you elect to defer, and moving it later is allowed only within narrow limits. The executives page covers the rest of that planning.
What if you earned it in another state?
Your former state may still tax it. Federal law bars that state from taxing deferred compensation paid in substantially equal installments over at least ten years, but a lump sum or a shorter schedule can stay taxable there. Nissan’s move is the local example: the company announced in 2005 that it would move its North American headquarters from Gardena, California, to Franklin; employees began moving in 2006, and the Franklin building opened in 2008. If you moved here with pay deferred in another state, check how it pays out.
Tennessee taxes none of it once you live here. The Chattanooga page covers what the state’s rules change, and what a move does not settle.
Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis, Tullahoma and Crossville
Pages for the other Tennessee areas cover what is specific there: Chattanooga, where Robert is based, for the state’s tax rules; Knoxville, for TVA’s pension; Nashville, for TCRS, the state’s pension; Memphis, Germantown and Collierville, for FedEx’s pension and executive pay; Tullahoma and Manchester, for federal pensions around Arnold Air Force Base; and Crossville and Fairfield Glade, for drawing an income in retirement.
Questions from Franklin and Brentwood
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