Tennessee
Buying Land in Davidson County, Tennessee
Davidson County doesn't have a county government in the way the other 13 counties in this guide do. Since April 1, 1963, it has been fully consolidated with the City of Nashville into the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County -- one of the first and largest city-county consolidations in the country. That structure changes the basic due-diligence picture: one zoning code covers the whole county, but two different tax-rate service districts and a shrinking rural land base mean the questions to ask here look different from a traditional Tennessee county.
Nashville and Davidson County are the same government
On June 28, 1962, voters in both the City of Nashville and the surrounding Davidson County approved a new Metropolitan Charter, and on April 1, 1963, the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County took effect, with Beverly Briley elected as its first mayor. This was one of the first, and remains one of the largest, full city-county consolidations in the United States -- a genuinely distinctive governmental structure worth understanding before you assume this county works like any other in this guide. There is no separate Davidson County government, no separate county zoning office distinct from the city's, and no county commission apart from the unified 40-member Metropolitan Council that represents the whole consolidated jurisdiction. Any reference to 'the county' when it comes to zoning, permitting, or land records in Davidson County actually means Metro Nashville's own departments -- Metro Planning for zoning and land use, Metro Codes for building permits, and the Metro Council as the legislative body.
Six small municipalities inside the county's borders opted to stay separately incorporated rather than fully merge into Metro at consolidation: Belle Meade, Berry Hill, Forest Hills, Oak Hill, and Goodlettsville (which also extends into Sumner County) and Ridgetop (which also extends into Robertson County). These satellite cities run their own municipal zoning and codes departments independent of Metro for land inside their own boundaries, so a parcel inside one of them follows that city's rules rather than Metro's -- a real, if narrow, exception to the general 'it's all one government' rule.
Urban Services District vs. General Services District
The 1962 charter didn't just merge two governments -- it also created two different tax-rate service districts to reflect the reality that a resident near downtown Nashville and a resident at the county's rural edge don't need or receive the same level of city service. The Urban Services District (USD) roughly follows the old 1963 City of Nashville boundary, about 72 square miles, and its property owners pay a higher tax rate in exchange for the full range of city services, including things like more frequent trash collection and streetlight maintenance. The General Services District (GSD) covers the rest of the county -- everything outside that original city footprint, including the six satellite cities and most of the county's remaining lower-density and rural-edge land -- and its property owners pay a lower tax rate for a reduced service package.
This district split matters for a land buyer mainly as a tax-planning and service-expectation question, not a zoning one: Metro's zoning code applies uniformly across both districts, so a parcel's USD or GSD status doesn't change what you're allowed to build on it, but it does change your effective property tax rate and what municipal services (sewer availability, for instance, tends to track USD/older-suburban GSD areas more than the county's outer fringe) you can expect without paying for them separately.
A small rural land market, and where septic still applies
Davidson County is overwhelmingly urban and suburban -- current land listings show well under a few thousand acres of undeveloped land countywide out of roughly 336,000 total acres, and the county's agricultural base (historically centered on livestock rather than row crops) has shrunk considerably from even its own mid-20th-century footprint. If your goal is a genuinely rural, farm-scale, or large-acreage recreational parcel, Davidson is realistically the wrong county to search first; the neighboring Middle Tennessee counties surrounding Metro offer a larger and more typical rural land inventory.
That said, septic still applies to any Davidson County parcel not connected to Metro Water Services sewer -- mostly at the county's outer GSD edges. Metro Public Health's Environmental Health division handles septic and sewage-disposal-system assessments and site evaluations under the same statewide TDEC standard described on our Tennessee page, including feasibility assessments for new construction and septic-system assessments tied to property transfers. Confirm sewer availability for a specific parcel with Metro Water Services before assuming septic is even necessary, since much of the county -- unlike a typical rural Tennessee county -- does have public sewer access.
2026's real zoning story: a citywide fight over data centers
The one genuinely live, land-specific zoning story in Davidson County right now has nothing to do with the USD/GSD tax split above -- it's a 2026 fight over data centers, triggered by a single proposed facility next to the Nashville Zoo that drew a 500,000-signature petition, a Metro Council moratorium, a permanent zoning rewrite (a 500,000-square-foot size cap and new distance rules from schools, hospitals, and zoos), and a federal lawsuit against Metro filed by the developer in August 2026. If you're evaluating industrial- or commercially-zoned land here for a data-center use, or land near a school, hospital, or zoo that such a use might target, this is now the operative framework, not the general Metro zoning code alone.
See our dedicated page on Davidson County's 2026 data-center zoning fight for the specific bill numbers, the size and distance rules Metro Council actually adopted, and the current status of the litigation.
Who to Call Before Buying Land in Davidson County
Parcels inside the six separately incorporated satellite cities (Belle Meade, Berry Hill, Forest Hills, Oak Hill, Goodlettsville, Ridgetop) follow that city's own zoning and codes department, not Metro's -- confirm jurisdiction first for any parcel near one of these boundaries.
Planning & Zoning
Metro Nashville Planning Department
Metro's unified zoning code, current zoning district, and land-use questions for any parcel in Davidson County outside the six satellite cities.
Septic / Onsite Wastewater
Metro Public Health Department -- Environmental Health
Septic and sewage-disposal-system evaluations and permits for parcels not on Metro Water Services sewer.
Other
Metro Water Services
Confirming public sewer availability for a specific parcel before assuming septic is required.
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Get local guidanceTopics Specific to Davidson County
Sources
- Metro Nashville's 60th Anniversary — Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County (accessed 2026-09)
- History of Metropolitan Nashville Government — Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County (accessed 2026-09)
- A brief history of Metro Nashville's consolidation — NASHtoday (accessed 2026-09)
- Mini TOC: Charter of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County — Municode Library (accessed 2026-09)
- Environmental Health Programs of Metro Public Health — Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County (accessed 2026-09)
- Septic and Sewage Disposal Systems — Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County (accessed 2026-09)
Last reviewed 2026-09