Stars are going country — and we’re not talking about the music. Celebrities like Melissa Joan Hart, Steven Tyler and Reese Witherspoon have all relocated to Tennessee over the past few decades.
Kristin Cavallari, who has called the state home since 2017, exclusively told Us Weekly in June 2018 why it was the perfect place for her family. (Cavallari shares three kids with ex-husband Jay Cutler, who first lured her to the south.)
“Jay went to Vanderbilt. And we just decided that this was where we wanted to be when he was done with football,” Cavallari said at the time. “We just always knew this is where we wanted to raise our family. My favorite thing about Nashville is that it has everything that a big city has to offer, but it feels like a small town. And everyone’s so friendly, and warm, and there’s honestly nothing bad about Nashville.”
Kathie Lee Gifford was equally as excited to have some southern hospitality in her life after moving to the area in 2018.
“First of all, there is a different culture — completely different culture down there, and it’s a culture of kindness in Nashville,” Gifford told Hoda Kotb in November 2019 while appearing on the Today show. “And they are authentically kind. They are joyful, they have so much fun. Music everywhere. There are barbecues. Everything is Americana, like when I was growing up.”
Scroll down to see which celebrities moved to Tennessee in recent years:
Jack White
The White Stripes musician left his hometown of Detroit, Michigan, for Nashville in 2005 and never looked back. “I’ve always felt like Detroit is my home,” White told The Tennessean in July 2014. “But I’ve always felt like my soul came from some other place. And maybe it is from down South.”
White brought his hometown feels to Nashville shortly after his move. He launched Third Man Records in Detroit in 2001, and in 2009 he opened its Nashville location.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck
Hasselbeck left Connecticut behind in 2016 for the quiet neighborhood of Belle Meade in Nashville. “Nashville is a city that has eyes that see other people, the space for kindness and the hands to lift someone up when they need it,” the former cohost of The View told The Tennessean in March 2019.
Elisabeth and her husband, Tim Hasselbeck, uprooted their family after she fell in love with the city while hosting the K-LOVE Christian music awards show in 2015.
Steven Tyler
“I came to Nashville. I rented a house. Now I just bought a house, so I’m living here full-on. It’s a musical Mecca,” Tyler told Louder Sound in August 2016, confirming his new home state. “I cowrote with everyone down here, and I think I’ve done some of my best work through this country head.”
The Aerosmith frontman added: “This town still has the passion for music. It hasn’t lost it through business and money, which may be big here, but the music aspect still has the passion. Artists come here come from all over the world to be part of it, and there’s so much music dripping out of the honeycomb of this town that I’m in it. I’m in it neck-deep. I’m going to stay here. I’m going to live here. I love it here.”
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Kristin Cavallari
Cavallari moved from Chicago to Nashville in 2017 after her then-husband, Cutler, was released from the Chicago Bears. Following Cavallari and Cutler’s 2020 divorce, the Laguna Beach alum remained in Music City to coparent their three children: Camden, Jaxon and Saylor.
Cavallari moved into her own house in Franklin, Tennessee, following her split from Cutler. After four years, she once again relocated, but stayed in the same area. “I am currently sitting in my half-empty kitchen, but actually there’s just boxes stacked everywhere,” she said on an October 2024 episode of her “Let’s Be Honest” podcast. “Just moved into my new house a couple days ago.”
Reese Witherspoon
Witherspoon was born in New Orleans and grew up in Nashville, which still has a piece of her heart. While the actress has lived in Los Angeles on and off for years — and still owns property in California — she moved back to Nashville in the mid-2000s. The Legally Blonde actress reportedly bought her current home in the southern city in 2014.
Kathie Lee Gifford
The former Today With Kathie Lee & Hoda cohost moved from Greenwich, Connecticut, to Franklin, Tennessee, in 2018. After retiring from Today in 2019, Gifford purchased a second property in the same neighborhood and moved into the $3.7 million brownstone that July.
Jana Kramer
The actress and singer moved back to Nashville in 2019 after living with her then-husband, Mike Caussin, and their two children, Jolie and Jace, in Los Angeles for a few years. Kramer has remained in Tennessee following her divorce from Caussin in 2021. She now lives in Music City with her husband, Allan Russell, with whom she shares son Roman.
Melissa Joan Hart
The Sabrina the Teenage Witch alum uprooted her family in October 2020, leaving Connecticut for Nashville. Hart celebrated her three-year anniversary in the South via Instagram by sharing a photo with her husband, Mark Wilkerson, and their three sons inside their humble abode.
“Happy Nashville Anniversary to us … and a big hug to all the friends, neighbors, teachers and people who have made it such a wonderful place to raise our family,” she captioned the October 2023 post.
Ali Fedotowsky
The former Bachelorette moved from Los Angeles to Nashville in 2021, exclusively telling Us that she and husband Kevin Manno had found their “dream home.”
“My husband and I both feel so fortunate to live in this home. We found it when it was just a framed house and even though there wasn’t even drywall on the walls yet, we just knew it was the perfect home for us,” she said in 2022. “I chose every light fixture, every piece of hardware, and all the little details. Really, the only thing I didn’t choose was the layout since that was already set when we found it. So, we really did get the opportunity to make it our dream home, even though we didn’t technically build it. I wake up grateful for this home every single morning.”
In July 2025, Fedotowsky announced that she and Manno, as well as their daughter, Molly, and son Riley, sold their house and were leaving Nashville. “We’re not 100 percent sure where we are going yet, but we’re excited for this new chapter nonetheless! More to come soon,” she teased via Instagram.
Kellan Lutz
The Twilight star told Fox News in December 2023 that he moved from the west coast to Nashville to be closer to his wife, Brittany’s family. “The way the industry is right now, currently I can work and live wherever and then just fly to do movies,” Lutz said. “And at least my wife has a support system here when I’m gone.”
“I remember growing up, my family had a farm in Iowa, and I saw my grandparents, and it was the best time. We spent a month or so on the farm. Cows, pigs, everything. But it’s fleeting. People aren’t living as long,” Lutz, who shares two children with his spouse, continued. “You only have so much time with your grandparents. And we live a mile from my wife’s parents, and so we walk there. It’s just beautiful.”
Kirk Cameron
Cameron revealed in July 2024 that he moved his family from California to Tennessee amid safety concerns. “Certainly, there’s the concerns of politics and crime and the economy, but I’m finding California refugees all over Tennessee and Texas and Florida and places like this,” the Growing Pains alum told Fox News. “There’s been a flood of talent and creatives who have left California. They’re frustrated that their values are not being represented in the projects that they’re working on.”
He noted that Tennessee had an “82 percent increase in motion picture and television production jobs” dubbing it the “Hollywood of the South.” Cameron added that he was one of many working on Christian projects in the state.
Chrissy Metz
“I moved to Nashville,” Metz told People in April 2025, revealing she’d been living in the South for a few years. “I was in L.A. for 21 years, but my family is in Florida, where I’m from, and during the pandemic, I could drive to them from here. It’s just a better quality of life here. Everything is 15 minutes away, and it’s just so much less stress.”
The This Is Us alum explained, “There’s a lot going on. There’s obviously great music, great food. I grew up in the South, so I’m used to sort of that hospitality — it feels more communal here. In L.A. it was always like, ‘Oh, you have an audition? What’s it for? Oh, you have an audition? What for?’ It was all very dog eat dog.”
Kirsten Storms
The General Hospital actress announced in July 2025 that she was leaving Los Angeles for Nashville with her daughter, Harper, whom she shares with ex-husband Brandon Barash.
“I’m very excited to be making Tennessee my home! I can’t wait to return to GH, once Harper and I are settled in our new town,” Storms wrote via Instagram. “I plan on documenting as much of this new journey on my social media as I can. It’s always been a dream of mine to move to a place like this, it’s hard to believe it’s really happening.”
