Taxes in Franklin

Franklin's tax picture combines Tennessee's real, structural zero-income-tax advantage with one of the nation's highest combined sales tax rates and a genuinely layered, address-dependent property-tax structure -- county, city, and (for most of the city) a separate special school district rate, computed here to an effective range of roughly 0.40%-0.55% of appraised value.

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Zero state income tax, not just a low one

Tennessee levies no state income tax at all on wages, retirement income, capital gains, or Social Security -- the Hall Income Tax on investment income was fully repealed effective January 1, 2021, and a 2014 constitutional amendment bars taxing earned income going forward. This applies identically to a Franklin resident as anywhere else in Tennessee.

Williamson County's 9.75% combined sales tax rate is above Tennessee's own high statewide average

Williamson County's minimum combined sales tax rate is 9.75% (7% state plus 2.75% county, with no additional city-level sales tax in Franklin), slightly above Tennessee's 9.61% statewide average combined rate, which the Tax Foundation ranks second-highest in the nation (behind only Louisiana) as of mid-2026.

Property tax: three real layers, computed to an effective range of roughly 0.40%-0.55%

Williamson County's FY2026 rate is $1.30 per $100 of assessed value (down from $1.88 pre-reassessment, following the county's 2026 quadrennial property reassessment). The City of Franklin's own FY2026 certified rate is $0.296 per $100 assessed -- the lowest among Tennessee cities with 50,000+ population. On top of both, the Franklin Special School District (FSSD) levies a separate $0.5873 per $100 assessed (FY2025-26, combined general-fund and debt-service rates) for the majority of Franklin addresses within its K-8 boundary. Applying Tennessee's state-constitutional 25% residential assessment ratio: county+city alone comes to roughly 0.40% of appraised value (for the minority of Franklin outside FSSD), while county+city+FSSD comes to roughly 0.55% (for the majority of Franklin inside FSSD) -- a real, computed range that substantially reconciles the 0.37%-0.54% cross-source disagreement already disclosed in the base record, rather than representing a separate, unresolved discrepancy.

Tennessee's realty transfer tax and no estate/inheritance tax

Beyond annual property tax, Tennessee's realty transfer tax ($0.37 per $100 of price/value, see buying-a-home) applies at closing. Tennessee has no state estate or inheritance tax (repealed for deaths after December 31, 2015); the federal estate tax exemption for 2026 is $15M per individual.

Key takeaways

Tennessee has zero state income tax on wages, retirement income, capital gains, or Social Security -- a real, structural advantage that applies identically in Franklin.
Williamson County's 9.75% combined sales tax rate (7% state + 2.75% county, no city add-on) sits above Tennessee's own 9.61% statewide average, itself the second-highest in the nation.
Property tax is genuinely layered and address-dependent: Williamson County's FY2026 rate is $1.30/$100 assessed, Franklin's own city rate is $0.296/$100 assessed (the lowest among TN cities of 50,000+), and the Franklin Special School District adds $0.5873/$100 assessed for the majority of Franklin addresses inside its K-8 boundary.
Applying Tennessee's 25% residential assessment ratio to those rates computes to an effective property-tax range of roughly 0.40% (outside FSSD) to 0.55% (inside FSSD) of appraised value -- a same-session calculation that substantially explains, rather than contradicts, the base record's disclosed 0.37%-0.54% cross-source range.
Tennessee has no state estate or inheritance tax (repealed for deaths after 2015); the 2026 federal estate tax exemption is $15M per individual.

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Last reviewed: 2026-08-22. Independent research; not financial, tax, or legal advice -- confirm current figures with a local professional before making a decision.