At the heart of the Cumberland Region is the capital city ofTennessee, and the country music capital of the world, Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County. With a population of 575,261 (2005 est.), Davidson County has the benefits of an urban center with its events and support for the arts, sports, shopping, business, and education. Yet, with its geographic location among the rolling hills, its many lakes and rivers, and its southern hospitality, the county maintains a small-town atmosphere. Consistently ranked among the best cities in the country in which to live and work, and among the lowest for comparable cost-of-living, Nashville/Davidson County, with its superb interstate system, is a natural focal point not only for the region, but for the state and the southeast United States.
 
Major industries include tourism, printing and publishing, music production, higher education, finance, insurance, automobile production, and health care management, and with over 10,000 acres of land in the parks system, the citizens of Davidson County enjoy a plethora of places to work and play.