The four-state area or quad-state area, is the area where the states of

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, and Oklahoma almost touch: Arkansas and Kansas share no boundary. The

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

;

Joplin, Missouri Joplin is a city in Jasper and Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. Joplin is the largest city located within both Jas ...

; and Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers, Arkansas, metropolitan areas are located within the region. Notable cities and towns in the area are Tulsa and

Miami, Oklahoma Miami ( ) is a city in and county seat of Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States, founded in 1891. Lead and zinc mining were established by 1918, causing the area's economy to boom. This area was part of Indian Territory. Miami is the capital of ...

; Pittsburg, Kansas; Joplin, Springfield, and

Monett, Missouri Monett is the most-populous city in the Barry and Lawrence counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The city is located in the Ozarks, just south of Interstate 44 between Joplin and Springfield. According to the 2020 census, the population of the ...

; and Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, and

Bentonville, Arkansas Bentonville is the tenth-largest city in Arkansas, United States and the county seat of Benton County. The city is centrally located in the county with Rogers adjacent to the east. The city is the birthplace of and world headquarters locatio ...

. The area is partially located in the

Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant port ...

Oil and gas A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and combustion, burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, petroleum, oil, and natura ...

production, as well as coal mining were and continue to be a large part of the region's industry. Today, a major driver of the region's economy is

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

, the world's largest retail company, whose headquarters are in Bentonville. Also headquartered nearby in Northwest Arkansas are

Tyson Foods Tyson Foods, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, based in Springdale, Arkansas, that operates in the food industry. The company is the world's second-largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork after JBS S.A. It annually ...

, the world's largest processor of chicken, beef, and pork ( Springdale); and major trucking and transportation company

J. B. Hunt J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. is an American transportation and logistics company based in Lowell, Arkansas. It was founded by Johnnie Bryan Hunt and Johnelle Hunt in Arkansas on August 10, 1961. By 1983, J.B. Hunt had grown into the 80 ...

( Lowell). The city of Joplin, Missouri, is the most centrally located city in the four-states area.

Media

Outside of Tulsa, the largest city in the four-states area by far, the area is covered primarily by two television markets. The Joplin–Pittsburg market covers the region’s counties in Missouri,

Ottawa County, Oklahoma Ottawa County is a county located in the northeastern corner of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,285. Its county seat is Miami. The county was named for the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma.Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua br ...

and Montgomery counties (which are also in the Tulsa DMA). It is served by

KOAM-TV KOAM-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Pittsburg, Kansas, United States, serving the Joplin, Missouri–Pittsburg, Kansas media market, market as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Morgan Murphy Media, which provides certain s ...

(channel 7,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

; the station’s call letters stand for Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri),

KFJX KFJX (channel 14) is a television station licensed to Pittsburg, Kansas, United States, serving the Joplin, Missouri–Pittsburg, Kansas market as an affiliate of Fox and The CW Plus. It is owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting, which maintains ...

(channel 14,

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

/ CW+),

KSNF KSNF, virtual channel 16 (UHF digital channel 17), is an NBC- affiliated television station licensed to Joplin, Missouri, United States, and also serving Pittsburg, Kansas. The station is owned by Irving, Texas–based Nexstar Media Group, which ...

(channel 16,

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

KODE-TV KODE-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Joplin, Missouri, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Joplin, Missouri–Pittsburg, Kansas television market. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains joint ...

(channel 12,

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

), and KOZJ (channel 26,

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

; part of the two-station Ozarks Public Television regional member network). The Fort Smith market covers the counties in northwest Arkansas; however, the NBC affiliate for that market,

KNWA-TV KNWA-TV (channel 51) is a television station licensed to Rogers, Arkansas, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas River Valley. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Fort Smith–licensed Fox ...

, is

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Rogers Rogers may refer to: Places Canada *Rogers Pass (British Columbia) * Rogers Island (Nunavut) United States * Rogers, Arkansas, a city * Rogers, alternate name of Muroc, California, a former settlement * Rogers, Indiana, an unincorporated communit ...

, while a translator for ABC affiliate

KHBS KHBS (channel 40) is a television station in Fort Smith, Arkansas, United States, affiliated with ABC and The CW Plus. It is simulcast full-time over satellite station KHOG-TV (channel 29) in Fayetteville. Owned by Hearst Television and joint ...

and one of the stations of the

Arkansas PBS Arkansas PBS (sometimes shortened to AR PBS) is a state network of PBS member television stations serving the U.S. state of Arkansas. It is operated by the Arkansas Educational Television Commission, a statutory non-cabinet agency of the Arkan ...

member network, KAFT, are in Fayetteville. The majority of the households in the market are served by stations in the

metropolitan area, including KOTV (CBS),

KTUL KTUL (channel 8) is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. The station's studios are located at Lookout Mountain (near South 29th West Avenue, west of Interstate 244) ...

(ABC),

KJRH-TV KJRH-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Okmulgee-licensed Ion Television outlet KTPX-TV (channel 44). KJRH-TV's studios are located o ...

(NBC), and

KOKI-TV KOKI-TV (channel 23) is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Imagicomm Communications alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KMYT-TV (channel 41). The two stations share studios on East ...

(Fox).

Education

There are several universities located in the four states.

Missouri Southern State University Missouri Southern State University (Missouri Southern, MSSU, or MoSo) is a public university in Joplin, Missouri. It was established in 1937 as Joplin Junior College. The university enrolled 4,346 students in Fall 2021. History Missouri Southern ...

and Missouri State University are located in Joplin and Springfield respectively.

Pittsburg State University Pittsburg State University (Pitt State or PSU) is a public university in Pittsburg, Kansas. It enrolls approximately 7,400 students (6,000 undergraduates and 1,400 graduate students) and is a member of the Kansas Board of Regents. History ...

is located in Pittsburg.

Coffeyville Community College Coffeyville Community College (CCC) is a community college located in Coffeyville, Kansas, United States. It was founded in 1923. Coffeyville Community College is a member of the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference and the National Ju ...

is located in Coffeyville.

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) is a public community college in Miami, Oklahoma. Established as the Miami School of Mines in 1919, NEO has an enrollment of approximately two thousand students. The Golden Norsemen is the school mascot. ...

is located in Miami. The University of Tulsa and Oral Roberts University are located in Tulsa. The

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

is located in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Naming

Industries use the term to describe the region as a whole – businesses often name themselves ''Four State ______'' to attempt to describe the area they wish to serve. Interstates 44, 49, 540 and US Highways 60, 62, 69, 71, 166, 169,

400 __NOTOC__ Year 400 ( CD) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus (or, less frequently, year ...

, and

412 __NOTOC__ Year 412 ( CDXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Europe as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Theodosius (or, less frequently, yea ...

serve the area. The historic Route 66 also runs through the region.

References

{{Coord, 36, 48, N, 94, 42, W, format=dec, display=title, type:adm1st_region:US-OK Regions of Arkansas Regions of Kansas Regions of Missouri Regions of Oklahoma

Media

Education

Naming

See also

References