The Tri-Cities is the region comprising the cities of Kingsport, Johnson City, and

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

and the surrounding smaller towns and communities in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. All three cities are located in Northeast Tennessee, while Bristol has a twin city of the same name in Virginia. The Tri-Cities region was formerly a single Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA); due to the U.S. Census Bureau's revised definitions of urban areas in the early 2000s, it is now a Combined Statistical Area (CSA) with two metropolitan components: Johnson City and Kingsport–Bristol, TN–VA

However, the Tri-Cities are usually still considered one population center, which is the fifth-largest in Tennessee.

Combined Statistical Area

Components

;Tennessee * Carter County, Tennessee, Carter County * Greene County * Hawkins County * Sullivan County * Unicoi County * Washington County ;Virginia * Scott County * Washington County * City of Bristol (Independent City)

Communities

Places with more than 50,000 inhabitants

* Johnson City, Tennessee (principal city) * Kingsport, Tennessee (principal city)

Places with 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants

* Bristol, Tennessee (principal city) * Bristol, Virginia (principal city) * Elizabethton, Tennessee * Greeneville, Tennessee

Places with 1,000 to 10,000 inhabitants

Places with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants

* Baileyton, Tennessee * Bulls Gap, Tennessee * Damascus, Virginia * Embreeville, Tennessee (CDP) * Clinchport, Virginia * Duffield, Virginia * Dungannon, Virginia * Meadowview, Virginia (CDP) * Mooresburg, Tennessee (CDP) * Nickelsville, Virginia * Telford, Tennessee (CDP) * Watauga, Tennessee

Unincorporated places

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 480,091 people, 199,218 households, and 138,548 families residing within the CSA. The racial makeup of the CSA was 96.22%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.12%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.20% Native American, 0.40% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.02% from other races, and 0.74% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.92% of the population. The median income for a household in the CSA was $30,331, and the median income for a family was $37,254. Males had a median income of $29,561 versus $21,014 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the CSA was $16,923.

Transportation

Interstate Highways I-26 and I-81 intersect in the region, while I-40, I-77, and I-75 are nearby. Tri-Cities Regional Airport (TRI) has non-stop service to Atlanta, Charlotte, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, and St. Petersburg/Clearwater. Airlines include

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...

, Delta Connection, Allegiant Air and American Eagle Airlines. Additionally, TRI manages an aggressive Air Cargo program, administers Foreign Trade Zone 204, supports and promotes U.S. Customs Port 2027, and provides trade development assistance. The Region has both CSX and Norfolk Southern mainline railway access.

Highways

Interstates

* *

US Highways

* ** *** ** * ** ** * ** * ** ** * ** * **

Airport

The region is served by the Tri-Cities Regional Airport which has scheduled airline passenger jet service.

Education

Colleges and universities

* East Tennessee State University * Emmanuel Christian Seminary * Emory & Henry College * King University * Milligan College * Northeast State Community College * Tusculum University * University of Virginia's College at Wise * Virginia Intermont College (Closed May 2014) * Virginia Highlands Community College * Walters State Community College Th
Kingsport Higher Education Center
is a complex in downtown Kingsport, Tennessee that combines classes from five area colleges and universities, including The University of Tennessee.

All-American City Award

The All-America City Award is given by the National Civic League annually to ten cities in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In 1999, the Tri-Cities were collectively designated as an ''All-America City'' by the National Civic League. The award is the oldest community recognition program in the nation and recognizes communities whose citizens work together to identify and tackle community-wide challenges and achieve uncommon results. Since the program's inception in 1949, more than 4,000 communities have competed and over 500 have been named ''All-America Cities''.

Sister cities

* Guaranda,

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Teterow Teterow () is a town of Germany, in the Rostock (district), district of Rostock, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. It is the geographical center of this federal state. It had a population of 8,852 in 2011. History The ''Stadtkirche St. Peter u ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

* Rybinsk,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

References

;General ;Specific
OMB Bulletin No. 04-03. Updates to Statistical Areas. December 2003.U.S. Census Bureau, Table 6. Population in Combined Statistical Areas (CSAs): 1990 and 2000

External links

Tri-Cities TN/VA - The Regional Alliance for Economic DevelopmentNortheast Tennessee Tourism Association
{{authority control East Tennessee * * Geography of Carter County, Tennessee Geography of Hawkins County, Tennessee Geography of Unicoi County, Tennessee Geography of Sullivan County, Tennessee Geography of Washington County, Tennessee Geography of Scott County, Virginia Geography of Washington County, Virginia Bristol, Virginia