The Tri-Cities is the region comprising the cities of Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol 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 ; due to the U.S. Census Bureau's revised definitions of urban areas in the early 2000s, it is now a Combined Statistical Area with two metropolitan components: Johnson City and Kingsport-Bristol -Bristol. As of the 2000 Census, the CSA had a population of 480,091.
Combined Statistical Area
Components
;Tennessee
Carter County
Greene County
Hancock County
Hawkins County
Johnson County
Sullivan County
Unicoi County
Washington County
;Virginia
City of Bristol
Scott County
Washington County
Communities
Places with more than 50,000 inhabitants
Johnson City, Tennessee
Kingsport, Tennessee
Places with 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants
Bristol, Tennessee
Bristol, Virginia
Bloomingdale, Tennessee
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
Clinchport, Virginia
Duffield, Virginia
Dungannon, Virginia
Meadow View, Virginia
Mooresburg, Tennessee
Nickelsville, Virginia
Telford, Tennessee
Watauga, Tennessee
Unincorporated places
Demographics
As of the census 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, 2.12% African American, 0.20% Native American, 0.40% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.02% from other races, and 0.74% from two or more races. Hispanic 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 for the CSA was $16,923.
The All-America City Award is given by the National Civic League annually to ten cities in the United States. 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.