Traditional Definitions of the Region:
A number of definitions of metropolitan Memphis and the region have been created by government agencies or through media market analysis. While the metropolitan area is located in five counties, the region is defined by different agencies as an area covering anywhere from 30 to more than 100 counties.

MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area):
Traditionally, the Memphis metro area has been defined as the Memphis Tennessee-Arkansas-Mississippi MSA, a five-county area consisting of Fayette, Shelby and Tipton counties in Tennessee, DeSoto County in Mississippi and Crittenden County in Arkansas. MSAs are defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as "a core area containing a large population nucleus greater than or equal to 50,000 inhabitants together with adjacent communities that have a high degree of economic and social integration with that core." The Memphis Tennessee-Arkansas-Mississippi MSA had an estimated population of 1,105,058 in 1999.

ADI (Areas of Dominant Influence):
The Memphis ADI television market analysis area, determined by Arbitron, is a 31-county area with a 1999 population of 1,751,406. It covers western Tennessee and extends into portions of northwest Mississippi, eastern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri. Memphis was the 40th largest broadcast TV market in 1999-2000, ranked by proadvance.com, and has no overlapping ADI.

Memphis Zone of the Eighth Federal Reserve District:
Memphis is one of four branch headquarters of the Eighth Federal Reserve District based in St. Louis. The Memphis Zone covers 39 counties in northern Mississippi, 21 in western Tennessee, eight in western Kentucky, three in southern Illinois, eight in southeast Missouri and 13 in northeastern Arkansas. In 1999, these counties had a population of 3,329,564.

The Commercial Appeal Circulation:
The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal, owned by the Scripps Howard chain, is the principal regional newspaper of the northern Delta. The newspaper's circulation covers approximately 94 counties in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi and includes portions of Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri. The Commercial Appeal had a circulation of 244,152 and served a population of 3,394,727 in 1999.

The Functional Region:
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, metro regions have emerged as basic economic units of the global economy and hubs of the global network. Regions, not cities, counties or states, represent the units of production, consumption and social activity within the new global economy. Interconnected patterns of population, economic interaction and transportation networks define regions, while political boundaries define only jurisdictional areas.

Both internal and external characteristics define the geographic extent of a region. Internally, a pattern of cities focuses primarily on a single large metro area, while externally a region's market reach is limited by surrounding regions. Together, these patterns determine the perception of the region in the global marketplace. Studying internal connections and external market influences provides the functional definition of the Memphis region.

Metro Area:
Traditionally, a metropolitan area is treated as an MSA based on county lines, but in fact it develops regardless of city, county, or state lines; it includes the area covered by residential and commercial development clustered around the city. The continuously urbanized Memphis metro area encompasses 16 cities and more than one million people, including the high growth edge and adjacent cities. The metro area extends across all of one and parts of four other counties. In addition to being the largest concentration of population, the metro area is the functional hub of the region, with the largest concentration of transportation facilities, economic activities, and institutional, cultural and medical resources.

Region:
A continuous lattice of cities extends 60 to 100 miles from the Memphis metro to form the Memphis region. While the Mississippi River splits the radial pattern, a group of four bridges located in the metro area links the two parts. With more than one hundred regional cities, the metro area and the agricultural and rural areas within it are principally connected by the series of nine radial corridors.

Beyond a certain distance from the Memphis metro area, the cities and rural areas begin to focus on another metro area for economic, social, institutional and transportation services. The outer edge of the Memphis region is defined by a ring of ten regional cities (Jonesboro, Blytheville, Dyersburg, Jackson, Henderson, Corinth, Tupelo, Grenada, Clarksdale, and Forrest City). These centers range in size from Jackson, Tennessee (the largest, with a population just over 100,000) to Brinkley, Arkansas (the smallest at 3,778). Jackson, Tupelo and Jonesboro have populations of more than 25,000. Jonesboro, Arkansas (pop. 77,000+) and Jackson, Tennessee (pop. 100,000) are designated as MSAs themselves. Between the metro center and the outer ring are ten other centers distributed along the radial corridors. The metro center and 20 regional centers each play a meaningful role in the region.

Super Region:
The Nashville, Huntsville-Decatur and Birmingham regions form the eastern boundary of the Memphis region, creating a vertical line along the I-65 corridor. The Little Rock and Jackson, Mississippi regions create southern and western boundaries, respectively. These regions are located 150 to 200 miles from the center of Memphis. While the regions limit the reach of the Memphis market area, they also share important relationships and values, which vary according to the function involved, i.e., medical research, transportation, cultural activity, etc.

Area of Influence:
The line of three strong regions to the east forms a distinct market edge for the Memphis region and blocks its area of influence from extending further in that direction. However, the influence of the Memphis region extends past Little Rock to the west and Jackson to the south since those two much smaller metro areas are separated by greater distances from surrounding regions. As a result, they do less to limit Memphis's area of influence. While this area of influence does not have a sufficiently strong relationship to Memphis to be considered part of its region, it nevertheless shares social, cultural and environmental connections with the Memphis region.

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