The Memphis–Clarksdale-Forrest City Combined Statistical Area, TN–MS–AR (CSA) is the commercial and cultural hub of the Mid-South or Ark-Miss-Tenn. The census-defined combined statistical area covers eleven counties in three states, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas. As of 2020 census, the Memphis metropolitan area had a population of 1,389,905 The Forrest City, Arkansas Micropolitan area was added to the Memphis area in 2012 to form the Memphis–Forrest City Combined Statistical area. In 2023 the Clarksdale, Mississippi Micropolitan area was also added to form the new Memphis-Clarksdale-Forrest City Combined Statistical Area which as of 2023 had a population of roughly 1.4 million people according to census estimates.

The greater Mid-South area has a population of 2.4 million, according to 2013 census estimates. This area is covered by Memphis local news channels and includes the Missouri Bootheel, Northeast Arkansas, West Tennessee, and North Mississippi.

The Memphis metropolitan area is part of the Mid-South of the United States. It is culturally more associated with the Deep South and the Mississippi Delta than it is the Upland South, which is the case with Tennessee's other large cities. Memphis, Tennessee, is the largest city in the Deep South, the third-largest in the Southeastern United States, and the eighth-largest in the Southern United States as a whole. African-Americans make up nearly half the population of the metro area. The Mid-South has the highest percentage of African Americans of all large metro areas with at least a million people. It is the second-largest when metropolitan areas under a million people are factored in after the Jackson-Vicksburg-Brookhaven, MS Combined Statistical Area.

The metro area is blue collar in nature and most of its growth can be attributed to its logistical infrastructure. Recently, however, more companies with technology backgrounds such as Electrolux and Mitsubishi have begun making inroads in the Memphis area.

The Memphis area has a diverse and robust economy. Well positioned on America's largest river, the Mississippi, and located near the population center of the United States, Memphis is a distribution hub. FedEx maintains its global headquarters in Memphis and uses the Memphis International Airport as its global superhub facility making the airport the busiest cargo airport in the United States. UPS also uses Memphis as a hub. The area is also home to one of the United States largest intermodal logistics centers. This includes being the third-largest trucking corridor, fourth-largest inland port, and third-largest in class I railroad services. The Mid-South has the largest percentage of people employed in logistics in the U.S. The Mid-South is also home to several Fortune 500 and 1000 companies, including FedEx, AutoZone, Regions Bank, ServiceMaster, BUPERS, First Horizon Bank, International Paper, and others. Companies including Nike, Baskin Robbins, Sharp, and Hewlett Packard operate large distribution centers out of Memphis.

Healthcare has begun to play a major role in the Mid-South's economy accounting for one in nine jobs. There are nineteen hospitals with over 4,100 beds in the Mid-South. The area is also home to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, a Nobel Prize winning hospital with over 1,200 scientists working there and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

Tourism is also a major contributor to the Mid-South's economy with the region being known as the birthplace of Rock and Roll and Blues. Over eight million people visit the Memphis metropolitan area every year for tourist related activities. Over four million people visit Beale Street every year making it the most visited attraction in Tennessee. The Memphis Zoo is one of only four zoos in the U.S. to feature a giant panda and is routinely ranked as one of the best zoos in America. The Tunica casino resort area in Mississippi has over twelve million visitors annually and is the third largest gaming area in the U.S. after Las Vegas and Atlantic City. It also contains a lake beach at Sardis Lake near Batesville, Mississippi.

Four Year Colleges and Graduate Schools

• University of Memphis
• Rhodes College
• Christian Brothers University
• LeMoyne–Owen College
• Baptist College of Health Sciences
• University of Tennessee Health Science Center
• Southern College of Optometry
• Rust College

Two Year Colleges

• Southwest Tennessee Community College
• Mid-South Community College
• Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas
• Crowley's Ridge College
• Northwest Mississippi Community College
• Coahoma Community College

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Airports:

• Memphis International Airport
• General DeWitt Spain Airport
• Olive Branch Airport
• Millington Municipal Airport

Freeways:

• Interstate 40
• Interstate 240 (Inner Beltway)
• Interstate 55
• Interstate 69
• Interstate 269 (Outer Beltway connecting Shelby County to Fayette and DeSoto Counties)
• Interstate 22 (Connects Hickory Hill and DeSoto County, Mississippi, to Birmingham, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia)
• Bill Morris Parkway (Connects Piperton, Collierville, Germantown, Southwind, and Hickory Hill to I-240)
• Sam Cooper Blvd (Connects East Memphis and Bartlett to Midtown)
• Tennessee State Route 300 (Located in the Frayser area, connects Watkins and the I-240 loop to U.S. Route 51)
• Interstate 555 (Connects Memphis to Jonesboro, Arkansas)
• Tennessee State Route 14 (Connects Raleigh to Memphis)

The area includes the following counties:

County	Largest City	2020 Census	2010 Census	Change	Area	Density
Shelby County, Tennessee	Memphis	929,744	927,644	+0.23%	785 sq mi (2,030 km)	1,184/sq mi (457/km)
Desoto County, Mississippi	Southaven	185,314	161,252	+14.92%	497 sq mi (1,290 km)	373/sq mi (144/km)
Tipton County, Tennessee	Atoka	60,970	61,081	−0.18%	473 sq mi (1,230 km)	129/sq mi (50/km)
Crittenden County, Arkansas	West Memphis	48,163	50,902	−5.38%	636 sq mi (1,650 km)	76/sq mi (29/km)
Fayette County, Tennessee	Oakland	41,990	38,413	+9.31%	706 sq mi (1,830 km)	59/sq mi (23/km)
Marshall County, Mississippi	Holly Springs	33,752	37,144	−9.13%	710 sq mi (1,800 km)	703/sq mi (271/km)
Tate County, Mississippi	Senatobia	28,064	28,886	−2.85%	411 sq mi (1,060 km)	68/sq mi (26/km)
St. Francis County, Arkansas	Forrest City	23,090	28,258	−18.29%	643 sq mi (1,670 km)	36/sq mi (14/km)
Coahoma County, Mississippi	Clarksdale	21,390	26,151	−18.21%	583 sq mi (1,510 km)	37/sq mi (14/km)
Tunica County, Mississippi	Tunica	9,782	10,778	−9.24%	481 sq mi (1,250 km)	20/sq mi (8/km)
Benton County, Mississippi	Hickory Flat	7,646	8,729	−12.41%	409 sq mi (1,060 km)	19/sq mi (7/km)
Total		1,389,905	1,379,238	+0.77%	3,989 sq mi (10,330 km)	335/sq mi (129/km)

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1900	153,557		—
1910	191,439		24.7%
1920	223,216		16.6%
1930	306,482		37.3%
1940	358,250		16.9%
1950	482,393		34.7%
1960	811,082		68.1%
1970	911,123		12.3%
1980	997,844		9.5%
1990	1,067,263		7.0%
2000	1,205,204		12.9%
2010	1,316,100		9.2%
2020	1,346,172		2.3%
2023 (est.)	1,335,674		−0.8%
U.S. Decennial Census

• Memphis, Tennessee (Principal City)

• Bartlett, Tennessee
• Southaven, Mississippi
• Collierville, Tennessee

• Arlington, Tennessee
• Atoka, Tennessee
• Germantown, Tennessee
• Hernando, Mississippi
• Horn Lake, Mississippi
• Marion, Arkansas
• Lakeland, Tennessee
• Millington, Tennessee
• Olive Branch, Mississippi
• West Memphis, Arkansas

Brighton, Tennessee Byhalia, Mississippi Coldwater, Mississippi Covington, Tennessee Earle, Arkansas Holly Springs, Mississippi Mason, Tennessee Munford, Tennessee Oakland, Tennessee Piperton, Tennessee Pleasant Hill, Mississippi Rossville, Tennessee Senatobia, Mississippi Somerville, Tennessee Tunica, Mississippi Tunica Resorts, Mississippi (CDP) Victoria Mississippi (CDP) Walls, Mississippi Wynne, Arkansas

Anthonyville, Arkansas Arkabutla, Mississippi (CDP) Ashland, Mississippi Bethlehem, Mississippi (CDP) Braden, Tennessee Burlison, Tennessee Clarkedale, Arkansas Crawfordsville, Arkansas Dundee, Mississippi (CDP) Edmondson, Arkansas Eudora, Mississippi (CDP) Gallaway, Tennessee Garland, Tennessee Gilmore, Arkansas Gilt Edge, Tennessee Grand Junction, Tennessee

Hickory Flat, Mississippi Horseshoe Lake, Arkansas Jericho, Arkansas Jennette, Arkansas La Grange, Tennessee Lake View, Mississippi (CDP) Mount Pleasant, Mississippi (CDP) Moscow, Tennessee Potts Camp, Mississippi Red Banks, Mississippi (CDP) Snow Lake Shores, Mississippi Strayhorn, Mississippi (CDP) Sunset, Arkansas Turrell, Arkansas Waterford, Mississippi (CDP) Williston, Tennessee

Banks, Mississippi Bruins, Arkansas Brunswick, Tennessee Chulahoma, Mississippi Cockrum, Mississippi Cordova, Tennessee Drummonds, Tennessee Dubbs, Mississippi Eads, Tennessee Ellendale, Tennessee Evansville, Mississippi Fisherville, Tennessee

Hickory Withe, Tennessee Hollywood, Mississippi Hudsonville, Mississippi Kerrville, Tennessee Laconia, Tennessee Lake Cormorant, Mississippi Looxahoma, Mississippi Macon, Tennessee Mineral Wells, Mississippi Nesbit, Mississippi Northaven, Tennessee Prichard, Mississippi Randolph, Tennessee

Reverie, Tennessee Rosemark, Tennessee Sarah, Mississippi Savage, Mississippi Seyppel, Arkansas Shell Lake, Arkansas Shelby Forest, Tennessee Simsboro, Arkansas Southwind, Tennessee Slayden, Mississippi Thyatira, Mississippi Tipton, Tennessee Tyro, Mississippi

According to U.S.census estimates for 2013, there were 1,371,110 people residing within the CSA. The racial makeup of the CSA was 45.2% non-Hispanic White, 47.3% African American, 0.5% Native American, 2.2% Asian, <0.1% Pacific Islander, and Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.1% of the population. Memphis is the only metropolitan/combined statistical area in the United States with over a million people to have a plurality/majority African American population. The Jackson, Mississippi metropolitan area also has this distinction but only has around half a million people.

The median income for a household in the MSA was $47,344 and the mean was $65,463. The median income for a family was $57,780 and the mean was $76,126. The per capita income for the MSA was $24,675.

• Tennessee census statistical areas
• Mississippi census statistical areas
• Arkansas census statistical areas

• Greater Memphis Chamber
• Greater Memphis Laws