Memphis metropolitan area

The Memphis metropolitan area is part of the Mid-South of the U.S. 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 is the largest city in the Mid-South, the third-largest in the Southeastern U.S., and the eighth-largest in the Southern U.S. 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. ==Economy==

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 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. ==Colleges and universities==

Four Year Colleges and Graduate Schools • University of Memphis • Rhodes College • Christian Brothers University • LeMoyne–Owen College • Baptist Health Sciences University • University of Tennessee Health Science Center • Southern College of Optometry • Rust College Two Year Colleges • Southwest Tennessee Community College • Arkansas State University Mid-South • Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas • Crowley's Ridge College • Northwest Mississippi Community College • Coahoma Community College ==Transportation==

Airports: • Memphis International Airport • General DeWitt Spain Airport • Olive Branch Airport • Millington Municipal Airport Freeways: • I-40 • I-240 (Inner Beltway) • I-55 • I-69 • I-269 (Outer Beltway connecting Shelby County to Fayette and DeSoto counties) • I-22 (Connects Hickory Hill and DeSoto County, Mississippi, to Birmingham, and Atlanta) • Bill Morris Parkway (Connects Piperton, Collierville, Germantown, Southwind, and Hickory Hill to I-240) • Sam Cooper Boulevard (Connects East Memphis and Bartlett to Midtown) • SR 300 (Located in the Frayser area, connects Watkins and the I-240 loop to US 51) • I-555 (Connects Memphis to Jonesboro, Arkansas) • SR 14 (Connects Raleigh to Memphis) ==Composition==

The area includes the following counties: } ==Population history==

Places with more than 500,000 inhabitants • Memphis, Tennessee (Principal City) Places with 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants • Bartlett, Tennessee • Southaven, Mississippi • Collierville, Tennessee Places with 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants • Arlington, Tennessee • Atoka, Tennessee • Forrest City, Arkansas • Germantown, Tennessee • Hernando, Mississippi • Horn Lake, Mississippi • Lakeland, Tennessee • Marion, Arkansas • Millington, Tennessee • Olive Branch, Mississippi • West Memphis, Arkansas Places with 1,000 to 10,000 inhabitants Places with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants Unincorporated places ==Demographics==

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. 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. ==See also==