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.

[4] This area is covered by Memphis local news channels and includes the Missouri Bootheel, Northeast Arkansas, West Tennessee, and North Mississippi.

The Mid-South has the highest percentage of African Americans of all large metro areas with at least a million people.

Recently, however, more companies with technology backgrounds such as Electrolux and Mitsubishi have begun making inroads in the Memphis area.

Well positioned on America's largest river, the Mississippi, and located near the population center of the United States, Memphis is a distribution hub.

Companies including Nike, Baskin Robbins, Sharp, and Hewlett Packard operate large distribution centers out of Memphis.

[11] 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.