4 states · Census division · 19,402,234 people · 183,404 sq mi
East South Central states map
The East South Central division is Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi: the four states stacked between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River, from the Ohio River to the Gulf.
How the region is defined
The East South Central is the smallest of the three divisions of the Census South region, with four states: Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi. It is bounded by the Ohio River on the north, the Mississippi River on the west, the Gulf of Mexico on the south and the Georgia and Virginia state lines on the east. Kentucky's membership is the one that surprises people: it is a South state in Census statistics because it lies south of the Ohio.
The four states had 19,402,234 residents in 2020 on 183,404 square miles — about the area of California with less than half its population. No city in the division is in the national top 20; Nashville (689,447) and Memphis (633,104) are the largest, and Louisville, since its 2003 merger with Jefferson County, is close behind.
States, capitals and largest cities
| State | Capital | Largest city | Population (2020) | Area (sq mi) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama (AL) | Montgomery | Huntsville | 5,024,279 | 52,420 |
| Kentucky (KY) | Frankfort | Louisville | 4,505,836 | 40,408 |
| Mississippi (MS) | Jackson | Jackson | 2,961,279 | 48,432 |
| Tennessee (TN) | Nashville | Nashville | 6,910,840 | 42,144 |
| Total (4 states) | 19,402,234 | 183,404 |
Geography
The eastern edge of the division is the Appalachian system: the Cumberland Mountains and Cumberland Plateau of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and the end of the range in northern Alabama near Birmingham. Clingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains, 6,643 ft on the Tennessee–North Carolina line, is the highest point. Mammoth Cave in central Kentucky is the longest known cave system in the world, over 400 miles surveyed.
West of the plateau the land steps down to the Nashville Basin, the Bluegrass region around Lexington, and then the Gulf Coastal Plain, which covers all of Mississippi and most of Alabama. The Mississippi Delta — the flat floodplain between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers in north-west Mississippi — is some of the flattest, richest farmland in the country. The Gulf coast is short: Alabama has about 50 miles on Mobile Bay and Mississippi about 45 miles of barrier-island coast.
The Tennessee River makes a loop through all four states: it rises at Knoxville, runs south-west into Alabama, turns north across Tennessee and Kentucky, and joins the Ohio at Paducah. The Cumberland runs parallel to it through Nashville. The Mississippi forms the western border of all four states except Alabama. Kentucky and Tennessee are split between Eastern and Central time; Alabama and Mississippi are Central.
Related maps
- Parent region: South; sibling divisions South Atlantic and West South Central.
- Overlapping informal regions: Southeast, Gulf Coast.
- Quiz: Southern states quiz.
- Cities: Nashville, Memphis, Louisville; capitals Frankfort, Montgomery, Jackson.
- Geography: Ohio River, Mississippi River, Appalachians.