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Where am ILOCATED

Athens, TN Micro Area

The Athens, TN micro area is made up of 2 counties in Tennessee: McMinn and Meigs. About 71,590 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 8.4% more than in April 2020.

McMinn County, centralMeigs County, outlyingAthens
Central Outlying 2 counties in Tennessee
Population, July 2025
71,590 8.4% more than in April 2020
Type
Micropolitan statistical area
Counties
2: 1 central, 1 outlying
Land area
625 sq mi (1,619 km²)
Time zone
Eastern TimeUTC-05:00 in January; UTC-04:00 in July
State
Tennessee
Combined statistical area
Chattanooga-Cleveland-Dalton, TN-GA-AL
CBSA code
11940
Open this area in the metro area finder

Counties in the Athens, TN micro area, largest first

CountyRolePopulation, July 2025Share of the area
McMinn CountyCentral57,40480.2%
Meigs CountyOutlying14,18619.8%

A central county holds the area’s core, an urban area of 10,000 to 49,999 people. An outlying county is in the area because of commuting: at least a quarter of its workers have jobs in the central county, or at least a quarter of the people working there live in them. A county belongs to one metro or micro area at most, and it counts whole, countryside included.

Principal city

  1. Athens14,471 people

OMB names the area after its largest principal cities. A principal city is the area’s largest city, plus any other city that is very large or a big job center, and smaller ones with at least as many jobs as working residents (2020 Census and commuting figures). People counts are American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates.

Part of the Chattanooga-Cleveland-Dalton, TN-GA-AL combined statistical area

OMB joins neighboring metro and micro areas into a combined statistical area when enough people commute between them. The other 5 areas in this one, largest first:

  1. Chattanooga, TN-GA Metro Area594,530 people
  2. Dalton, GA Metro Area147,819 people
  3. Cleveland, TN Metro Area134,057 people
  4. Scottsboro, AL Micro Area54,281 people
  5. Summerville, GA Micro Area25,300 people

Bordering metro and micro areas, nearest first

Areas with a county on this area’s edge. Distances are straight lines between the areas’ largest cities.

  1. Cleveland, TN Metro Area24 mi southwest
  2. Chattanooga, TN-GA Metro Area45 mi southwest
  3. Knoxville, TN Metro Area51 mi northeast

Before using this answer on a form

A metro or micro area is a statistical area that OMB draws for federal statistics. It is not a city, a local government or a mailing address, and it is not a measure of urban and rural: whole counties count, rural parts included. Programs that use metro areas, such as housing income limits or wage rates, can use their own version of these lists; check the program’s own list for an address.

Find the metro area where you are now, find your county, or see every metro and micro area by population.

See this area on Census.gov ↗