Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky tri-state area

The Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky tri-state area within their states. Dark shaded counties were included only by WTVW prior to the rollout of digital television.

The Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky tri-state area is a tri-state area where the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky intersect, and a region of the Upland South. The area is defined mainly by the television viewing area and consists of ten Illinois counties, eleven Indiana counties, and nine Kentucky counties, centered upon the Ohio and Wabash Rivers.

The 2010 population estimate of the 30-county core region is 911,613 people. With approximately 118,000 people, Evansville, Indiana, is the largest city and the principal hub for both the Evansville Metropolitan Area and Southwestern Indiana. Owensboro, Kentucky, with approximately 60,000 people, is the second-largest city and the secondary hub and the hub for the Owensboro Metropolitan Area. The other six cities with 10,000 or more people include Harrisburg, Illinois; Henderson, Kentucky; Madisonville, Kentucky; Vincennes, Indiana; Washington, Indiana; and Jasper, Indiana. The dissecting point of the three states is the confluence of the Wabash and Ohio Rivers, near the tripoint of Gallatin County, Illinois, Posey County, Indiana, and Union County, Kentucky.

Some counties along the edges may or may not consider themselves part of the area. One of the Evansville TV stations (CW 7 WTVW) also includes Hardin and Saline Counties of Illinois; Crawford and Orange Counties of Indiana; Breckinridge, Crittenden and Grayson Counties of Kentucky as part of its viewing area as well as the below-mentioned counties because, prior to the advent of digital television, the station broadcast on the VHF band (it now broadcasts on RF channel 28, in the UHF band). This was also due to its transmitter being located near Chandler, Indiana, in Warrick County, as opposed to Henderson County, like the other stations. (See map on right.)

In addition, the counties on the eastern edge of the area are included in Kentuckiana, the northern edge counties are included in the Terre Haute viewing area and the western edge counties are either included in the Paducah–Carbondale–Cape Girardeau or the St. Louis viewing areas and the southern edge are included in the Nashville–Clarksville viewing area.

The counties

Note: Italicized counties were included by only WTVW prior to DTV. See above map.

Illinois:

• Clay
• Edwards
• Gallatin
• Hamilton
• Hardin
• Lawrence
• Richland
• Saline
• Wabash
• Wayne
• White

Indiana:

• Crawford
• Daviess
• Dubois
• Gibson
• Knox
• Martin
• Orange
• Perry
• Pike
• Posey
• Spencer
• Vanderburgh
• Warrick

Kentucky:

• Breckinridge
• Crittenden
• Daviess
• Grayson
• Hancock
• Henderson
• Hopkins
• McLean
• Muhlenberg
• Ohio
• Union
• Webster

Media

Major local broadcast television stations are:

• WTVW Channel 7.1 CW / 7.2 (Bounce) / 7.3 (Mystery) / 7.4 (Ion) Evansville, IN
• WNIN Channel 9.1 PBS / 9.2 (Create) Evansville, IN
• WFIE Channel 14.1 NBC / 14.2 (MeTV) / 14.3 (Circle) / 14.4 (Grit) / 14.5 (Dabl) / 14.6 (True Crime Network) / 14.7 (Defy TV) Evansville, IN
• WEHT Channel 25.1 ABC / 25.2 (Laff) / 25.3 (Cozi) / 25.4 (Rewind TV) Henderson, KY
• WKOH Channel 31.1 PBS/KET / 31.2 (PBS Encore/KET2) / 31.3 (KY Channel) / 31.4 (PBS Kids) Owensboro, KY
• WEVV Channel 44.1 CBS / 44.2 (FOX/MNTV) Evansville, IN

Other area broadcast television stations are:

• WSIL-TV Channel 3.1 ABC / 3.2 (H&I) / 3.3 (Crime) / 3.4 (Court TV) / 3.5 (Ion) Harrisburg, IL – not part of the "Tri-State" viewing area; one of the principal stations of the Paducah–Carbondale–Cape Girardeau TV market
• WZDS-LD Channel 5.1 H&I / 5.2 (Start TV) / 5.3 (Movies!) / 5.4 (Decades) / 5.5 (Story) Evansville, IN
• WYYW-CD Channel 15.1 TMD / 15.2 (FAM) / 15.3 (RTV) Evansville, IN
• WJTS-CD Channel 18.1 YTA Jasper, IN
• WTSN-CD Channel 20.1 ANT / 20.2 (TFC) Evansville, IN
• WVUT Channel 22.1 PBS / 22.2 (Create) / 22.3 (PBS Kids) Vincennes, IN
• W23BV-D Channel 23.1 3ABN / 23.2 (3ABN Proclaim) / 23.3 (3ABN Dare to Dream) / 23.4 (3ABN Latino) Evansville, IN
• WDLH-LD Channel 24.1 Azteca America Evansville, IN
• WELW-LD Channel 30.1 Court TV / 30.2 (Defy TV) / 30.3 (TrueReal) / 30.4 (Scripps News) Evansville, IN
• WEIN-LD Channel 40.1 beIN Sports Xtra / 40.2 (beIN Sports Xtra en Español) / 40.3/4/5 (Ads) Evansville, IN

The major local broadcast FM radio stations are:

• 88.3 WNIN Evansville, IN
• 89.1 WVJC Mount Carmel, IL
• 89.5 WKPB Henderson, KY
• 91.1 WVUB Vincennes, IN
• 91.5 WUEV Evansville, IN
• 92.5 WBKR Owensboro, KY
• 93.5 WLYD Evansville, IN
• 93.9 WKTG Madisonville, KY
• 94.9 WYNG Mount Carmel, IL
• 96.1 WSTO Owensboro, KY / Evansville, IN
• 96.5 WSON Henderson, KY
• 98.1 WRAY Princeton, IN
• 99.5 WKDQ Henderson, KY
• 100.5 WSJD Mount Carmel, IL
• 101.9 WEKV Central City, KY / Owensboro, KY
• 103.1 WGBF Evansville, IN / Henderson, KY
• 104.1 WIKY Evansville, IN
• 105.3 WJLT Evansville, IN
• 106.1 WDKS Newburgh, IN
• 107.1 WJPS Boonville, IN / Evansville, IN
• 107.5 WABX Evansville, IN

Fifteen largest cities

The Metropolitan and Micropolitan Areas of the Tri-State Area

Population Rank	City	State	Population 2020	County	Region
1	Evansville	Indiana	117,298	Vanderburgh	Southwestern Indiana
2	Owensboro	Kentucky	60,183	Daviess	Western Coal Fields
3	Henderson	Kentucky	27,981	Henderson	Western Coal Fields
4	Madisonville	Kentucky	19,542	Hopkins	Western Coal Fields
5	Vincennes	Indiana	16,759	Knox	Southwestern Indiana
6	Jasper	Indiana	16,703	Dubois	Southwestern Indiana
7	Washington	Indiana	12,017	Daviess	Southwestern Indiana
8	Olney	Illinois	8,701	Richland	Eastern Little Egypt
9	Princeton	Indiana	8,301	Gibson	Southwestern Indiana
10	Harrisburg	Illinois	8,219	Saline	Eastern Little Egypt
11	Tell City	Indiana	7,506	Perry	Southwestern Indiana
12	Mount Carmel	Illinois	7,015	Wabash	Eastern Little Egypt
13	Boonville	Indiana	6,712	Warrick	Southwestern Indiana
14	Mount Vernon	Indiana	6,493	Posey	Southwestern Indiana
15	Huntingburg	Indiana	6,362	Dubois	Southwestern Indiana

• All of the cities on the list are county seats of their respective counties except Huntingburg, Indiana.
• Newburgh is currently debating annexation plans that would incorporate many of the surrounding developments, which would increase the population to as many as 12,000 people. If successful this would place the town behind Jasper on the above list. Newburgh would become the only town on the list.

Metropolitan and micropolitan areas

Metropolitan areas

Name	Primary City or Cities	State or States	County or Counties	Non-Area County or Counties Influenced	Area	2020 Population
Evansville, IN-KY Metropolitan Statistical Area	Evansville Henderson Princeton	Indiana Kentucky	Gibson, Posey Vanderburgh, Warrick Henderson, Webster	Illinois: Wabash, White Indiana: Pike, Spencer Kentucky: Union	2,367 sq mi 6,130 km2	314,049
Owensboro, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area	Owensboro	Kentucky	Daviess, Hancock McLean	Indiana: Perry, Spencer Kentucky: Breckinridge, Ohio	931 sq mi 2,410 km2	121,559

Micropolitan areas

Name	Primary City	State or States	County or Counties	Area	2020 Population
Central City, KY Micropolitan Area	Central City Greenville	Kentucky	Muhlenberg	479 sq mi 1,241 km2	30,928
Harrisburg, IL Micropolitan Area	Harrisburg	Illinois	Saline	387 sq mi 1,002 km2	23,768
Jasper, IN Micropolitan Area	Jasper	Indiana	Dubois Pike	776 sq mi 2010 km2	55,887
Madisonville, KY Micropolitan Area	Madisonville	Kentucky	Hopkins	554 sq mi 1,430 km2	45,423
Vincennes, IN Micropolitan Area	Vincennes	Indiana	Knox	524 sq mi 1,357 km2	36,282
Washington, IN Micropolitan Area	Washington	Indiana	Daviess	437 sq mi 1,130 km2	33,381

Core counties

Eastern Little Egypt (Illinois)

Population Total: 128,750

County Name	County Seat	Population (2020)	Area
Clay	Louisville	13,288	437 sq mi (1,130 km2)
Edwards	Albion	6,245	223 sq mi (580 km2)
Gallatin	Shawneetown	4,946	328 sq mi (850 km2)
Hamilton	McLeansboro	7,993	436 sq mi (1,130 km2)
Lawrence	Lawrenceville	15,280	374 sq mi (970 km2)
Richland	Olney	15,813	362 sq mi (940 km2)
Saline	Harrisburg	23,768	387 sq mi (1,000 km2)
Wabash	Mt. Carmel	11,361	232 sq mi (600 km2)
Wayne	Fairfield	16,179	716 sq mi (1,850 km2)
White	Carmi	13,877	502 sq mi (1,300 km2)

Southwestern Indiana

Population Total: 477,056

County Name	County Seat	Population (2020)	Area
Daviess	Washington	33,381	437 sq mi (1,130 km2)
Dubois	Jasper	43,637	435 sq mi (1,130 km2)
Gibson	Princeton	33,011	526 sq mi (1,360 km2)
Knox	Vincennes	36,282	524 sq mi (1,360 km2)
Martin	Shoals	10,327	341 sq mi (880 km2)
Perry	Tell City	19,102	386 sq mi (1,000 km2)
Pike	Petersburg	12,250	342 sq mi (890 km2)
Posey	Mt. Vernon	25,222	429 sq mi (1,110 km2)
Spencer	Rockport	19,810	401 sq mi (1,040 km2)
Vanderburgh	Evansville	180,136	236 sq mi (610 km2)
Warrick	Boonville	63,898	424 sq mi (1,100 km2)

Western Coal Fields (Kentucky)

Population Total: 293,160

County Name	County Seat	Population (2020)	Area
Daviess	Owensboro	103,312	476 sq mi (1,230 km2)
Hancock	Hawesville	9,095	199 sq mi (520 km2)
Henderson	Henderson	44,793	467 sq mi (1,210 km2)
Hopkins	Madisonville	45,423	554 sq mi (1,430 km2)
McLean	Calhoun	9,152	256 sq mi (660 km2)
Muhlenberg	Greenville	30,928	479 sq mi (1,240 km2)
Ohio	Hartford	23,772	597 sq mi (1,550 km2)
Union	Morganfield	13,668	363 sq mi (940 km2)
Webster	Dixon	13,017	336 sq mi (870 km2)

Daviess County

The Two Daviess Counties within the Tri-State Area.

There are two counties named Daviess in the Tri-State Area, Daviess County, Indiana (/ˈdeɪviːz/), and Daviess County, Kentucky (/ˈdeɪvɪs/). Both counties are named for Maj. Joseph Hamilton Daveiss, U.S. District Attorney for Kentucky who prosecuted Aaron Burr.

See also

• Evansville Metropolitan Area
• Owensboro Metropolitan Area
• Jasper Micropolitan Area
• Southwestern Indiana
• Southern Illinois
• Western Kentucky