Chattanooga is located in Hamilton County, Tennessee on Nickajack Lake and Chickamauga Lake in East Tennessee. Chattanooga is located about 120 miles southwest of Knoxville and 120 miles northwest of Atlanta, Georgia. Chattanooga has a population of 167,000, which makes it the 4th largest city in Tennessee, although the population is estimated to have reached 175,000 in 2015.

The city proper has a population density of 1,223 people per square mile (472/square kilometer). The larger Chattanooga metropolitan area has a population of 528,000. The Chattanooga Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which includes Marion, Sequatchie, and Hamilton counties in Tennessee s well as Dade, Catoosa, and Walker counties in Georgia, had a 9% population growth over the last ten years.

Chattanooga Demographics

At the 2010 census, the racial composition of Chattanooga was 58% white (56% non-Hispanic), 35% black, 2% Asian, 0.4% American Indian, 2% other races, and 1.3% two or more races. Hispanics and Latinos of any race accounted for 5.5% of the population.

Chattanooga Facts

Chattanooga is unique as it's the first American city to receive its own typeface, called Chatype. Launched in 2012, this is the first time a custom crowd-funded typeface has been used for any global city.

Chattanooga also claims to have Western Hemisphere's fastest internet service, earning it several nicknames like Gig City. EPB began offering exclusive fiber optic network service to the greater Chattanooga metro area in 2009. The next year, it became the first municipality-owned utility company in the country to offer internet access directly to the public with speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second. This network has already been emulated in several U.S. cities and internationally.

Chattanooga is home to a huge number of manufacturing and service industries, including Chattem, the first Coca-Cola bottling plant in the world; the Chattanooga Bakery, and McKee Foods Corporation, which makes Little Debbie brand snacks. The city is home to many distribution and manufacturing facilities as well, including Ferrara Candy Company, DuPont, and Amazon.com.

Chattanooga Population Growth

Since the 2010 census, Chattanooga's population growth has outpaced Knoxville, making it the second fastest-growing big city in Tennessee. While Knoxville is still ahead of Chattanooga in terms of total population at 184,280 versus 173,800 in mid-2014, Chattanooga may soon surpass Knoxville as the largest city in East Tennessee.

Chattanooga is largely attracting new residents with its low cost of living and diverse economy and jobs market. Chattanooga's population growth has outpaced the national average for more than 20 years and this trend is expected to continue.