When did knoxville become larger than atlanta or memphis? Really based on knoxville's population it would be one wal mart for about every 30.000 people.
Knox county population 390,000?
You missed the part where he said Knoxville Metro area. Per Wiki:
Knoxville Metropolitan Area
Main article: Knoxville Metropolitan Area
Knoxville is the central city in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area, an Office of Management and Budget (OMB)-designated metropolitan statistical area (MSA) that covers Knox, Anderson, Blount, Loudon, and Union counties. MSAs consist of a core urban center and the outlying communities and rural areas with which it maintains close economic ties. They are not administrative divisions, and should not be confused with "metropolitan government," or a consolidated city-county government, which Knoxville and Knox County lack.[49]
The Knoxville Metropolitan area includes unincorporated communities such as Halls, Powell, Karns, Corryton, Concord, and Mascot, which are located in Knox County outside of Knoxville's city limits. Along with Knoxville, major municipalities in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area include Alcoa, Maryville, Lenoir City, Loudon, Farragut, Oak Ridge, Clinton, and Maynardville. As of 2008, the population of the Knoxville Metropolitan Area was 691,152.[49]
Additionally, the Knoxville MSA is the chief component of the larger OMB-designated Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette TN Combined Statistical Area (CSA). The CSA also includes the Morristown Metropolitan Statistical Area (Hamblen, Grainger, and Jefferson counties) and the Sevierville (Sevier County), La Follette (Campbell County), Harriman (Roane County), and Newport (Cocke County) Micropolitan Statistical Areas. Municipalities in the CSA, but not the Knoxville MSA, include Morristown, Rutledge, Dandridge, Jefferson City, Sevierville, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, LaFollette, Jacksboro, Harriman, Kingston, Rockwood, and Newport. The combined population of the CSA as of the 2000 Census was 935,659. Its estimated 2008 population was 1,041,955.[49]
Georgia Tech researchers have mapped the Knoxville MSA as one of the 18 'Major Cities' in the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion.[50]
Tuscaloosa Metro area Wiki: The Tuscaloosa metropolitan area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of three counties in west central Alabama, anchored by the city of Tuscaloosa. As of the 2000 census, the MSA had a population of 192,034 (though a July 1, 2009 estimate placed the population at 210,839).[1]