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{{trope}}
"Tri-county area" (sometimes "tri-cities" or "tri-state area") is a universal description for a generic American region that's meant to be big, but not too big. A tri-state area is somewhat smaller in landmass and population than regions like The US Eastern Seaboard or the UK Home Counties (which border London). Think [[Everytown, America]] on a slightly larger scale.
This trope is [[Truth in Television]] for a couple of reasons. In the 18th and 19th Centuries, the people who created American political jurisdictions had a tendency to use rivers as boundaries; those rivers also served as arteries of commerce, so that urban areas grew and expanded across political jurisdictions. On the East Coast of the US, some state boundaries were also drawn so that several states could have access to the Atlantic Ocean.
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Sometimes this trope is used to mock the person using it as part of an [[Overly Narrow Superlative]], including implications of a big fish in a small pond talking up the size of the pond. In reality, most of the "tri-state" references don't refer to the entirety of the three states involved, which underpins this mockery. Also, counties aren't generally very large, so even putting together three counties doesn't add up to a major population center.
The other major use of this trope arises from the practice of organizing emergency services around cities, counties and states. If something big threatens a proximity community (a fleeing felon or a marauding monster or a major storm), the authorities in multiple jurisdictions must be called and their actions coordinated. Invoking this trope can indicate the severity of the threat, much like the proverbial "five-alarm fire". If a blizzard hits, expect local news and weather reporters to say things like, "Downed power lines and limited visibility are affecting the entire tri-state area." In fictional works, characters may be depicted reacting to such local news reports, or they may use the phrase themselves when warning someone else, be it a loved one or a person in authority.
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== [[
* At one point in ''[[Ultimate Spider
== [[Fan
* There's a ''Tri-Cities'' area in ''[[
== [[Film]] ==
* ''You Can't Cheat an Honest Man'' (1939):
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* ''[[Ghostbusters]]'':
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** ''[[Ghostbusters|Ghostbusters 2]]'':
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* ''Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232'':
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* ''Mystery Train:''
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* ''Dillinger'':
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* ''[[Rain Man]]''
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* ''[[Snakes
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* ''[[Best in Show]]''
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* ''The Onion Movie''
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* ''Earthstorm''
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== [[Literature]] ==
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[That '70s Show]]'': In an [[It's a Wonderful Plot]] episode, Eric is the assistant manager of the second-largest mattress retailer in the tri-county area.
* ''[[Malcolm in
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': An incidental character in the first-season episode "Nightmares" once had the best spider collection in the tri-county area. It's unclear how this was determined...
* In one episode of ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]'', Daisy enters the Miss Tri-Counties beauty pageant. This being Hazzard, one segment of the pageant requires the contestants to disassemble and reassemble a carburetor.
* ''[[
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
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== [[Real Life]] ==
* New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut or New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are usually what is meant when
* Sharpsburg, NC is a town where Wilson, Nash, and Edgecombe counties meet. Part of the town is in each county.
* Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland are "Tri-Cities" in south central Washington State.
* There's a Tri-Cities in Tennessee. They consist of Knoxville, Sneedville, and Johnson City, if the history of East Tennessee PBS is to be believed. However, the more popular such grouping consists of Kingsport, Bristol and Johnson City.
* There's a "Quad Cities" in the USA's Upper Midwest: Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa, Rock Island and Moline/East Moline in Illinois (The two states are separated by the Mississippi River). Effectively, there are at least five cities involved; East Moline has its own government, and of course the suburbs reach to what were once physically separate communities. The area is rather densely populated, with something like 375,000 people. The local newspaper is ''The Quad City Times'' and there's also a symphony orchestra.
* Sioux City is split by the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers into North Sioux City (South Dakota), South Sioux City (Nebraska), and Sioux City, Iowa.
* [[The Other Wiki]] has this rather impressive [
== Video Games ==
* The Tri-Island Area is introduced in ''[[
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' takes place in the tri-county area.
* Parodied in an episode of ''[[King of the Hill]]'' by Peggy when she exclaims that the kids (Bobby, Connie and Joseph) aren't anywhere in the tri-home area (referring to the Hill, Khan & Gribble residences).
* ''[[Kim Possible]]'' lives in a tri-city area, Upperton, Middleton, and Lowerton.
* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' has a tri-state area. This is a subversion since the Tri-State area is actually named from it's founder, John P. Tristate.
* The ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' Spring Break movie:
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