Tupelo

About Tupelo

Tupelo ( TOO-pə-loh) is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, Mississippi, United States. Founded in 1860, the population was 37,923 at the 2020 census. It is the seventh-most populous city in Mississippi and is considered a commercial, industrial, and cultural hub of northern Mississippi.

Tupelo was incorporated July 20, 1870. The area had earlier been settled as "Gum Pond" along the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, which had built a line through the settlement around July 1860. On February 7, 1934, Tupelo became the first city to receive power from the Tennessee Valley Authority, thus giving it the nickname "The First TVA City". Much of the city was devastated by a major tornado in 1936 that still ranks as one of the deadliest tornadoes in American history. Following electrification, Tupelo boomed as a regional manufacturing and distribution center and was once considered a hub of the American furniture manufacturing industry.

Although many of Tupelo's manufacturing industries have declined since the 1990s, the city has continued to grow due to strong healthcare, retail, and financial service industries. Tupelo is the smallest city in the United States that is the headquarters of more than one bank with over $10 billion in assets.

Tupelo has a deep connection to Mississippi's music history, being known as the birthplace of Elvis Presley. The city is home to multiple art and cultural institutions, including the Elvis Presley Birthplace and the 10,000-seat Huntington Bank Arena, the largest multipurpose indoor arena in Mississippi. Tupelo is the only city in the Southern United States to be named an All-America City five times, most recently in 2015. Its Main Street program, Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association, was the winner of the national Main Street's Great American Main Street Award in 2020.

The Tupelo micropolitan area contains Lee, Itawamba, and Pontotoc counties and had a population of 140,081 in 2017.

Text: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tupelo weather: 7-day forecast

Source: National Weather Service (NOAA).

Live webcams in Tupelo

Webcams: Windy.com

Living in Tupelo

Median household income

$66,257

Median home value

$212,800

Median rent

$976/mo

Median age

38.3

Map of Tupelo

Tap any street on the map to see it in Street View below. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Tupelo Street View

Drag the image to look around and tap the arrows on the ground to move. If it says there is no imagery, tap a nearby street on the map above.

Tupelo, MS population

Tupelo had 37,923 residents in the 2020 Census.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Decennial Census.

Tupelo at a glance

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (Gazetteer, ZCTA), USGS GNIS, Wikidata.

Towns near Tupelo

• Verona5.6 mi S
• Plantersville5.8 mi SE
• Saltillo7.9 mi N
• Sherman8.7 mi NW
• Mooreville8.9 mi E
• Shannon11.0 mi S
• Blue Springs12.1 mi NW
• Guntown12.7 mi N
• Mantachie13.6 mi E
• Nettleton14.3 mi SE
• Pontotoc15.8 mi W
• Baldwyn17.0 mi N

Straight-line distance between town centers.

Frequently asked questions about Tupelo