The Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) is an unofficial trading and marketing region in the U.S. states of Georgia and South Carolina, spanning thirteen counties in Georgia[1][2] and seven in South Carolina.[3] The term was coined in 1950 by C.C. McCollum, the winner of a $250 contest held by The Augusta Chronicle to generate the best name for the area. Today the initialism is so commonly used that the full name is not known to all CSRA residents.[3] The region is located on and named after the Savannah River, which forms the border between the two states. The largest cities within the CSRA are Augusta, Georgia and Aiken, South Carolina. (The CSRA does not include the city of Savannah, Georgia or any portion of the Savannah metropolitan area.)
The total population of the CSRA is 767,478 in 2018. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the seven-county Augusta-Richmond County Metropolitan Statistical Area (the core of the CSRA) had a 2020 population of more than 611,000,[4] making it the second most populous (after metro Atlanta) in the state of Georgia.
