1. Start with Chattanooga’s actual service area
Chattanooga is recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau as a municipality in Hamilton County, Tennessee. The 2020–2024 ACS five-year population estimate for Chattanooga city is 185,783, with a margin of error of 121. That is geographic eligibility evidence, not proof of legal demand, search behavior, case volume or staffing requirements. Your intake design should therefore begin with the firm’s own service-area rules: whether it accepts matters in Chattanooga city, elsewhere in Hamilton County, elsewhere in Tennessee, or only in defined practice-area jurisdictions.
Recommended approach
Write the service-area boundaries into the review brief before choosing questions or routing. Ask whether location should be an initial screening question, a later qualification question or a manual review item. Keep city, county and state eligibility distinct so a visitor is not treated as qualified merely because they identify as being from Chattanooga.
