Press Release
Additional Information Contact(s):
John Anhorn	Rich Hieb	Tom Anderson
President	Executive Vice President	Senior Vice President
& Chief Executive Officer	& Chief Operating Officer	& Chief Financial Officer
(541) 618-6020	(541) 618-6020	(541) 282-5190
john.anhorn@premierwestbank.com	rich.hieb@premierwestbank.com	tom.anderson@premierwestbank.com

     PREMIERWEST BANCORP
ANNOUNCES 47.5% INCREASE IN
NET INCOME

Medford, Oregon - October 11, 2005 - PremierWest Bancorp (NASDAQ - PRWT) announced third quarter net income of $3,503,000 an increase of $1,077,000, when compared to the third quarter of 2004, when the Company earned $2,426,000. Earnings per share, on a fully diluted basis, amounted to $0.21 and $0.15 for the third quarters of 2005 and 2004, respectively.

Net income for the first nine months of 2005 climbed to $9,387,000 or $0.56 per fully diluted share, an increase of 47.5% when compared to the first nine months of 2004 when net income amounted to $6,365,000 or $0.39 per fully diluted share.

John Anhorn, President & Chief Executive officer stated, "Net income for the first nine months of 2005 has already exceeded 2004's full year record net income of $9,108,000. I am extremely pleased with the results, especially when considering the additional expenses absorbed as a result of the ongoing expansion of our network of branches."

Highlights for the Quarter and Year to date include:

• Record Earnings
• Solid Net Interest Margin
• Improved Performance Ratios
• Continued Franchise Expansion

RECORD EARNINGS Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Rich Hieb, commented, "This marks PremierWest's 18^th consecutive quarter of record net income. Our consistent achievement of record quarterly earnings over a time period in which we successfully acquired and integrated two community banks while also opening 10 de novo branches further validates our successful strategy of building a solid community bank with a network of branches throughout the growing communities of southern Oregon and northern California. We understand that our focus on building strong customer relationships is key to our continued success for growing both earnings and market share, and we remain committed to that focus."

Management raised guidance for full year earnings, indicating that 2005 net income is expected to exceed a 30% to 35% increase when compared to 2004 full year net income.

SOLID NET INTEREST MARGIN

Net interest income increased $2,640,000 or 27.3% when compared to the same quarter in 2004 and $1,096,000 or 9.8% when compared to the immediately preceding quarter. Third quarter performance resulted in a tax equivalent net interest margin of 6.20% for the quarter and 5.93% for the first nine months of 2005. Our net interest margin of 6.20% for the quarter represents a 31 basis point improvement when compared to the 5.89% margin achieved for the second quarter of 2005. Non-interest bearing deposits averaged $205.4 million, or 27.2% of total average deposits, during the quarter, an annualized growth rate of 25.8%, when compared to the immediately preceding quarter. Gross loans averaged $776.1, an increase of $26.8 million, or 14.3% annualized, when compared to average loans for the quarter ended June 30, 2005.

Tom Anderson, Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer stated "The current interest rate environment, combined with strong core deposit and loan growth, should continue to positively affect our net interest margin. We expect that our 2005 full year tax equivalent net interest margin will be within 15 basis points of 6.00% ."

IMPROVED PERFORMANCE RATIOS

Record earnings combined with solid growth and a quality loan portfolio has resulted in improvements in all important performance ratios. Our return on average equity at 14.21% for the quarter and 13.13% for the first nine months of 2005 remains below our 15.0% to 18.0% target, but well ahead of 2004's 11.18% for the third quarter and 10.20% for the first nine months of that year. Our return on average assets has climbed from 1.26% for the third quarter of 2004 to 1.57% for the quarter ended September 30, 2005. We continue to gain ground on our target of an efficiency ratio in the high 50% to low 60% range. For the quarter and year to date periods ending September 30, 2005, our Efficiency ratio was 60.49% and 62.53%, respectively, a substantial improvement when compared to 66.82% and 67.69%, respectively, for the same periods in 2004.

CONTINUED FRANCHISE EXPANSION

During the third quarter of 2005 our network of branches was expanded to include a full service presence in Roseville, California. Roseville, California was recently listed as one of the five fastest growing cities in the United States. Eagle Point, Oregon, our newest branch, is scheduled to open for business on October 11^th. Applications have been filed for full service branches in Shady Cove and Ashland, Oregon with construction on both projects expected to begin prior to the end of this year. We have also filed an application to establish a branch in Anderson, California, secured a temporary site, and are currently performing due diligence on property where we plan to open a full service branch in 2006. Additionally, we are scheduled to open a full service branch in Bend, Oregon during 2006.

ABOUT PREMIERWEST BANCORP

PremierWest Bancorp (NASDAQ: PRWT) is a financial services holding company headquartered in Medford, Oregon. We operate primarily through our subsidiary PremierWest Bank. Recognized as one of the fastest growing banks in the Pacific Northwest, PremierWest offers a full array of financial products and services through a network of full service banking offices located primarily along the Interstate 5 freeway corridor between Eugene, Oregon and Sacramento, California.

PremierWest Bank offers expanded banking related services through its two subsidiaries, Premier Finance Company and PremierWest Investment Services, Inc. Premier Finance Company operates from offices in Medford, Klamath Falls, Grants Pass, Roseburg and Portland, Oregon and Redding, California. PremierWest Investment Services operates in all of the Bank's community-focused market areas.

PremierWest Bank was created following the merger of the Bank of Southern Oregon and Douglas National Bank in May of 2000. In April of 2001, PremierWest Bancorp acquired Timberline Bancshares, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Timberline Community Bank, with eight branch offices located in Siskiyou County in northern California. In January of 2004, PremierWest acquired Mid Valley Bank with five branch offices located in the northern California counties of Shasta, Tehama, and Butte.

This report contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in these statements. The forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 21D of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Those

forward-looking statements are based on management's assumptions and projections, and are sometimes identifiable by the use of the words, "expect to", "plan", "will", "believe" and words of similar predictive nature. Because management's assumptions and projections are based on anticipation of future events, you should not place undue emphasis on forward-looking statements, and you should recognize that those statements are effective only as of the date of this release. You should anticipate that our actual performance may vary from those projections, and variations may be material and adverse. You should not rely solely on forward-looking statements in evaluating an investment or prospective investment, and you should consider all uncertainties and risks discussed in the filings of PremierWest Bancorp with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Risks that may cause our results to differ materially and adversely from management's expectations discussed here include: unanticipated additional expenses associated with opening additional facilities; the impact on reported financial results that may occur with the adoption of new accounting rules and tax regulations; the inability to grow earning assets or the inability to fund loan growth through traditional deposit gathering; as well as general economic conditions in our market area and broader economic changes regionally and nationally, and the effect of bank regulatory changes. PremierWest undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein.

PREMIERWEST BANCORP
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
(All amounts in 000's, except per share data)
(unaudited)
EARNINGS AND PER SHARE DATA							For the three
							months ended
							June 30
For the Three Months Ended September 30	2005		2004		Change	% Change	2005		Change	% Change
Interest income	$              15,230		$             11,227		$          4,003	35.7%	$	13,845	$        1,385	10.0%
Interest expense		2,913	1,550		1,363	87.9%		2,624	289	11.0%
Net interest income	12,317		9,677		2,640	27.3%		11,221	1,096	9.8%
Provision for possible loan losses		-		150	(150)	-100.0%		-	-	0.0%
Noninterest income		1,855	1,687		168	10.0%		1,869	(14)	-0.7%
Noninterest expense		8,572	7,593		979	12.9%		8,148	424	5.2%
Pre-tax income		5,600	3,621		1,979	54.7%		4,941	658	13.3%
Provision for income taxes		2,097	1,195		902	75.5%		1,704	393	23.1%
Net income	$	3,503	$               2,426		$          1,077	44.4%	$	3,237	$          265	8.2%
Basic earnings per share	$	0.22	$	0.15	$            0.07	46.7%	$	0.20	$         0.02	10.0%
Diluted earnings per share	$	0.21	$	0.15	$            0.06	40.0%	$	0.19	$         0.02	10.5%
Average shares outstanding--basic	15,364,771		15,308,612		56,159	0.4%		15,355,454	9,317	0.1%
Average shares outstanding--diluted	16,807,534		16,577,314		230,220	1.4%		16,783,983	23,551	0.1%
For the Nine Months Ended September 30
Interest income	$               41,570		$             31,093		$         10,477	33.7%
Interest expense		7,730	4,616		3,114	67.5%
Net interest income	33,840		26,477		7,363	27.8%
Provision for possible loan losses		150		650	(500)	-76.9%
Noninterest income		5,482	4,934		548	11.1%
Noninterest expense	24,590		21,261		3,329	15.7%
Pre-tax income	14,582		9,500		5,082	53.5%
Provision for income taxes		5,195	3,135		2,060	65.7%
Net income	$	9,387	$               6,365		$          3,022	47.5%
Basic earnings per share	$	0.60	$	0.41	$            0.19	46.3%
Diluted earnings per share	$	0.56	$	0.39	$            0.17	43.6%
Average shares outstanding--basic	15,354,735		15,111,029		243,706	1.6%
Average shares outstanding--diluted	16,782,858		16,361,060		421,798	2.6%

SELECTED FINANCIAL RATIOS
(annualized)					For the three
					months ended
For the Three Months Ended September 30		2005	2004	Change	June 30, 2005	Change
Yield on average gross loans (1)		7.77%	7.02%	0.76	7.33%	0.44
Yield on average investments (1)		4.16%	2.78%	1.38	4.41%	(0.25)
Total yield on average earning assets (1)		7.65%	6.68%	0.96	7.25%	0.40
Cost of average interest-bearing deposits		1.86%	1.19%	0.67	1.69%	0.17
Cost of average borrowings		4.88%	3.54%	1.33	4.43%	0.45
Total cost of average deposits and borrowings		1.49%	0.92%	0.56	1.39%	0.10
Net interest spread		6.16%	5.76%	0.40	5.86%	0.30
Net interest margin (1)		6.20%	5.76%	0.44	5.89%	0.31
Return on average equity		14.21%	11.18%	3.03	13.60%	0.61
Return on average assets		1.57%	1.26%	0.30	1.51%	0.06
Efficiency ratio (2)		60.49%	66.82%	(6.33)	62.25%	(1.76)
For the Nine Months Ended September 30
Yield on average gross loans (1)		7.38%	6.83%	0.56
Yield on average investments (1)		4.09%	2.45%	1.64
Total yield on average earning assets (1)		7.27%	6.34%	0.92
Cost of average interest-bearing deposits		1.68%	1.18%	0.50
Cost of average borrowings		4.83%	3.03%	1.81
Total cost of average deposits and borrowings		1.37%	0.94%	0.43
Net interest spread		5.90%	5.40%	0.49
Net interest margin (1)		5.93%	5.41%	0.53
Net charge-offs to average loans		-0.21%	0.58%	(0.79)
Allowance for loan losses to loans		1.40%	1.38%	0.02
Allowance for loan losses to non-performing loans		354.11%	336.33%	17.78
Non-performing loans to total loans		0.40%	0.41%	(0.01)
Non-performing assets/total assets		0.35%	0.41%	(0.06)
Return on average equity		13.13%	10.20%	2.93
Return on average assets		1.46%	1.14%	0.32
Efficiency ratio (2)		62.53%	67.69%	(5.16)
Notes:
(1)	Tax equivalent at a 34% rate
(2)	Non-interest expense divided by net interest income plus non-interest income

								Balance Sheet
BALANCE SHEET								at June 30
At September 30	2005		2004		Change		% Change	2005		Change		% Change
Fed funds sold and investments	$                     20,703		$                     43,353		$	(22,650)	-52.2%	$	25,948	$	(5,245)	-20.2%
Gross loans	776,184		635,338			140,846	22.2%		764,974		11,210	1.5%
Reserve for loan losses	(10,857)		(8,795)			(2,062)	23.4%		(10,858)		1	0.0%
Net loans	765,327		626,543			138,784	22.2%		754,116		11,211	1.5%
Other assets	104,353		99,360			4,993	5.0%		98,401		5,952	6.0%
Total assets	$                   890,383		$                   769,256		$	121,127	15.7%	$	878,465	$	11,918	1.4%
Non-interest-bearing deposits	$                   207,223		$                   176,754		$	30,469	17.2%	$	196,957	$	10,266	5.2%
Interest-bearing deposits	559,027		494,155			64,872	13.1%		537,166		21,861	4.1%
Total deposits	766,250		670,909			95,341	14.2%		734,123		32,127	4.4%
Borrowings	17,404			2,579		14,825	574.8%		42,564		(25,160)	-59.1%
Other liabilities		6,920		7,948		(1,028)	-12.9%		5,417		1,503	27.7%
Stockholders' equity	99,809		87,820			11,989	13.7%		96,361		3,448	3.6%
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity	$                   890,383		$                   769,256		$	121,127	15.7%	$	878,465	$	11,918	1.4%
Period end shares outstanding (1)	16,428,255		16,382,180			46,075	0.3%		16,421,428		6,827	0.0%
Book value per share	$	6.08	$	5.36	$	0.72	13.4%	$	5.87	$	0.21	3.6%
Tangible book value per share	$	4.72	$	3.95	$	0.77	19.5%	$	4.51	$	0.21	4.7%
Allowance for loan losses:
Balance beginning of period	$	9,171	$	5,467	$	3,704	67.8%	$	9,171	$	-	0.0%
Acquired from merger with Mid Valley Bank	$	-	$	6,085		(6,085)	-100.0%
Provision for loan losses		150		650		(500)	-76.9%		150		0	0.0%
Net (charge-offs) recoveries		1,536	(3,407)			4,943	-145.1%		1,537		(1)	-0.1%
Balance end of period	$                     10,857		$	8,795	$	2,062	23.4%	$	10,858	$	(1)	0.0%
Non-performing assets:
Non-performing loans	$	3,066	$	2,615	$	451	17.2%	$	1,429	$	1,637	114.6%
Real estate owned		62		550		(488)	-88.7%		62		0	0.0%
Total non-performing assets	$	3,128	$	3,165	$	(37)	-1.2%	$	1,491	$	1,637	109.8%
Notes:
(1) Amount includes 11,000 shares of preferred stock issued November 17, 2003 as if converted into common stock at a conversion ratio of 96.469 to 1
for a total of 1,061,159 common shares.
								For the three
AVERAGE BALANCE SHEET								months ended
For the Three Months Ended September 30	2005		2004		Change		% Change	June 30, 2005		Change		% Change
Average fed funds sold and investments	$                     25,968		$                     55,002		$	(29,034)	-52.8%	$	20,757	$	5,211	25.1%
Average loans, gross	776,096		623,305			152,791	24.5%		749,264		26,832	3.6%
Average total assets	889,859		769,100			120,759	15.7%		856,738		33,121	3.9%
Average non-interest-bearing deposits	205,346		174,470			30,876	17.7%		192,894		12,452	6.5%
Average interest-bearing deposits	550,107		490,599			59,508	12.1%		524,832		25,275	4.8%
Average total deposits	755,453		665,069			90,384	13.6%		717,726		37,727	5.3%
Average total borrowings	29,166			9,821		19,345	197.0%		36,951		(7,785)	-21.1%
Average stockholders' equity	98,631		86,771			11,860	13.7%		95,174		3,457	3.6%
For the Nine Months Ended September 30
Average fed funds sold and investments	$                     26,072		$                     73,213		$	(47,141)	-64.4%
Average loans, gross	742,404		586,746			155,658	26.5%
Average total assets	855,276		742,780			112,496	15.1%
Average non-interest-bearing deposits	193,647		161,184			32,463	20.1%
Average interest-bearing deposits	531,186		470,242			60,944	13.0%
Average total deposits	724,833		631,426			93,407	14.8%
Average total borrowings	28,125		19,874			8,251	41.5%
Average stockholders' equity	95,336		83,236			12,100	14.5%