(Please forgive me for the comparison I'm about to make, but there's no other real historical comparison that could be drawn. Also, I have no connection with CEA so this is all based off of observation on my part.)
I view CEA as kind of like the communist bloc. Kernersville would be Moscow, Raleigh would be East Berlin, Charlotte could be Havana (to a degree), and the rest of the locations would be some of the smaller cities throughout the USSR. They're not incredibly powerful, but they don't HAVE to be--they've got Moscow, East Berlin, and Havana to handle all of the real issues that come up. The smaller locations provide "troops" to fill teams once they've reached the skill levels.
I feel as though the smaller CEA locations are basically infantry for the level 5 CEA teams--SE, Coed Elite, SSX, Smoex, Lady Elite, JC5, Junior Elite, Youth Elite, etc. etc. etc. (This is NOT to say the younger and lower-level athletes are not important. They are.) The Kernersville gym and Raleigh gym (from what I've seen in pics at least) aren't huge gyms like CA or Stingrays. There isn't enough time or gym space to provide a location for younger teams and all levels. The only youth team in Kville is YE, and the only mini team is Mini Elite. Raleigh has one tiny team and then only junior and senior teams. The other locations provide the "training ground" so to speak for the younger teams and other levels.*
CEA clearly tries to get their athletes to level 5 as quickly as possible, and it seems to be working pretty well. It doesn't matter if their satellite gyms are "in the black" and winning championship after championship--that's not really the point. The smaller locations are an opportunity enter CEA at a level and age-appropriate team that otherwise wouldn't be available at Kville or Raleigh, and eventually work oneself up to a team that practices in Kville or Raleigh, if that's what they want to do. (I think. Again, I could be completely wrong and I have no connection to CEA.)
*all this info is taken from the CEA wikipedia page so correct me if I'm wrong.