Athens (formally known as
Athens-Clarke County) is a
consolidated city–county in the U.S. state of
Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former city of Athens proper (the county seat) and Clarke County. The
University of Georgia, the state's flagship public research university, is located in this
college town, and contributed to its initial growth. In 1991, after a vote the preceding year, the original city abandoned its charter to form a unified government with
Clarke County, referred to jointly as Athens-Clarke County. As of the 2010
census, the consolidated city-county (including all of Athens-Clarke County except
Winterville and a portion of
Bogart) had a total
population of 115,452; all of Clarke County had a population of 116,714. Athens is the sixth-largest city in Georgia, and the principal city of the
Athens-Clarke County, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 192,541 as of the 2010 census. Athens-Clarke County has the smallest geographical area of a county in Georgia.