Cincinnati ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. It is the third-largest city in Ohio and the 65th-largest city in the United States. It had a population of 296,945 at the 2010 census. According to the census, the population of the metropolitan area was 2,214,954 – the 28th-largest Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in the United States and the largest centered in Ohio. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the north side of the confluence of the Licking with the Ohio River. The latter forms the border between the states of Ohio and Kentucky.