The Asheville metropolitan area is a metropolitan area centered on the principal city of Asheville, North Carolina. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget defines the Asheville, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area, a metropolitan statistical area used by the United States Census Bureau and other entities, as comprising the four counties of Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, and Madison. According to the 2010 United States Census, the area's population was 424,858.