Cincinnati ( SIN-si-NAT-ee, colloquially called Cincy) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line with Kentucky. The city is the economic and cultural hub of the Cincinnati metropolitan area and with an estimated population of 2,265,051, it is Ohio's largest metropolitan area and the nation's 30th-largest city. The population of Cincinnati is 309,317 which makes the city the third-most populous city in Ohio after Columbus and Cleveland, and 65th in the United States.
Throughout much of the 19th century, Cincinnati was among the top 10 U.S. cities by population. The city developed as a river town for cargo shipping by steamboats, located at the crossroads of the Northern and Southern United States with fewer immigrants and less influence from Europe than East Coast cities in the same period.
