Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. As of 2019, the city has a population of 78,439 according to a US census estimate, making it the second largest of Bell County's three principal cities after Killeen. Located near the county seat of Belton, Temple lies in the region referred to as Central Texas and is a principal city in the Killeen – Temple – Fort Hood metropolitan area, which as of 2015 had a population of 450,051.