Little Rock is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Little Rock metropolitan area is the 81st-most populous in the United States with 748,031 residents according to the 2020 census. As the county seat of Pulaski County, the city was incorporated on November 7, 1831, on the south bank of the Arkansas River close to the state's geographic center in Central Arkansas.