Bowling Green is a city and the county seat of Warren County, Kentucky, United States. Its population was 72,294 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in the state, after Louisville and Lexington. The Bowling Green metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in the state and had a population of 179,639 in 2020. Founded by pioneers in 1798, Bowling Green was the provisional capital of Confederate Kentucky during the American Civil War.