Gadsden is the county seat of Etowah County in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is located on the Coosa River about 56 miles northeast of Birmingham and 90 miles southwest of Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is the primary city of the Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 103,931. The population 33,945 at the 2020 census. In the 19th century, Gadsden was Alabama's second-most important center of commerce and industry, trailing only the seaport of Mobile.