Winston-Salem is a city in and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the fifth-most populous city in North Carolina, and the 90th-most populous city in the United States. The population of the Winston-Salem metropolitan area in 2020 was 675,966. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina's Piedmont Triad region, home to 1.7 million residents.