Jacksonville is the most populous city in Florida as well as the southeastern United States, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968. Consolidation gave Jacksonville its great size and placed most of its metropolitan population within the city limits. As of 2018, Jacksonville's population was estimated to be 903,889. The Jacksonville metropolitan area has a population of 1,523,615 and is the fourth largest metropolitan area in Florida.