the cincinnati metropolitan area, informally known as greater cincinnati or the greater cincinnati tri-state area, is a metropolitan area that includes counties in the u.s. states of ohio, kentucky, and indiana around the ohio city of cincinnati. the united states census bureau's formal name for the area is the cincinnati–middletown, oh–ky–in metropolitan statistical area. as of the 2010 u.s. census, this msa had a population of 2,114,580, making greater cincinnati the 29th most populous metropolitan area in the united states, the largest metro area primarily in ohio, followed by cleveland (2nd) and columbus (3rd).