Durham ( DURR-əm) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County and Wake County. With a population of 283,506 in the 2020 Census, Durham is the 4th-most populous city in North Carolina, and the 74th-most populous city in the United States. The city is located in the east-central part of the Piedmont region along the Eno River. Durham is the core of the four-county Durham-Chapel Hill Metropolitan Area, which has a population of 649,903 as of 2020 U.S. Census. The Office of Management and Budget also includes Durham as a part of the Raleigh-Durham-Cary Combined Statistical Area, commonly known as the Research Triangle, which has a population of 2,043,867 as of 2020 U.S. Census.A railway depot was established in 1849 on land donated by Bartlett S. Durham, the namesake of the city.