Athens is a consolidated city?county in the U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state about an hour's drive from the global city of Atlanta. It comprises the former city of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public research university, is located in this college town, and contributed to its initial growth. In 1991, after a vote the preceding year, the original city abandoned its charter to form a unified government with Clarke County, referred to jointly as Athens-Clarke County. As of the 2010 census, the consolidated city-county had a total population of 115,452; all of Clarke County had a population of 116,714. Athens is the sixth-largest city in Georgia, and the principal city of the Athens-Clarke County, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 192,541 as of the 2010 census. Athens-Clarke County has the smallest geographical area of a county in Georgia.