Kansas City (also referred to as KC) is a fifteen-county metropolitan area, anchored by Kansas City, Missouri, that spans the border between the U.S. states of Missouri and Kansas. With a population of 2.34 million, Kansas City ranks as the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri (after Greater St. Louis) and is the largest with territory in Kansas, ahead of Wichita. Alongside Kansas City, the area includes a number of other cities and suburbs, the largest being Overland Park, Kansas, Kansas City, Kansas, and Independence, Missouri all over 100,000 in population.