Ashland is a home rule-class city in Boyd County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is located upon the southern bank of the Ohio River. The population was 21,684 at the 2010 census. Ashland is a part of the Huntington-Ashland-Ironton metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the MSA had a population of 287,702. New definitions from February 28, 2013 placed the population at 363,000. Ashland is the second-largest city within the MSA, after Huntington, West Virginia.