Bend is a city in and the county seat

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Deschutes County

Deschutes County, Oregon

-National protected areas:* Deschutes National Forest * Newberry National Volcanic Monument-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 115,367 people, 45,595 households, and 31,962 families residing in the county. The population density was 38 people per square mile . There were 54,583...

, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, and the principal city of the Bend, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon

Central Oregon

Central Oregon is a geographic region in the U.S. state of Oregon and is traditionally considered to be made up of Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties. Other definitions include larger areas, often encompassing areas to the north towards the Columbia River, eastward towards Burns, or south...

's largest city, and, despite its modest size, is the de facto metropolis

Metropolis

A metropolis is a very large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications...

 of the region, owing to the low population density of that area. With a population of 52,029 at the time of the 2000 census, Bend's population was 76,639 in city as of the 2010 US Census.

Bend's metro population was estimated at 170,705 as of July 1, 2009.