Greensboro; formerly Greensborough) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the 3rd-most populous city in North Carolina, the 68th-most populous city in the United States, and the county seat and largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 269,666, and in 2015 the estimated population was 285,342. Three major interstate highways in the Piedmont region of central North Carolina were built to intersect at this city.In 1808, "Greensborough" was planned around a central courthouse square to succeed Guilford Court House as the county seat. The county courts were thus placed closer to the geographical center of the county, a location more easily reached at the time by the majority of the county's citizens, who depended on horse and foot for travel.In 2003, the previous Greensboro – Winston-Salem – High Point metropolitan statistical area was re-defined by the U.S.