Mobile () (pronunciation) is the third most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. The population within the city limits was 198,915 as of the 2000 census. It is at the head of Mobile Bay. Mobile is the principal municipality of the Mobile Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 399,843 residents which is composed solely of Mobile County and is the second largest MSA in the state. Mobile is included in the Mobile-Daphne-Fairhope Combined Statistical Area with a total population of 540,258, the second largest CSA in the state.