Marion is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Marion County. The municipality is located in north-central Ohio, approximately 50 miles (80 km) north of Columbus. The population was 35,318 at the 2000 census. According to the US Census 2008 estimate, Marion has a population of 35,841, while Ohio's Columbus–Marion–Chillicothe Combined Statistical Area has 2,002,604 people. Marion is the county's largest city and the center of the Marion Micropolitan Statistical Area (as defined by the United States Census Bureau in 2003). It is nicknamed the City of Kings. President Warren G. Harding was a native of Marion.