Gadsden is a city in and the county seat of Etowah County in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is located on the Coosa River about 56 miles (90 km) northeast of Birmingham, 90 miles (140 km) southwest of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and 72 miles (116 km) southeast of Huntsville. It is the primary city of the Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 103,931. The population was 33,945 at the 2020 census.