Benton is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Arkansas, United States. A suburb of Little Rock, it was established in 1837. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 35,014, making it the 12th most populous city in Arkansas. It is part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway metropolitan area. The city of Benton, first settled in 1833 and named after Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton, was formally chartered in 1836 when Arkansas became a state.