Jefferson City is the capital of the U.S. state of Missouri and the fifteenth most populous city in the state. It is also the county seat of Cole County and the principal city of the Jefferson City Metropolitan Statistical Area. Most of the city is in Cole County, with a small northern section extending into Callaway County.Jefferson City is named for Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States. Jefferson City currently holds, per Rand McNally, the title of America's "Most Beautiful Small Town."Jefferson City is on the northern edge of the Ozark Plateau on the southern side of the Missouri River in a region known as Mid-Missouri. It is also at the western edge of one of the major wine-producing regions of the Midwest, the Missouri Rhineland.