Salina is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Kansas, United States. First settled in 1856 along the Saline and Smoky Hill Rivers and founded by William A. Phillips in 1858, Salina is situated at the intersection of Interstate Highways I-70 and I-135 in central Kansas. The population was 45,679 at the 2000 census, and it was estimated to be 46,140 in the year 2006. Salina is the principal city of the Salina Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Saline and Ottawa counties.