Richmond County is located in the state of Georgia in the U.S. As of the 2020 census, the population was 206,607. It is one of the original counties of Georgia, created on February 5, 1777. Following an election in 1995, Augusta consolidated governments with Richmond County. The consolidated entity is known as Augusta-Richmond County, or simply Augusta. Exempt are the cities of Hephzibah and Blythe, in southern Richmond County, which voted to remain separate. Richmond County is included in the Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC metropolitan statistical area.

The Augusta metropolitan area, officially the Augusta-Richmond County metropolitan statistical area according to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Census Bureau and other agencies, is a metropolitan statistical area centered on the city of Augusta, Georgia. It straddles two U.S. states, Georgia and South Carolina, and includes the Georgia counties of Richmond, Burke, Columbia, Lincoln, and McDuffie as well as the South Carolina counties of Aiken and Edgefield. The official 2023 U.S. census estimate for the area was 629,429 residents, up from 611,000 at the 2020 U.S. census.