Located at the confluence of the Kansas (Kaw) River and the Missouri River, and adjacent to Kansas City, Missouri (with which it has a high degree of economic interdependence), the cities together are at the core of one of the principal metropolitan regions of the central United States. Kansas City is a commercial, manufacturing, and distribution center for the surrounding crop-farming and livestock-raising area. The estimated population is 149,767 people, and its major manufactures include processed food (especially meat), automobiles, building materials, telecommunications equipment, machinery, chemicals, and refined petroleum.