Ciudad Juárez (Spanish pronunciation: [sjuˈðað ˈxwaɾes], /ˈwɑːrɛz/ WHAH-rez; Juarez City), known in the past, until 1888 as Paso del Norte (Pass of the North), and commonly referred to by locals as simply Juárez, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people. The city lies on the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte), south of El Paso, Texas. Together with the surrounding areas the cities form El Paso–Juárez, the second largest bi-national metropolitan area on the Mexico–United States border (after San Diego–Tijuana), with a combined population of over 2.7 million people.