The city is the main component of the Warner Robins Metropolitan Statistical Area, including the entirety of Houston, Peach, and Pulaski counties, which had an estimated population of 193,835 in 2018; it, in turn, is a component of a larger trade area, the Macon–Warner Robins–Fort Valley Combined Statistical Area, with an estimated 2018 population of 423,572. Robins Air Force Base, a major U.S. Air Force maintenance and logistics complex that was founded as the Warner Robins Air Depot in 1942, is located just east of the city limits; the base's expansion and the suburbanization of nearby Macon have led to the city's rapid growth in the post-World War II era.