The US state of West Virginia is located in the eastern United States in the Appalachian Mountains. Its nickname is “Mountain State” because the state is entirely in the mountains, incidentally the only one of the 50 states where this is the case. The capital is Charleston and is located at the confluence of the Elk River and Kanawha River. With over 50,000 inhabitants, it is also the largest city in the state.
US state of West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is bordered by Ohio and Pennsylvania to the north, Maryland to the east, Virginia to the south, and Kentucky to the west. Overall, the federal state covers an area of 62,755 km², which is roughly the size of the federal state of Bavaria, which has 70,550 km². With this size, however, only around 1.9 million people live here, compared to 12.44 million people in Bavaria. The proportion of whites is very high at 95%, 3.2% are Afro-American, 1% Central or Latin American, 0.6% Asian and 0.2% Native American.
The five largest groupings whose ancestors were of a particular nationality are: American (23.2%), German (17.2%), Irish (13.5%), English (12%), and Italian (4.8% ). Larger ethnic German populations have settled in northeastern West Virginia. Nature is also one of the greatest goods in West Virginia. Here you will find the Allegheny Mountains, which are only slightly developed for tourism, although they are only a few hours’ drive from the metropolises on the east coast. Suitable for rafting, mountain biking and climbing tours.
Biggest cities
The population of West Virginia’s largest cities are for 2010 and are rounded.
- Charleston 51,000
- Huntington’s 49,000
- Parkersburg 31,000
- Morgantown 30,000
- Wheeling 30,000
Climate and weather
West Virginia’s climate is humid and continental. Here you will find pleasantly warm summers with temperatures up to 30 degrees Celsius, on some days there are thunderstorms. In winter, the thermometer drops to minus 10 degrees, which should certainly appeal to winter sports enthusiasts.