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West Virginia is a state located in the Appalachian region in the Southern United States and is also considered to be a part of the Middle Atlantic States. It is bordered by Pennsylvania to the north, Maryland to the east and northeast, Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, and Ohio to the northwest. West Virginia is the 41st largest state by area, and is ranked 38th in population. The capital and largest city is Charleston.

Capital(and largest city): Charleston
Largest metro: Greater Huntington

Area
Total: 24,230 sq mi (62,755 km2)
Width: 130 miles (210 km)
Length: 240 miles (385 km)
% water: 0.6
Latitude: 37° 12′ N to 40° 39′ N
Longitude: 77° 43′ W to 82° 39′ W

Elevation
Highest point: Spruce Knob, 4863 ft (1482 m)
Mean: 1,513 ft (461 m)
Lowest point: Potomac River at Virginia border, 240 ft (73 m)
Time zone: Eastern: UTC -5/-4

Population: 1,808,344

West Virginia is a global hub for chemicals, a national hub for biotech industries and a leader in energy, while having a diverse economy in aerospace, automotive, healthcare and education, metals and steels, media and telecommunications, manufacturing, hospitality, biometrics, forestry, and tourism.

The state is a global chemical hub, cited by the Council of American States in Europe as one of North America's premier destinations, with the presence of DuPont, Germany-based Bayer and Stockmeier Kunststoffe GmbH; a subsidiary of Japan-based Kureha, Ashland Specialty Chemical, Flexsys, and Brazil-based Braskem S.A.

The state has one of the nation's highest concentrations of biotech industries aided by the presence of corporations such as Germany-based BASF and Bayer, DuPont, PPG, Dow, Mylan Inc., founded in White Sulphur Springs, and Texas-based Alcon.

West Virginia also has sizeable advanced technology industries. Private establishments include Fairmont-based Prologic, Inc., Security Assistance Corporation, Ridgeley-based Alliant Techsystems, Inc., Berkeley Springs-based STS International, and the Fairmont-based West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation (HTC).

The state is home to federal institutions such as the portions of the National Energy Technology Laboratory and Forestry Science Laboratory in Morgantown, the Leetown Science Center and National Center for Cool and Cold Water Aquaculture in Leetown, National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, the Forest Service Timber and Watershed Laboratory in Parsons, the Appalachian Farming Systems Research Center in Beckley, West Virginia District Office of Water Resources in Charleston, and Department of Veterans Affairs R&D units in Clarksburg and Huntington.

West Virginia University is home to research institutions such as the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute, Robert C. Byrd Cancer Research Laboratory, Center for Identification Technology Research, and the National Research Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions.
The Mid-Atlantic Technology, Research and Innovation Center, or MATRIC, is headquartered in South Charleston.

Major aerospace employers in the state include Pratt and Whitney located in Bridgeport, Lockheed Martin in Clarksburg, Goodrich Corporation in Union, Canada-based Bombardier Aerospace in Bridgeport, Alliant Techsystems, FCX Systems in Morgantown, and FMW Composite Systems and Aurora Flight Sciences of West Virginia in Bridgeport.

Farming is practiced throughout West Virginia, but in a form different from large extensive cash-crop agriculture elsewhere in the USA. The modal average farm size was a smallish 140 to 179 acres (567,000 to 724,000 m²), most statistics in this section are taken from the 2002 US Census of Agriculture for West Virginia, which sold less than $2,500 of crops annually. Family and single-owner operation worked 92.7% of the farms, and an astounding 96.9% were totally or partly owned by the operator. On the other hand, only 50.5% of the state's farmers considered farming to be their primary occupation, with a significant number of hours worked elsewhere each year. The rural poverty rate in West Virginia is 20.4%, five points higher than the urban poverty rate.

This description of farming portrays an independent and self-sufficient base of small land owners, but also a significant amount of rural poverty.
As can be expected in a rugged terrain, raising animals was far more important than growing vegetative crops. Income from animals exceeded income from plants by about 7 to 1, with much of the non-animal income derived from sales of fodder. The chief animals raised were cattle and chickens.

In the ridge and valley area along the eastern border near Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, subsidiary valleys are wide and there are some belts of rich soil which are extensively farmed. In 2002, all of the top five counties by agricultural dollar value were located near the eastern Virginia border.
In traditional frontier agriculture there was much gathering of wild "greens" and other vegetation to supplement the diet. One area where this practice is still significant is the gathering of wild North American ginseng, often for the Asian market. Wild gathered ginseng contributed about $2 million in 2000 to the West Virginia economy, a figure larger than many conventional cultivated vegetable and fruit crops. Other wild greens, such as sour dock, lambs quarters, and wild leek (or "ramps") are also still gathered by many for table use, although today more on the basis of avocation or keeping up traditions than out of necessity.

West Virginia is considered a national energy hub, leading the nation in net interstate electricity exports and underground coal mine production, while experiencing a growing natural gas industry as a result of the Great Shale Gas Rush. Overall, it produces 15% of the nation's fossil fuel energy. The state's underground natural gas storage represents 6% of the nation's total, and overall it has 5.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas reserves.

West Virginia was one of the first states to engage in drilling for oil. Small to medium oil and natural gas fields still exist and are scattered mostly in the Allegheny Plateau and the Cumberland Plateau in an arc throughout the western part of state. The state produces around 180,000 barrels of oil per month, with 23 million barrels of reserves.

West Virginia is the largest coal producer east of the Mississippi River, and accounts for 1/10 of the nation's production. It leads the nation in coal production from underground mines, and has the nation's second largest reserves behind Wyoming.

West Virginia has an annual 13 million barrel coal-to-liquid fuel production capacity. Weirton Energy will begin construction of a new $1 billion coal-to-liquid fuel facility in January.

It has an extensive network of railroads, and much of the coal is transported by rail. The railways were once one of the largest customers for coal to drive the steam locomotives, but these have been replaced by diesel locomotives. Coal is rarely used now for home heating. Most coal today is used by power plants to produce electricity, both in West Virginia, and in other eastern states.

A list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded from this region, include: Aggregates; Clay; Coal; Dimension Stone; Fire Clay; Iron; Limestone; Manganese; Silica.

With its extensive coal and gas reserves, West Virginia should be the key to the Free State’s power needs. Adding in the large high-tech and research facilities in the state, this could be the hidden jewel in the Free State.