West Virginia map

Where West Virginia is

West Virginia sits in the central Appalachians, with two panhandles: a Northern Panhandle squeezed between Ohio and Pennsylvania up to Weirton, and an Eastern Panhandle reaching to Harpers Ferry between Maryland and Virginia. From the tip of one to the other is about 240 miles; the main body is about 200 miles across. Clockwise from the north: Pennsylvania along the Mason–Dixon Line and a meridian, Maryland along the Potomac and its North Branch, Virginia along the Allegheny ridges to the east and south, Kentucky across the Tug Fork and Big Sandy to the southwest, and Ohio across the Ohio River to the west. It is the 41st-largest state by area and 39th by population. It is the only state entirely within the Appalachian region as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Major cities

No West Virginia city reaches 50,000 people; Charleston is the least populous state capital that is also its state's largest city. Wheeling was the first capital and Charleston has held the seat permanently since 1885.

Geography

• Highest point — Spruce Knob, 4,863 ft, in the Allegheny Mountains of Pendleton County; the state's mean elevation of about 1,500 ft is the highest east of the Mississippi.
• Ohio River — 277 miles of the western border from the Northern Panhandle to Huntington, with Wheeling, Parkersburg and Huntington on its banks. See the Ohio River map. The low point, about 240 ft, is where the river leaves at Kenova.
• Interior rivers — the Kanawha (formed by the New and Gauley rivers) through Charleston, the Monongahela north through Morgantown to Pittsburgh, and the Greenbrier, Elk and Little Kanawha. The New River Gorge, up to 1,000 ft deep, became a national park in 2020. See the national parks map.
• Allegheny Front — the escarpment along the eastern edge dividing the Ridge-and-Valley belt of the Eastern Panhandle from the Allegheny Plateau that covers the rest of the state. See the Appalachian Mountains map.
• Potomac — the Maryland border, with the South Branch valley and Harpers Ferry at the Shenandoah confluence.
• Lakes — none natural; Summersville Lake on the Gauley is the largest reservoir.

Borders

The Ohio River border is at the river's low-water mark on the Ohio side, so West Virginia owns the river. The Maryland border is the south bank of the Potomac and its North Branch to the Fairfax Stone, then a meridian north to the Mason–Dixon Line, which forms the Pennsylvania border; the Northern Panhandle line is the meridian of 80°31'W. The Virginia border is entirely old county lines, which explains its zigzag; Berkeley and Jefferson counties in the Eastern Panhandle voted to join the new state in 1863 and the Supreme Court confirmed the transfer in 1871. The Kentucky border follows the Tug Fork and Big Sandy River.

Regions of West Virginia

The Northern Panhandle (Wheeling, Weirton), North-Central (Morgantown, Clarksburg, Fairmont), the Eastern Panhandle (Martinsburg, Harpers Ferry), the Potomac Highlands (Elkins, Canaan Valley), the Mid-Ohio Valley (Parkersburg), the Metro Valley (Charleston, Huntington), the New River–Greenbrier Valley (Beckley, Lewisburg) and the southern coalfields (Logan, Williamson, McDowell County).

Related maps

• West Virginia county map — all 55 counties with seats.
• Blank West Virginia map — outline for printing.
• Printable West Virginia map.
• Charleston — the capital and largest city.
• Neighbors: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio.
• South, South Atlantic division, Mid-Atlantic, Eastern Time Zone.
• Geography: Appalachian Mountains, Ohio River, Mason–Dixon Line.