4/2/24, 10:15 AM West Virginia - Wikipedia
Christian and 16.2%
Religion in West Virginia (2020) [104]
were unaffiliated.[112]
religion percent
Protestant 70% In 2022, the Public
Unaffiliated 18% Religion Research
Catholic 6% Institute estimated
Mormon 2% 67% of the state was
Jewish 1%
Christian (53%
Muslim 1%
Other faith 1% Protestant, 11%
Unanswered 1% Catholic, 2% Jehovah's
Witness, and 1%
Mormon), 28%
Religious self-identification,
unaffiliated, 3% New Ager, and 2% Buddhist.
per Public Religion
Research Institute's 2022
Economy American Values
Survey [103]
Overview Protestantism (53%)
Catholicism (11%)
According to the World Bank, West Virginia's economy would
Jehovah's Witness (2%)
nominally be the world's 69th-largest, behind Luxembourg and
Mormonism (1%)
ahead of Bulgaria.[113] The state has a projected nominal GDP of
Unaffiliated (28%)
$85.434 billion in 2009 according to the Bureau of Economic
New Age (3%)
Analysis report as of 2021, and a real GDP of $71.343 billion. The
Buddhism (2%)
state's real GDP growth of 1.3% in 2021 was the 8th-best in the
country.[114]
While per capita income fell 2.6% nationally in 2009, West Virginia's grew at 1.8%.[115] Through the
first half of 2010, exports from West Virginia topped $3 billion, growing 39.5% over the same period
from the previous year and ahead of the national average by 15.7%.[115]
Forbes ranked Morgantown as the 10th-best small city in the nation to conduct business in 2010.[116]
The city is also home to West Virginia University, the 95th-best public university, according to U.S.
News & World Report in 2011.[117] The proportion of West Virginia's adult population with a
bachelor's degree is the lowest in the U.S., at 17.3%.[118]
The net corporate income tax rate is 6.5% while business costs are 13% below the national
average.[119][120]
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that in 2014 West Virginia's economy grew twice as
fast as the next fastest-growing state east of the Mississippi River, ranking third alongside Wyoming
and just behind North Dakota and Texas among the fastest-growing states.[121]
Tourism
Tourism contributed $4.27 billion to the state's economy and employed 44,400 people in 2010,
making it one of the state's largest industries.[122] Many tourists, especially in the eastern mountains,
are drawn to the region's notable opportunities for outdoor recreation. Canaan Valley is popular for
winter sports, Seneca Rocks is one of the premier rock climbing destinations in the eastern U.S., the
New River Gorge/Fayetteville area draws rock climbers as well as whitewater rafting enthusiasts, and
the Monongahela National Forest is popular with hikers, backpackers, hunters, and anglers.
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Also drawing tourism to the state is the West Virginia
State Park & State Forest system, which comprises 45
units covering 164,000 acres. In 2021, over 9 million
people visited a West Virginia State Park, the highest
number on record. This is partly due to a recent $151
million improvement project that has seen
improvements at every park and forest.[123]
In addition to such outdoor recreation opportunities,
the state offers a number of historic and cultural
attractions. Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is Seneca Rocks, Pendleton County
a historic town situated at the confluence of the
Shenandoah and Potomac rivers. Harpers Ferry was
the site of John Brown's 1859 raid on the U.S. Armory and Arsenal. Located at the approximate
midpoint of the Appalachian Trail, Harpers Ferry is the base of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.
The Greenbrier hotel and resort, originally built in 1778, has long been considered a premier hotel,
frequented by numerous world leaders and U.S. presidents over the years.
West Virginia is the site of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which features the Green
Bank Telescope. For the 1963 Centennial of the State, it hosted two high school graduate delegates
from each of the 50 States at the National Youth Science Camp near Bartow, and has continued this
tradition ever since. The main building of Weston State Hospital is the largest hand-cut sandstone
building in the western hemisphere, second worldwide only to the Kremlin in Moscow. Tours of the
building, which is a National Historic Landmark and part of the National Civil War Trail, are offered
seasonally and by appointment year-round. West Virginia has numerous popular festivals
throughout the year.
Resources
One of the major resources in West Virginia's economy is coal.
According to the Energy Information Administration, West
Virginia is a top coal producer in the United States, second only
to Wyoming. West Virginia is located in the heart of the
Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Bed, which stretches from
Tennessee north to New York in the middle of Appalachia.
As of 2017, the coal industry accounted for 2% of state
employment.[124] Bituminous coal seam in
southwestern West Virginia
Nearly all the electricity generated in West Virginia is from coal-
fired power plants. West Virginia produces a surplus of electricity
and leads the nation in net interstate electricity exports.[125] Farming is also practiced in West
Virginia, but on a limited basis because of the mountainous terrain over much of the state.
Green energy
An assessment from 2012 estimated that West Virginia had the potential to generate 8,627
GWh/year from 2,772 MW of 100-meter wind turbines, and 60,000 GWh from 40,000 MW of
photovoltaics, including 3,810 MW of rooftop photovoltaics.[126] This was based on then-existing
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technologies and apparently was based on some assumed requirements for the economic
performance of the respective resources.
West Virginia Wind Generation (GWh, Million kWh)
Capacity
Year Total Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
(MW)
2009 330 742 86 86 69 71 31 49 49 32 46 71 68 86
2010 431 939 92 79 85 86 66 69 49 33 66 114 89 112
2011 564 1099 102 113 112 114 49 62 45 68 60 122 124 132
2012 583 1286 201 147 136 130 59 90 85 41 65 98 100 133
2013 583 1387 175 154 174 140 134 78 55 58 52 58 159 152[127]
2014 583 1451 166 146 167 143 100 62 76 64 67 154 157 149
2015 583 1376 158 137 181 137 75 103 65 44 71 122 147 136
2016 686 1432 166 164 134 120 74 92 69 57 67 130 135 222
2017 686 1682 124 123 171 174 152 140 112 52 70 116 167 211
2018 686 1779 191 181 183 180 138 132 97 108 106 144 160 160
2019 160 131 144 185 152 162
Source:[128][129][130][131]
Taxes
West Virginia personal income tax is based on federal adjusted gross income (not taxable income), as
modified by specific items in West Virginia law. Citizens are taxed within five income brackets, which
range from 3.0% to 6.5%. The state's consumer sales tax is levied at 6% on most products except for
non-prepared foods.[132]
West Virginia counties administer and collect property taxes, although property tax rates reflect
levies for state government, county governments, county boards of education and municipalities.
Counties may also impose a hotel occupancy tax on lodging places not located within the city limits of
any municipality that levies such a tax. Municipalities may levy license and gross receipts taxes on
businesses located within the city limits and a hotel occupancy tax on lodging places in the city.
Although the Department of Tax and Revenue plays a major role in the administration of this tax,
less than half of one percent of the property tax collected goes to state government.
The primary beneficiaries of the property tax are county boards of education. Property taxes are paid
to the sheriff of each of the state's 55 counties. Each county and municipality can impose its own
rates of property taxation within the limits set by the West Virginia Constitution. The West Virginia
legislature sets the rate of tax of county boards of education. This rate is used by all county boards of
education statewide. However, the total tax rate for county boards of education may differ from
county to county because of excess levies. The Department of Tax and Revenue supervises and
otherwise assists counties and municipalities in their work of assessment and tax rate determination.
The total tax rate is a combination of the tax levies from four state taxing authorities: state, county,
schools and municipal. This total tax rate varies for each of the four classes of property, which
consists of personal, real and intangible properties. Property is assessed according to its use, location
and value as of July 1. WV Assessments ([Link] Archived ([Link]
[Link]/web/20201129171501/[Link] November 29, 2020, at the Wayback
Machine has a free searchable database of West Virginia real estate tax assessments, covering current
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and past years. All property is reappraised every three years; annual adjustments are made to
assessments for property with a change of value. West Virginia does not impose an inheritance tax.
Because of the phase-out of the federal estate tax credit, West Virginia's estate tax is not imposed on
estates of persons who died on or after January 1, 2005.[133]
Largest private employers
The largest private employers in West Virginia, as of March 2019, were:[134]
Rank Company
1 WVU Medicine
2 Walmart
3 CAMC Health System
4 Mountain Health Network
5 Kroger
6 Lowe's Home Centers
7 Contura Energy
8 Wheeling Hospital, Inc.
9 Mylan Pharmaceuticals
10 Murray American Energy
11 ResCare
12 Mon Health
13 Macy's Corporate Services
14 American Electric Power
15 West Virginia's Choice, Inc.
16 FirstEnergy Corp
17 Dolgencorp, LLC (Dollar General Stores)
18 Thomas Health Systems
19 Pilgrim's Pride Corporation of West Virginia
20 Frontier West Virginia
21 Blackhawk Mining, LLC
22 Darden Restaurants (GMRI, Inc.)[a]
23 Arch Coal, Inc.
24 Walgreens
25 DowDuPont, Inc.
a. Labelled as "General Mills Restaurants", one of Darden's predecessors. GMRI, Inc. remains
Darden's main operating subsidiary.[135]
Quality of life
Economy
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West Virginia coal exports declined 40% in 2013—a loss of
$2.9 billion and overall total exports declined 26%.[136] West
Virginia ranked last in the Gallup Economic Index for the fourth
year running. West Virginia's score was −44, or a full 17 points
lower than the average of −27 for the other states in the bottom
ten.[137] West Virginia ranked 48th in the CNBC "Top States for
Business 2013" based on measures of competitiveness such as
economy, workforce and cost of living—ranking among the
bottom five states for the last six years running.[138] West
Virginia ranked 49th in the 2014 State New Economy Index and
has ranked in the bottom three states since 1999. West Virginia
ranked last or next-to-last in critical indicators such as Workforce
Education, Entrepreneurial Activity, High-Tech Jobs, and
Scientists and Engineers.[139]
On January 9, 2014, a chemical spill contaminated the water
supply of 300,000 people in nine West Virginia counties near
Bluefield, a major center for coal
Charleston. According to Bloomberg News, lost wages, revenue,
mining, in 2014
and other economic harm from the chemical spill could top
$500 million.[140] and West Virginia's Marshall University Center
for Business and Economic Research estimated that about $61 million was lost by businesses in the
first four days alone after the spill.[141]
Employment
In 2012, West Virginia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.3%.[142] The state issued a report
highlighting the state's GDP as indicating a fast-growing economy, but did not address employment
indicators.[143] In 2009–2013, the U.S. real GDP increased 9.6% and total employment increased
3.9%. In West Virginia during the same time period, its real GDP increased about 11%, while total
employment decreased by 1,000 jobs from 746,000 to 745,000.
In 2013, West Virginia ranked last in the nation with an employment-to-population ratio of only
50%, compared to the national average of 59%.[144] The state lost 5,600 jobs in its labor force in four
critical economic sectors: construction (1,900), manufacturing (1,100), retail (1,800), and education
(800), while gaining just 400 in mining and logging.[145] The state's Civilian Labor Force dropped by
15,100.[146]
Wages and poverty
Personal income growth in West Virginia during 2013 was only 1.5%—the lowest in the nation—and
about half the national average (2.6%).[147] Overall income growth in West Virginia in the last thirty
years has been only 13%—about a third of the national average (37%). Wages of the impoverished
bottom 1% income earners decreased by 3%, compared to the national average, which increased
19%.[148]
West Virginia's poverty rate is one of the highest in the nation. 2017 estimates indicate that 19% of
the state's population lives in poverty, exceeding the national average of 13%.[149]
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