Description of Virginia, US

State of Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, lies between the Atlantic and Appalachian coasts in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. Because the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay shape the state's geography and climate, the Commonwealth's diverse flora and fauna can thrive there. Richmond, the state's capital, is home to the state's most populous city, Virginia Beach, and its most populous political subdivision, Fairfax County. More than 8.65 million people lived in the Commonwealth in 2020, with 36% of them residing in the Baltimore–Washington metro area.

The Powhatan were one of several indigenous groups that occupied the area prior to European colonization. The London Company founded the Colony of Virginia in 1607, making it the first English settlement in the New World for good. A nod to Virginia's historical clout can be seen in its official moniker, the Old Dominion. There were numerous conflicts both within and outside of the colony due to slave labor and the acquisition of land from native tribes that had been displaced by colonization. During the American Revolution, it was one of the Thirteen Colonies and became a part of the United States of America. Many counties in western Virginia wanted to remain Unionists after Virginia's state government in Richmond joined the Confederacy. This helped create West Virginia in 1863. Despite nearly a century of one-party rule following the Reconstruction era, both of the state's major political parties are now competitive.

The Virginia General Assembly, the state's legislative body, was established in July 1619, making it North America's oldest active legislative body. One hundred and forty members make up the House of Delegates, while the Senate consists of 40 senators. Cities and counties are treated equally in the state's government, with the exception of the fact that the governor cannot serve more than two consecutive terms. Agricultural production in the Shenandoah Valley; high-tech and federal agencies in Northern Virginia, including the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense and the CIA; and military facilities in Hampton Roads, the region's main seaport, are just a few examples of Virginia's diverse economy.

Geographical Description of Virginia

The Mid-Atlantic and Southeast U.S. regions are home to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia is the 35th-largest state in terms of land area, with a total of 42,774.2 square miles (110,784.7 km2), including 3,180.13 square miles (8,236.5 km2) of water. The Atlantic Ocean lies to the east; North Carolina lies to the south; Tennessee lies to the southwest; Kentucky lies to the west; and West Virginia lies to the north and west of the Commonwealth. The low water mark of the Potomac River on the south shore of Virginia's border with Maryland and Washington, D.C.

However, in the 1700s, surveyors made mistakes that resulted in three-arcminute variations in the southern border of the Commonwealth, which is 36°30' north. During the years of 1802 and 1803, a team of surveyors from Virginia and Tennessee worked together to redraw the border between the two states. Virginia proposed a new commission in 1871, but Tennessee rejected it, and in 1893 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the 1803 line in Virginia vs. Tennessee in favor of keeping it. As a result, the city of Bristol is split between the two states.

Economy of Virginia

There are many sources of income in Virginia's economy, including government and military, agriculture, and high-tech. Its average yearly wage was $63,281, ranking it 11th among all states, and its GDP was $476.4 billion, ranking it 13th overall in the country. In March 2020, Virginia had a workforce of 4.36 million and an unemployment rate of 2.9 percent, but jobless claims due to the virus rose to over 10 percent in early April 2020, before settling back to around 5 percent in November 2020. It was 3% in June 2022, which was the 17th-lowest rate in the country. As a result of the pandemic, Virginia's unemployment benefits were reviewed the slowest in the country.

While Virginia's median family income in 2018 was $72,600, the state's poverty rate was 10.7%, ranking it 12th lowest in the country. The poverty rate in Montgomery County, outside of Blacksburg, is the highest in the state at 28.5% below the poverty line set by the United States Census Bureau. Meanwhile, the median household income in Loudoun County, Virginia, is the highest in the country, and the Northern Virginia region as a whole is among the wealthiest in the country. Northern Virginia is home to six of the twenty wealthiest counties in the United States, including the two wealthiest, and three of the fifty wealthiest towns, as of 2013. However, despite Virginia's lower income inequality than the national average, its middle class is also smaller than that of the majority of states. The Gini index

The business climate in Virginia has been praised by a number of publications. As a result of its high cost of living, CNBC named Virginia their Top State for Business in 2021, while Forbes magazine ranked it fourth, despite the fact that it was number one in terms of overall quality of life. Another study of 12,000 small business owners conducted in 2014 found Virginia to be one of the friendliest states for small business. The new laws protecting workers from sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination are a plus for Virginia, according to Oxfam America, but the state's low minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and lack of organized labor laws are disadvantages. In 2020, Oxfam America ranked Virginia as the fourteenth worst state for working people. Since 1906, Virginia has been a "right to work" state and an employment-at-will state. In April 2021, the federal minimum wage was raised to $9.50 per hour, with an increase to $12 per hour planned for 2023.