Wyoming - The Cowboy State

About Wyoming

Wyoming, officially the State of Wyoming, is the least populous U.S. state with only 576,851 residents despite being the tenth-largest state by area at 97,813 square miles. This creates the second-lowest population density after Alaska. Cheyenne serves as both state capital and largest city. Wyoming's sparse population concentrates in cities and towns scattered across vast distances of mountains, high plains, and basins.

Wyoming embodies the American West—cowboy culture, rodeos, ranching heritage, and fierce independence. The state's economy historically relied on resource extraction including coal, natural gas, oil, and trona mining, though tourism centered on Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks has grown increasingly important. Wyoming's motto "Equal Rights" reflects its pioneering role in women's suffrage—Wyoming Territory granted women the right to vote in 1869, fifty years before the 19th Amendment, earning the nickname "Equality State."

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone, established in 1872, was the world's first national park, setting a precedent for conservation that spread globally. The park preserves 2.2 million acres atop a supervolcano that last erupted 640,000 years ago and remains geologically active, creating the planet's largest concentration of geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles. Over half the world's geothermal features are in Yellowstone, including approximately 500 geysers.

Old Faithful, the park's most famous geyser, erupts approximately every 90 minutes, shooting 3,700-8,400 gallons of boiling water up to 185 feet high. The Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone's largest hot spring at 370 feet in diameter, displays brilliant colors—blue, green, yellow, orange, red—created by thermophilic bacteria living in different temperature zones. The Yellowstone Caldera, 30 by 45 miles, is one of the largest active volcanic systems in the world, monitored continuously by geologists.

Beyond geothermal features, Yellowstone protects incredible wildlife including the largest concentration of mammals in the Lower 48. Approximately 5,000 bison roam Yellowstone—descendants of the last wild bison herd in America. Grizzly bears, wolves (reintroduced in 1995), elk, moose, bighorn sheep, and over 300 bird species live in the park. The Lamar Valley is called "America's Serengeti" for wildlife viewing opportunities. Over 4 million visitors annually experience Yellowstone's natural wonders, though managing tourism impacts remains challenging.

Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park protects the dramatic Teton Range, which rises abruptly 7,000 feet above the valley floor with no foothills—one of the most spectacular mountain vistas in America. The Grand Teton peak reaches 13,775 feet, surrounded by a dozen peaks over 12,000 feet. The range's dramatic relief results from fault-block geology where the Tetons rose while Jackson Hole valley dropped along the Teton Fault over millions of years.

The Tetons provide world-class mountaineering, hiking, and backcountry skiing. Jenny Lake, a glacially-carved lake at the mountains' base, offers boat shuttles to trailheads accessing alpine lakes, hanging canyons, and summit routes. The park preserves glaciers, pristine forests, sagebrush flats, and the Snake River corridor. Wildlife includes black bears, grizzlies, moose, elk, pronghorn, and bald eagles. The Tetons' beauty attracted early photographers including Ansel Adams, whose iconic images helped popularize American wilderness.

Jackson Hole, the valley at the Tetons' base, evolved from ranching community to upscale resort town. Jackson attracts wealthy visitors, second-home owners, and outdoor enthusiasts, creating economic and cultural tensions between longtime residents and newcomers. Teton County has become one of America's wealthiest counties while maintaining working ranches and western heritage. The National Elk Refuge near Jackson provides winter habitat for thousands of elk that migrate from high country, offering sleigh ride tours among massive herds.

Devils Tower & Western Landmarks

Devils Tower, rising 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River in northeastern Wyoming, is America's first national monument (designated 1906 by Theodore Roosevelt). This geological wonder formed when magma intruded into sedimentary rocks and cooled, creating columnar joints. As surrounding softer rock eroded, the igneous core remained, forming the distinctive tower with vertical columns visible from miles away.

The tower is sacred to over 20 Native American tribes including Lakota, Cheyenne, and Crow, who call it by various names including "Bear's Lodge." Tribal origin stories tell of girls fleeing a bear climbing onto a rock, which rose to save them while the bear's claws created the vertical grooves. Today, the monument balances recreation (rock climbing on the columns is popular), spirituality (tribes request climbing closures in June for ceremonies), and tourism (featured in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind").

Other Wyoming landmarks include Independence Rock, a granite dome along the Oregon Trail where pioneers carved names (the "Register of the Desert"), Fossil Butte National Monument preserving 50-million-year-old fish fossils, and the Flaming Gorge Reservoir on the Wyoming-Utah border. Medicine Bow National Forest and the Wind River Range offer wilderness hiking, fishing, and mountaineering in some of America's most remote mountains.

Energy Production & Economy

Wyoming's economy heavily depends on energy and mineral extraction. The state is America's top coal producer, extracting over 40% of U.S. coal from massive Powder River Basin surface mines. Wyoming also produces significant natural gas, ranking sixth nationally, and oil from fields throughout the state. Trona mining near Green River provides sodium carbonate for glass manufacturing—Wyoming produces 90% of U.S. trona, the world's largest deposit.

Energy production generates substantial tax revenue, allowing Wyoming to have no personal or corporate income tax and relatively low property taxes. However, coal decline due to competition from natural gas, renewables, and declining demand creates economic challenges. Wyoming struggles to diversify beyond resource extraction, though tourism and data centers (attracted by cheap electricity and tax incentives) offer alternatives. The state invests mineral severance taxes in permanent funds to provide revenue when resources deplete.

Wyoming's small population and conservative political culture create unique governance. The state legislature is part-time, meeting only 40 days annually (20 days in even years), reflecting Wyoming's preference for limited government. Low population means representatives know constituents personally, and town hall governance remains viable. This intimacy creates responsive government but also challenges attracting diverse economic opportunities and addressing 21st-century issues with 19th-century institutions.

Cowboy Culture & Rodeo

Wyoming embraces cowboy identity more than any other state. The bucking horse and rider on license plates, cowboy silhouettes on signs, and western wear as everyday attire reflect ranching heritage. Rodeo is Wyoming's state sport, and communities host rodeos year-round. Cheyenne Frontier Days, held annually since 1897, is the "Daddy of 'em All"—the world's largest outdoor rodeo with ten days of competition, concerts, parades, and Western celebration attracting 200,000+ visitors.

Wyoming's ranching economy remains significant with approximately 11,000 ranches covering millions of acres. Cattle and sheep ranching face challenges including harsh climate, predators (wolves and grizzlies), commodity price volatility, and succession as younger generations leave for urban opportunities. However, ranching culture persists through 4-H, FFA, agricultural fairs, and strong ties between rural communities. Working ranches increasingly supplement income through hunting leases, tourism, and conservation easements.

Western heritage is celebrated through events like Jackson Hole's Old West Days, Cody's Nite Rodeo (nightly summer rodeo), and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, one of America's finest Western museums. The state embraces cowboy poetry, country music, and frontier mythology. While some criticize romanticizing a past built on Native displacement and environmental exploitation, Wyoming's cowboy identity remains central to state culture and economy through tourism marketing and residents' self-conception.

Major Cities

Counties

Wyoming has 23 counties. Major counties include:

Interesting Facts

Neighboring States