CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia has been ranked the second-most naturally beautiful state in America in a national analysis comparing the forests, rivers, waterfalls, and mountains of all 50 states.
New Hampshire finished first, followed by West Virginia and Virginia. West Virginia also ranked ahead of Hawaii, Washington, and North Carolina—states widely associated with scenic tourism.
Holafly, an international company that provides mobile-data services to travelers, produced the ranking, which Travel + Leisure later featured. Holafly published the analysis in July, and the ranking has attracted renewed attention in West Virginia this month.
No single factor pushed West Virginia to the top. Researchers found that the state performed strongly across nearly every type of natural feature they measured.
Why West Virginia ranked so high
Researchers compared the states using six measures—forest cover, miles of rivers and waterways, waterfalls, highest elevation, National Park Service sites, and active or dormant volcanoes.
West Virginia received a natural beauty score of 78.23 out of 100, behind New Hampshire at 90.83 and ahead of Virginia at 74.50.
According to Holafly, the Mountain State was the only state among the top 10 to perform consistently well across all measures. Researchers recorded 78 percent forest cover, 6,647 miles of rivers and waterways, 174 waterfalls, and a high point of 4,863 feet at Spruce Knob.
Other states dominated individual categories. Washington, for example, was credited with more than 3,000 waterfalls, while Hawaii benefited from its high mountains and volcanic landscape. West Virginia’s strength was its combination of features. That combination has produced an unusual concentration of natural wonders across West Virginia.
That result reflects unusual underlying geography. West Virginia is the only state located entirely within the Appalachian Mountain region, and its average elevation is about 1,500 feet, the highest mean elevation of any state east of the Mississippi River. About 60 percent of the state’s land has slopes exceeding 20 percent, according to West Virginia’s outdoor recreation plan.
West Virginia’s scenery has drawn attention for centuries
The latest ranking adds to a long history of outsiders remarking on the state’s landscape.
In 1783, Thomas Jefferson described the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers at present-day Harpers Ferry in his Notes on the State of Virginia. Looking across the rivers and mountains, he famously declared the scene “worth a voyage across the Atlantic.”
Nearly two centuries later, West Virginia gained another enduring association with mountain scenery through “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” John Denver’s 1971 recording made “Almost Heaven” one of the most recognizable depictions of West Virginia in popular culture.
More recently, West Virginia has appeared repeatedly in national travel coverage. Condé Nast Traveler included the state among its Best Places to Go in 2022, amid growing national attention following the establishment of New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. Other major travel publications have also highlighted the state’s mountains, rivers, parks, and outdoor recreation.
The ranking has limits
The analysis does not establish that West Virginia is objectively more beautiful than the other 48 states. Beauty is subjective, and the results depend on which natural features researchers chose to count.
A formula emphasizing deserts, glaciers, coastlines, lakes, or wilderness acreage could produce a very different ranking.
Some of Holafly’s measures also need context. Its count of National Park Service sites does not mean West Virginia has six congressionally designated national parks. New River Gorge National Park and Preserve is the state’s national park and preserve, while the National Park Service administers several other federally protected sites in West Virginia.
Highest elevation is another imperfect measure. It records the highest point in each state rather than how much of the state is mountainous. That distinction matters in West Virginia, where elevations are much lower than in the Rocky Mountain West, yet rugged terrain extends across much of the state.
The results reflect those choices. Alaska, California, Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming—all states famous for dramatic landscapes—did not make the study’s top 10.
Many of the landscapes behind that reputation are included among West Virginia’s most beautiful places, from mountain summits and waterfalls to river gorges and highland wilderness.
Which states ranked highest?
New Hampshire ranked first with a score of 90.83, followed by West Virginia at 78.23 and Virginia at 74.50. Connecticut finished fourth, and Hawaii fifth.
New Jersey, Washington, North Carolina, Vermont and Massachusetts completed the top 10, with Maine following at No. 11.
The strong showing by eastern states suggests the analysis favors places where forests, waterways, waterfalls and mountains are widespread rather than states known primarily for a few monumental landscapes.
For West Virginia, the distinction was especially clear: Holafly found that no other state in the top 10 performed as consistently across all the natural features it measured.