View source for Western United States

{{Short description|One of the four census regions of the US}}
{{Redirect-several|dab=off|America West Airlines|Recovered Territories|West of the Rockies (film){{!}}''West of the Rockies'' (film)}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name               = Western United States
| other_name         = American West, the Western States, Far West, the West
| settlement_type    = [[Region]]
| image_skyline      = {{Photomontage
| photo1a = Los Angeles with Mount Baldy.jpg
| photo2a = Grandcanyon view2.jpg
| photo2b = Gibbon River at Madison in Yellowstone.JPG
| photo3a = June 2013 boise downtown panorama.jpg
| photo4a = Angels Landing.jpg
| photo4b = Mt Rainier peaks.JPG
| photo5a = Downtown Seattle skyline from Kerry Park - October 2019.jpg
| photo5b = Phoenix AZ Downtown from airplane (cropped).jpg
| size = 280
| spacing = 2
| color = white
| border = 0
| foot_montage = Left-right from top: [[Los Angeles]] skyline, the [[Grand Canyon]], [[Yellowstone National Park]], [[Boise]] skyline, [[Angel's Landing]], [[Mount Rainier]], [[Seattle]] skyline, [[Downtown Phoenix]]
}}<!-- maps and coordinates -->
| image_map          = Map of USA highlighting West.svg
| map_caption        = This map reflects the Western United States as defined by the [[United States Census Bureau|Census Bureau]]. This region is divided into Mountain and Pacific areas.<ref name=CensusRegionsMap />
<!-- location -->| subdivision_type   = Subregions
| subdivision_name   = {{hlist|[[Mountain states]]|[[Northwestern United States]]|[[West Coast of the United States|Pacific states]]|[[Southwestern United States]]|[[Pacific Northwest]]}}
| subdivision_type1  = [[Country]]
| subdivision_name1  = {{flag|United States}}
| subdivision_type2  = States
| subdivision_name2  = {{hlist|[[Alaska]], [[Arizona]], [[California]], [[Colorado]], [[Hawaii]], [[Idaho]], [[Montana]], [[Nevada]], [[New Mexico]], [[Oregon]], [[Utah]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], [[Wyoming]]}} as defined by the [[United States Census Bureau|Census Bureau]].<ref name=CensusRegionsMap /> Regional definitions may vary slightly from source to source.
| unit_pref          = US
| area_total_sq_mi   = 1,873,251.63
| area_footnotes     = <ref name="20177766775 ggfghhnnyyhhnnjuuijjyyknnbbnnnjii9jmnhijj0census">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-2-1.pdf|title=United States Summary: 2010, Population and Housing Unit Counts, 2010 Census of Population and Housing|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|pages=V–2, 1 & 41 (Tables 1 & 18)|date=September 2012|access-date=February 7, 2014}}</ref>
| area_land_sq_mi    = 1,751,053.31
| population_total   = 78,588,572
| population_as_of   = [[2020 United States Census|2020]]
| population_footnotes = <ref name="Census2020">{{cite web |title=Change in Resident Population of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico: 1910 to 2020 |url=https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/data/apportionment/population-change-data-table.pdf |website=Census.gov |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=June 13, 2021}}</ref>
| population_density_sq_mi = auto
| population_demonym = Westerner
| demographics_type1 = GDP (nominal)
| demographics1_footnotes = <ref>{{cite web|title=BEA Glossary|url=https://www.bea.gov/glossary/glossary.cfm?key_word=GSP&letter=G#GSP|website=Bureau of Economic Analysis|publisher=U.S. Department of Commerce|access-date=June 8, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170928060142/https://www.bea.gov/glossary/glossary.cfm?key_word=GSP&letter=G#GSP|archive-date=September 28, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| demographics1_title1 = Total
| demographics1_title2 = per capita
| demographics1_info1 = $5.619 trillion (2019)
| demographics1_info2 = $71,719 (2019)
}}

The '''Western United States''' (also called the '''American West''', the '''Western States''', the '''Far West''', the '''Western territories''', and '''the West''') is <span data-darkreader-inline-color="" data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor="">one of the four </span>[[List of regions of the United States|census regions]] <span data-darkreader-inline-color="" data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor="">defined by the </span>[[United States Census Bureau]]<span data-darkreader-inline-color="" data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor="">.</span>

As American settlement in the U.S. [[Manifest destiny|expanded westward]], the meaning of the term ''the West'' changed. Before around 1800, the crest of the [[Appalachian Mountains]] was seen as the [[American frontier|western frontier]]. The frontier moved westward and eventually the lands west of the [[Mississippi River]] were considered ''the West''.<ref>{{cite web|author=Jody Halsted|date=July 31, 2014|title=On the road along the Mississippi River|url=https://www.foxnews.com/travel/on-the-road-along-the-mississippi-river/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802050417/http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2014/07/31/on-road-along-mississippi-river/|archive-date=August 2, 2014|access-date=November 8, 2015|work=Foxnews|language=en}}</ref>

The U.S. Census Bureau's definition of the 13 westernmost states includes the [[Rocky Mountains]] and the [[Great Basin]] to the [[West Coast of the United States|Pacific Coast]], and the mid-Pacific islands state, Hawaii. To the east of the Western United States is the [[Midwestern United States]] and the [[Southern United States]], with [[Canada]] to the north and [[Mexico]] to the south.

The West contains several major [[biome]]s, including [[arid]] and [[Semi-arid climate|semi-arid]] [[plateau]]s and [[plain]]s, particularly in the [[Southwestern United States|American Southwest]]; [[forest]]ed [[mountain]]s, including three major ranges, the [[Sierra Nevada]], the [[Cascade Range|Cascades]], and Rocky Mountains; the long [[Beach|coastal]] [[shoreline]] of the Pacific Coast; and the [[rainforest]]s of the [[Pacific Northwest]].

==Geographic definition==
{{Further|American frontier}}
[[File:HerdQuit.jpg|thumb|While the West is defined by many occupations, the American [[cowboy]] is often used as an icon of the region, here portrayed by [[Charles Marion Russell|C. M. Russell]].]]
[[File:Monument Valley road.jpg|thumb|The West, as the most recently settled part of the United States, is often known for broad highways and open space. Pictured is a road in Utah to [[Monument Valley]] on the [[Navajo Nation]].]]
The Western United States is the largest region of the country, covering nearly half the land area of the contiguous [[United States]]. It is also the most geographically diverse, incorporating geographic regions such as the [[temperate rainforest]]s of the [[Pacific Northwest|Northwest]], the highest mountain ranges, including the [[Rocky Mountains]], the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]], and the [[Cascade Range]], numerous [[list of glaciers in the United States|glaciers]], and the western edge of the [[Great Plains]]. It also contains the majority of the desert areas located in the United States. The [[Mojave Desert|Mojave]] and the [[Great Basin Desert|Great Basin]] deserts lie entirely within the Western region, along with parts of the [[Sonoran Desert|Sonoran]] and [[Chihuahuan Desert|Chihuahuan]] deserts (the latter extends significantly into Texas, while both extend into [[Mexico]]). Given this expansive and diverse geography it is no wonder that the region is difficult to define precisely. Sensing a possible shift in the popular understanding of the West as a region in the early 1990s, historian Walter Nugent conducted a survey of three groups of professionals with ties to the region: a large group of Western historians (187 respondents), and two smaller groups, 25 journalists and publishers and 39 Western authors.<ref name="Nugent1992">{{cite journal|last1=Nugent|first1=Walter|title=Where Is the American West? Report on a Survey|journal=Montana The Magazine of Western History|date=Summer 1992|volume=42|issue=3|pages=2–23|jstor=4519496}}</ref> A majority of the historian respondents placed the eastern boundary of the West east of the Census definition out on the eastern edge of the [[Great Plains]] or on the [[Mississippi River]]. The survey respondents as a whole showed just how little agreement there was on the boundaries of the West.

===Subregions===
The region is split into two smaller units or divisions, by the U.S. Census Bureau:<ref name="CensusRegionsMap">{{cite web|title=Census Regions and Divisions of the United States|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/maps/reference/us_regdiv.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053705/https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/maps/pdfs/reference/us_regdiv.pdf|archive-date=September 21, 2013|access-date=September 20, 2024|website=U.S. Census Bureau}}</ref>

; [[Mountain states]]: [[Montana]], [[Wyoming]], [[Colorado]], [[New Mexico]], [[Idaho]], [[Utah]], [[Arizona]], and [[Nevada]]
; [[West Coast of the United States|Pacific states]]: [[Washington (state)|Washington]], [[Oregon]], [[California]], [[Alaska]], and [[Hawaii]]

Other classifications distinguish between [[Southwestern United States|Southwest]] and [[Northwestern United States|Northwest]]. Arizona, New Mexico, [[West Texas]], and the [[Oklahoma panhandle]] are typically considered to be the Southwest states. Meanwhile, the states of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington can be considered part of the Northwest or [[Pacific Northwest]].

The term [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] is commonly used to refer to just California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, whereas Hawaii is more geographically isolated from the [[Continental America|continental U.S.]] and does not necessarily fit in any of these [[subregion]]s.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
![[List of states and territories of the United States|State]]
!2020 Census<ref name="Census2020" />
!2010 Census<ref>{{cite web|url=http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/apportionment-pop-text.php |title=Resident Population Data: Population Change |date=December 23, 2010 |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=December 23, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225031104/http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/apportionment-pop-text.php |archive-date=December 25, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
!Change
!Area<br /><ref name="20177766775 ggfghhnnyyhhnnjuuijjyyknnbbnnnjii9jmnhijj0census" />
!Density
|-
|{{flag|Arizona}}
| {{change|invert=on|7151502|6392017}}
|{{convert|113594.08|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|7151502|113594.08|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Colorado}}
| {{change|invert=on|5773714|5029196}}
|{{convert|103641.89|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|5773714|103641.89|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Utah}}
| {{change|invert=on|3271616|2763885}}
|{{convert|82169.62|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|3271616|82169.62|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Nevada}}
| {{change|invert=on|3104614|2700551}}
|{{convert|109781.18|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|3104614|109781.18|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|New Mexico}}
| {{change|invert=on|2117522|2059179}}
|{{convert|121298.15|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|2117522|121298.15|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Idaho}}
| {{change|invert=on|1839106|1567582}}
|{{convert|82643.12|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|1839106|82643.12|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Montana}}
| {{change|invert=on|1084225|989415}}
|{{convert|145545.80|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|1084225|145545.80|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Wyoming}}
| {{change|invert=on|576851|563626}}
|{{convert|97093.14|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|576851|97093.14|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|- class="sortbottom" style="background:#fbfbbb"
|'''Mountain'''
| {{change|invert=on|24919150|22065451|bgcolour=#fbfbbb}}
|{{convert|855766.98|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|24919150|855766.98|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|California}}
| {{change|invert=on|39538223|37254523}}
|{{convert|155779.22|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|39538223|155779.22|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Washington}}
| {{change|invert=on|7705281|6724540}}
|{{convert|66455.52|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|7705281|66455.52|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Oregon}}
| {{change|invert=on|4237256|3831074}}
|{{convert|95988.01|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|4237256|95988.01|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Hawaii}}
| {{change|invert=on|1455271|1360301}}
|{{convert|6422.63|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|1455271|6422.63|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Alaska}}
| {{change|invert=on|733391|710231}}
|{{convert|570640.95|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|733391|570640.95|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|- class="sortbottom" style="background:#fbfbbb"
|'''Pacific'''
| {{change|invert=on|53669422|49880669|bgcolour=#fbfbbb}}
|{{convert|895286.33|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|53669422|895286.33|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|-
|- class="sortbottom" style="background:#fbfbbb"
|'''West'''
| {{change|invert=on|78588572|71946120|bgcolour=#fbfbbb}}
|{{convert|1751053.31|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|78588572|1751053.31|sqmi|km2|prec=0}}
|}

=== Outlying areas ===
[[File:Ofu_Beach_American_Samoa_US_National_Park_Service.jpg|thumb|right|225px|Ofu Beach on [[Ofu-Olosega|Ofu Island]] in [[American Samoa]]]]
The three inhabited [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] [[Territories of the United States|U.S. territories]] ([[American Samoa]], [[Guam]] and the [[Northern Mariana Islands]]) are sometimes considered part of the Western United States. American Samoa is in [[Polynesia]] in the [[South Pacific Ocean]], while Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are in the [[Mariana Islands]] in the western [[North Pacific Ocean]]. Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have district courts within the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|9th Circuit]], which includes western states such as California and Nevada.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/judicial_council/what_is_the_ninth_circuit.php |website =United States Courts for the Ninth Circuit|publisher= ca9.uscourts.gov|title = What Is The Ninth Circuit?}}</ref> (See [[District Court of Guam]] and [[District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands]]). American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands are also considered part of the western U.S. by the [[U.S. National Park Service]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/partnerships/contactus.htm |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |title=Contact Us |access-date=September 9, 2019}}</ref> the [[Federal Reserve Bank]] system,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/federal-reserve-system-san-francisco.htm |title=Federal Reserve Banks |work=Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System |publisher=United States Federal Reserve |access-date=September 9, 2019}}</ref> [[FEMA]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.fema.gov/fema-region-ix-recovery-division |title=FEMA Region IX: Recovery Division |access-date=June 30, 2020 |archive-date=July 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200701011430/https://www.fema.gov/fema-region-ix-recovery-division |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the [[United States Geological Survey|USGS]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1152/ |title=Proceedings of a Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning Workshop for the Western United States |publisher=United States Geological Survey |access-date=July 6, 2020}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
![[Territories of the United States|Territory]]
!2020 Population<br />Estimate<br /><ref name="AS">[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/american-samoa/ American Samoa]. ''[[The World Factbook]]''. [[Central Intelligence Agency]].</ref><ref name="GU">[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/guam/ Guam]. ''[[The World Factbook]]''. [[Central Intelligence Agency]].</ref><ref name="MP">[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/northern-mariana-islands/ Northern Mariana Islands]. ''[[The World Factbook]]''. [[Central Intelligence Agency]].</ref>
!2010 Census<br /> population<ref>American FactFinder. 2010 U.S. Census. Retrieved September 9, 2019.</ref>
!Change
!Area<br /><ref name="AS" /><ref name="GU" /><ref name="MP" />
!Density
|-
|{{flag|American Samoa}}
|{{change|invert=on|49,437 |55,519}}
|{{convert|224|km2|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|49437|224|km2|sqmi|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Guam}}
|{{change|invert=on|168,485|159,358}}
|{{convert|544|km2|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|168485|544|km2|sqmi|prec=0}}
|-
|{{flag|Northern Mariana Islands}}
|{{change|invert=on|51,433|53,833}}
|{{convert|464|km2|abbr=on}}
|{{Pop density|51433|464|km2|sqmi|prec=0}}
|}

==Demographics==
[[File:Ethnic Origins in the Western United States.png|thumb|Ethnic origins in the Western U.S.]]The population distribution by race in the Western United States (2022):<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grid View: Table B02001 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B02001&geo_ids=02000US4&primary_geo_id=02000US4 |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Grid View: Table B03002 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B03002&geo_ids=02000US4&primary_geo_id=02000US4 |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref>
* 51.9% [[White Americans|White]] (47.1% [[Non-Hispanic whites|non-Hispanic]])
* 30.8% [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino]] ethnicity (of any race)
* 10.8% [[Asian Americans|Asian]] (10.6% non-Hispanic)
* 4.5% [[African Americans|Black]] or [[African Americans|African-American]] (4.3% non-Hispanic)
* 1.9% [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]] or [[Alaska Natives|Alaska Native]] (1.1% non-Hispanic)
* 0.6% [[Pacific Islander American|Pacific Islander]] (0.6% non-Hispanic)
* 13.3% [[Race and ethnicity in the United States|Some other race]] (0.6% non-Hispanic)
* 17.0% [[Multiracial Americans|Two or more races]] (5.0% non-Hispanic)

As defined by the [[United States Census Bureau]], the Western [[region]] of the United States includes 13 states,<ref name=CensusRegionsMap /> with a total 2020 population of 78,588,572.<ref name="Census2020"/>

The West is one of the most sparsely settled areas in the United States with {{convert|49.5|/mi2|/km2|disp=preunit|inhabitants&nbsp;|inhabitants|}}. Only [[Texas]] with {{convert|78.0|/mi2|/km2|disp=preunit|inhabitants|inhabitants|abbr=on}}, [[Washington (state)|Washington]] with {{convert|86.0|/mi2|/km2|disp=preunit|inhabitants|inhabitants|abbr=on}}, and [[California]] with {{convert|213.4|/mi2|/km2|disp=preunit|inhabitants|inhabitants|abbr=on}} exceed the national average of {{convert|77.98|/mi2|/km2|disp=preunit|inhabitants|inhabitants|abbr=on}}. As of 2022, just under half of the 78.7 million residents of the West live in [[California]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Census profile: California |url=http://censusreporter.org/profiles/04000US06-california/ |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=Census Reporter |language=en}}</ref> 

[[File:American West census maps.png|thumb|center|upright=4.25|These maps from the 2000 US Census highlight differences from state to state of three minority groups. Most of the American Indian, Hispanic, and Asian population is in the West.]]

The entire Western region has also been strongly influenced by [[European Americans|European]], [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino]], [[Asian Americans|Asian]] and [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]; it contains the largest number of minorities in the U.S. While most of the studies of racial dynamics in America such as riots in [[Los Angeles]] have been written about [[European Americans|European]] and [[African Americans]], in many cities in the West and [[California]], [[White Americans|whites]] and [[African Americans|blacks]] together are less than half the population because of the preference for the region by [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanics]] and [[Asian Americans|Asians]]. [[African Americans|African]] and [[European Americans|European]] Americans, however, continue to wield a stronger political influence because of the lower rates of citizenship and voting among [[Asian Americans|Asians]] and [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanics]].

According to 2022 estimates from the Census Bureau, the largest ancestries reported in the West are [[Mexican Americans|Mexican]] (24.2%), [[German Americans|German]] (10.1%), [[English Americans|English]] (9.5%), [[Irish Americans|Irish]] (7.2%), [[Italian Americans|Italian]] (3.5%), [[Filipino Americans|Filipino]] (3.4%), and [[Chinese Americans|Chinese]] (3.3%).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grid View: Table B03001 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B03001&geo_ids=02000US4&primary_geo_id=02000US4 |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Grid View: Table B04006 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B04006&geo_ids=02000US4&primary_geo_id=02000US4 |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Grid View: Table B02018 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B02018&geo_ids=02000US4&primary_geo_id=02000US4 |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref>

The West also contains much of the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] population in the U.S., particularly in the large [[Indian reservation|reservations]] in the [[Mountain States|Mountain]] and [[Great Basin Desert|Desert States]]. As of 2022, the West is home to 365,351 [[Navajo]], 109,208 [[Apache]], and 78,364 [[Blackfeet Nation|Blackfeet]], as well as 276,082 people identifying as [[Indigenous peoples of Mexico|Indigenous Mexican]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grid View: Table B02017 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B02017&geo_ids=02000US4&primary_geo_id=02000US4#valueType%7Cestimate |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref> 

The largest concentrations for [[African Americans]] in the West can be found in [[San Diego]], [[Los Angeles]], [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]], [[Fresno]], [[San Francisco]], [[Seattle]], [[Tacoma, Washington|Tacoma]], [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]], [[Las Vegas]], [[Denver]], and [[Colorado Springs, Colorado|Colorado Springs]].

The Western United States has a higher [[Human sex ratio|sex ratio]] than any other region in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/people/a_gender.html |title=Gender in the United States |website=nationalatlas.gov |access-date=October 10, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051018165404/http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/people/a_gender.html |archive-date=October 18, 2005 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Because the tide of development had not yet reached most of the West when [[Conservation (ethic)|conservation]] became a national issue, agencies of the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] own and manage vast areas of land. (The most important among these are the [[National Park Service]] and the [[Bureau of Land Management]] within the [[United States Department of the Interior|Interior Department]], and the [[United States Forest Service|U.S. Forest Service]] within the [[United States Department of Agriculture|Agriculture Department]].) [[National park]]s are reserved for recreational activities such as [[fishing]], [[camping]], [[hiking]], and [[boating]], but other government lands also allow commercial activities like [[ranch]]ing, [[logging]], and [[mining]]. In recent years, some local residents who earn their livelihoods on federal land have come into conflict with the land's managers, who are required to keep land use within environmentally acceptable limits.

The largest city in the region is [[Los Angeles]], located on the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]]. Other [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] cities include [[San Diego]], [[San Bernardino, California|San Bernardino]], [[San Jose, California|San Jose]], [[San Francisco]], [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield]], [[Fresno]], [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]], [[Seattle]], [[Tacoma, Washington|Tacoma]], [[Anchorage, Alaska|Anchorage]], [[Spokane, Washington|Spokane]], and [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]] – some of which are dozens of miles inland. Prominent cities in the [[Mountain States]] include [[Denver]], [[Colorado Springs, Colorado|Colorado Springs]], [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]], [[Tucson, Arizona|Tucson]], [[Albuquerque, New Mexico|Albuquerque]], [[Las Vegas]], [[Reno, Nevada|Reno]], [[Salt Lake City]], [[Boise, Idaho|Boise]], [[Billings, Montana|Billings]], and [[Missoula, Montana|Missoula]].

==Natural geography==
[[File:US west coast physiographic regions map.jpg|thumb|upright|The Western United States is subdivided into three [[United States physiographic region|major physiographic regions]]: the [[Rocky Mountains]] (16–19), the [[Intermontane Plateaus]] (20–22), and the [[Pacific Coast Ranges|Pacific Mountains]] (23–25)]]

Along the [[Pacific Ocean]] coast lie the [[Pacific Coast Ranges|Coast Ranges]], which, while not approaching the scale of the [[Rocky Mountains]], are formidable nevertheless. They collect a large part of the airborne moisture moving in from the ocean. East of the Coast Ranges lie several cultivated fertile [[valley]]s, notably the [[San Joaquin Valley|San Joaquin]] and [[Sacramento Valley|Sacramento]] valleys of [[California]] and the [[Willamette Valley]] of [[Oregon]].

[[File:Zion NP20.jpg|thumb|left|[[Zion National Park]] in southern [[Utah]] is one of five national parks in the state.]]
[[File:Big Sur Coastline.jpg|thumb|left|[[Big Sur]], [[California]]]]
[[File:Mojave vista.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Mojave Desert]] covers much of the [[Southwestern United States]].]]
[[File:Grandcanyon view5.jpg|thumb|left|[[Grand Canyon]], [[Arizona]]]]
Beyond the valleys lie the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] in the south and the [[Cascade Range]] in the north. [[Mount Whitney]], at {{convert|14505|ft|m}} the tallest peak in the contiguous 48 states, is in the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]]. [[Cascade Range|The Cascades]] are also volcanic. [[Mount Rainier]], a volcano in [[Washington (state)|Washington]], is also over {{convert|14000|ft|m}}. [[Mount St. Helens]], a volcano in [[Cascade Range|the Cascades]], [[1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens|erupted explosively in 1980]]. A major volcanic eruption at [[Mount Mazama]] around 4860 BC formed [[Crater Lake]]. These mountain ranges see heavy precipitation, capturing most of the moisture that remains after the Coast Ranges, and creating a [[rain shadow]] to the east forming vast stretches of arid land. These dry areas encompass much of [[Nevada]], [[Utah]], and [[Arizona]]. The [[Mojave Desert]] and [[Sonoran Desert]] along with other deserts are found here.
[[File:Red sunset twilight in Landers, California, Mojave Desert, on January 2nd, 2016.jpg|thumb|Red sunset twilight in [[Landers, California|Landers]] in the [[High Desert (California)|High Desert]] region of [[California]]]]
[[File:Oregon High Desert.jpg|thumb|The [[High Desert (Oregon)|High Desert]] region of [[Oregon]]]]
[[File:Feral horses - Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range - Montana.jpg|thumb|Feral horses in the [[Pryor Mountains]] of Southeast [[Montana]]]]
[[File:Great sand dunes.JPEG|thumb|[[Great Sand Dunes National Park]], [[Colorado]]]]

Beyond the deserts lie the [[Rocky Mountains]]. In the north, they run almost immediately east of the [[Cascade Range]], so that the desert region is only a few miles wide by the time one reaches the Canada–US border. [[Rocky Mountains|The Rockies]] are hundreds of miles wide and run uninterrupted from [[New Mexico]] to [[Alaska]]. The Rocky Mountain Region is the highest overall area of the United States, with an average elevation of above {{convert|4000|ft}}. The tallest peaks of [[Rocky Mountains|the Rockies]], 54 of which are over {{convert|14000|ft}}, are found in central and western [[Colorado]]. East of the Rocky Mountains is the Great Plains, the western portions (for example, the eastern half of Colorado) of which are generally considered to be part of the western United States.

The West has several long rivers that empty into the [[Pacific Ocean]], while the eastern rivers run into the [[Gulf of Mexico]]. The [[Mississippi River]] forms the easternmost possible boundary for the West today. The [[Missouri River]], a tributary of the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]], flows from its headwaters in the [[Rocky Mountains]] eastward across the [[Great Plains]], a vast [[Poaceae|grassy]] plateau, before sloping gradually down to the forests and hence to the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]]. The [[Colorado River]] snakes through the [[Mountain states]], at one point forming the [[Grand Canyon]].

The [[Colorado River]] is a major source of water in the Southwest and many dams, such as the [[Hoover Dam]], form reservoirs along it. So much water is drawn for drinking water throughout the West and irrigation in [[California]] that in most years, water from the [[Colorado River]] no longer reaches the [[Gulf of California]]. The [[Columbia River]], the largest river in volume flowing into the [[Pacific Ocean]] from [[North America]], and its tributary, the [[Snake River]], water the Pacific Northwest. The [[Platte River|Platte]] runs through [[Nebraska]] and was known for being a mile (2&nbsp;km) wide but only a half-inch (1&nbsp;cm) deep. The [[Rio Grande]] forms the border between [[Texas]] and [[Mexico]] before turning due north and splitting [[New Mexico]] in half.

According to the [[United States Coast Guard]], "The Western Rivers System consists of the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]], [[Ohio River|Ohio]], [[Missouri River|Missouri]], [[Illinois River|Illinois]], [[Tennessee River|Tennessee]], [[Cumberland River|Cumberland]], [[Arkansas River|Arkansas]], and [[White River (Arkansas)|White Rivers]] and their tributaries, and certain other rivers that flow towards the [[Gulf of Mexico]]."<ref>{{cite web | title= Inland Aids to Navigation | url= http://uscg.mil/hq/cg3/cg3pcx/publications/auxmanuals/ATON2000StudyGuideSec14Inland.pdf | pages= 14–2 | publisher= [[United States Coast Guard]] | work= Coast Guard Auxiliary: National ATON-CU study guide (Section XIV) | access-date= March 21, 2009 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090325111054/http://uscg.mil/hq/cg3/cg3pcx/publications/auxmanuals/ATON2000StudyGuideSec14Inland.pdf | archive-date= March 25, 2009 | url-status= dead }}</ref>  The Ohio River portion of the system includes parts of several Atlantic coastal states, from Georgia to New York.<ref>{{cite web | title= Assessment of Ohio River Water Quality Conditions | url= https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1826/ML18264A336.pdf | pages= 10 | publisher= Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission | access-date= September 15, 2020 }}</ref>

===Climate and agriculture===
Most of the public land held by the [[United States Forest Service|U.S. National Forest Service]] and Bureau of Land Management is in the Western states. Public lands account for 25 to 75 percent of the total land area in these states.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wildlandfire.com/docs/2007/western-states-data-public-land.htm|title=Western States Data Public Land Acreage|website=www.wildlandfire.com|access-date=March 7, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727120656/http://www.wildlandfire.com/docs/2007/western-states-data-public-land.htm|archive-date=July 27, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The climate of the West is [[Semi-arid climate|semi-arid]], yet parts of the region get high amounts of rain or snow. Other parts are true desert which receive less than {{convert|5|in}} of rain per year. The climate is increasingly unstable, and subject to periods of severe drought.<ref name="U.S. Government">{{cite book | title=Climate Change on Wildfire Activity: Hearing Before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, One Hundred Tenth Congress, First Session, to Consider Scientific Assessments of the Impacts of Global Climate Change on Wildfire Activity in the United States, September 24, 2007 | publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office | issue=v. 4 | year=2007 | isbn=978-0-16-080173-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0I5UccaKwYcC&pg=PA13 | access-date=June 3, 2023 | page=13}}</ref>

The seasonal temperatures vary greatly throughout the West. Low elevations on the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] have warm summers and mild winters with little to no snow. The [[Southwestern United States|desert southwest]] has very hot summers and mild winters. While the mountains in the southwest receive generally large amounts of snow. The [[Inland Northwest (United States)|Inland Northwest]] has a [[continental climate]] of warm to hot summers and cold to bitterly cold winters.

Annual rainfall is greater in the eastern portions, gradually tapering off until reaching the Pacific Coast where it increases again. In fact, the greatest annual rainfall in the United States falls in the coastal regions of the [[Pacific Northwest]]. Drought is much more common in the West than the rest of the United States. The driest place recorded in the United States is [[Death Valley]], California.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://spothopping.com/death-valley/|title=Death Valley: Hottest, Driest, Lowest (SpotHopping.com)|website=spothopping.com}}</ref> In Western states, drought is closely associated with fire risk, and there have been a number of notable wildfires causing extensive property damage and wildlife [[habitat destruction]]. The Western United States is predicted to experience drought-like conditions for much of the 21st century.<ref name="U.S. Government" />

Violent thunderstorms occur east of the [[Rocky Mountains|Rockies]]. [[Tornado]]es occur every spring on the southern plains, with the most common and most destructive centered on [[Tornado Alley]], which covers eastern portions of the West, ([[Texas]] to [[North Dakota]]), and all states in between and to the east.

Agriculture varies depending on rainfall, irrigation, soil, elevation, and temperature extremes. The arid regions generally support only livestock grazing, chiefly beef cattle. The ''[[Corn Belt|wheat belt]]'' extends from [[Texas]] through [[The Dakotas]], producing most of the wheat and soybeans in the U.S. and exporting more to the rest of the world. Irrigation in the [[Southwestern United States|Southwest]] allows the growth of great quantities of fruits, nuts, and vegetables as well as grain, hay, and flowers. [[Texas]] is a major cattle and sheep raising area, as well as the nation's largest producer of cotton. [[Washington (state)|Washington]] is famous for its apples, and [[Idaho]] for its potatoes. [[California]] and [[Arizona]] are major producers of [[citrus]] crops, however, declining supplies of water, as well as urban sprawl have contributed to a sharp decline in citrus production in Arizona.<ref>{{cite web | last=Henne | first=Sarabeth | title=Arizona citrus squeeze: Pushed by development, costs, citrus shrinks | website=azcentral.com and The Arizona Republic | date=May 25, 2019 | url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/economy/2019/05/25/arizona-citrus-squeeze-pushed-development-costs-citrus-shrinks/1222155001/ | access-date=June 3, 2023}}</ref> Many varieties of [[New Mexico chile|chile peppers]] are grown in the valleys of [[New Mexico]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cpi.nmsu.edu/|title=Chile Pepper Institute &#124; New Mexico State University|website=cpi.nmsu.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newmexico.org/chile/|title=New Mexico: Chile Capital of the World|website=www.newmexico.org}}</ref>

Starting in 1902, Congress passed a series of acts authorizing the establishment of the [[United States Bureau of Reclamation]] to oversee water development projects in seventeen western states.

During the first half of the 20th century, dams and irrigation projects provided water for rapid agricultural growth throughout the West and brought prosperity for several states, where agriculture had previously only been subsistence level. Following [[World War II]], the West's cities experienced an economic and population boom. The population growth, mostly in the [[Southwestern United States|Southwest]] states of [[New Mexico]], [[Utah]], [[Colorado]], [[Arizona]], and [[Nevada]], has strained water and power resources, with water diverted from agricultural uses to major population centers, such as the [[Las Vegas Valley]] and [[Los Angeles]].

===Geology===
Plains make up much of the eastern portion of the West, underlain with sedimentary rock from the Upper [[Paleozoic]], [[Mesozoic]], and [[Cenozoic]] eras. The [[Rocky Mountains]] expose igneous and metamorphic rock both from the [[Precambrian]] and from the [[Phanerozoic]] eon. The Inter-mountain States and [[Pacific Northwest]] have huge expanses of volcanic rock from the [[Cenozoic]] era. [[Salt pan (geology)|Salt flats]] and salt lakes reveal a time when the great inland seas covered much of what is now the West.

The Pacific states are the most geologically active areas in the United States. [[Earthquake]]s cause damage every few to several years in [[California]]. While the [[Pacific states]] are the most volcanically active areas, extinct [[volcano]]es and lava flows are found throughout most of the West.

== Wildlife ==
{{excerpt|Fauna of the United States|Western United States}}

=={{anchor|History and culture}}History==
{{Main|American frontier|Timeline of the American Old West}}
[[File:Early indian west.jpg|thumb|upright=2.5|Early Native American tribal territories]]
The Western United States has been populated by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] since at least 11,000 years ago, when the first Paleo-Indians arrived. Pre-Columbian trade routes to kingdoms and empires such as the Mound Builders existed in places such as [[Yellowstone National Park]] since around 1000 AD. Major settlement of the western territories developed rapidly in the 1840s, largely through the [[Oregon Trail]] and the [[California Gold Rush]] of 1849. [[California]] experienced such a rapid growth in a few short months that it was admitted to statehood in 1850 without the normal transitory phase of becoming an official territory.<ref>H. W. Brands, ''The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream'' (2002)</ref>
[[File:Map of Western Territories of the United States, circa 1847-1861.jpg|left|thumb|Map of Western Territories, circa 1847–1861.]]
One of the largest migrations in American history occurred in the 1840s as the [[List of denominations in the Latter Day Saint movement|Latter Day Saints]] left the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]] to build a theocracy in [[Utah]].

Both [[Omaha, Nebraska]] and [[St. Louis|St. Louis, Missouri]] laid claim to the title, "Gateway to the West" during this period. [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]], home to the [[Union Pacific Railroad]] and the [[Mormon Trail]], made its fortunes on outfitting settlers; [[St. Louis]] built itself upon the vast [[fur trade]] in the West before its settlement.

The 1850s were marked by political battles over the expansion of slavery into the western territories, [[Origins of the American Civil War (2/4)#The question of slavery in the West|issues leading to the Civil War]].<ref>Michael Morrison, ''Slavery and the American West: The Eclipse of Manifest Destiny and the Coming of the Civil War'' (1997)</ref>

Between 1863 and 1869, North America's [[first transcontinental railroad]] was constructed to connect the [[eastern US]] with the [[West Coast of the United States|Pacific coast]]. The resulting railroad connection revolutionized the settlement and economy of the American West by making the transportation of passengers and freight quicker, safer, and cheaper.
[[Image:East and West Shaking hands at the laying of last rail Union Pacific Railroad - Restoration.jpg|thumb|The [[first transcontinental railroad]] played a pivotal role in the history of the Western United States.]]

The history of the American West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries has acquired a cultural mythos in the literature and cinema of the United States. The image of the [[cowboy]], the [[Homestead Act|homesteader]], and [[Manifest destiny|westward expansion]] took real events and transmuted them into a myth of the west which has shaped much of American popular culture since the late 19th century.<ref>Gary J. Hausladen, ''Western Places, American Myths: How We Think About The West'' (U. of Nevada Press, 2006)</ref>

Writers as diverse as [[Bret Harte]] and [[Zane Grey]] celebrated or derided cowboy culture, while artists such as [[Frederic Remington]] created [[Western American Art|Western art]] as a method of recording the expansion into the west. The [[Cinema of the United States|American cinema]], in particular, created the genre of the [[Western (genre)|Western movie]], which, in many cases, use the West as a metaphor for the virtue of self-reliance and an American ethos. The contrast between the romanticism of culture about the West and the actuality of the history of the westward expansion has been a theme of late 20th and early 21st century scholarship about the West.  [[Western lifestyle|Cowboy culture]] has become embedded in the American experience as a common cultural touchstone, and modern forms as diverse as [[country and western music]] have celebrated the sense of isolation and independence of spirit inspired by the frontiersmen on "virgin land".<ref>Henry Nash Smith, ''Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth'' (Harvard University Press, 1950)</ref>

===20th century===
[[File:The Harmsworth atlas and Gazetter 1908 (135851697).jpg|thumb|Western United States in 1908 from ''The Harmsworth atlas and Gazetter'']]
[[Image:Route66 sign.jpg|thumb|[[U.S. Route 66]] accelerated the development of the Western United States.]]

The advent of the [[history of the automobile|automobile]] enabled the average American to tour the West. Western businessmen promoted [[U.S. Route 66|Route 66]] as a means to bring tourism and industry to the West. In the 1950s, representatives from all the western states built the [[National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum|Cowboy Hall of Fame]] and [[Western Heritage Center]] to showcase western culture and greet travelers from the [[Eastern United States|East]]. During the latter half of the 20th century, several transcontinental interstate highways crossed the West bringing more trade and tourists from the East. Oil boom towns in [[Texas]] and [[Oklahoma]] rivaled the old mining camps for their rawness and wealth. The [[Dust Bowl]] forced children of the original homesteaders even further west.<ref>Donald Worster, ''Dust bowl: the southern plains in the 1930s'' (Oxford University Press, 1982)</ref>

The movies became America's chief entertainment source featuring [[western fiction]], later the community of [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] in [[Los Angeles]] became the [[headquarters]] of the [[mass media]] such as radio and television production.<ref>Allen John Scott, ''On Hollywood: The place, the industry'' (Princeton University Press, 2005)</ref>

[[History of California 1900–present|California]] has emerged as the most populous state and one of the top 10 economies in the world. Massive late 19th–20th century population and settlement booms created two [[megalopolis]] areas of the [[Greater Los Angeles]]/[[Southern California]] and the [[San Francisco Bay Area]]/[[Northern California]] regions, one of the nation's largest metropolitan areas and in the top 25 largest urban areas in the world. Five more metropolitan areas of [[San Bernardino, California|San Bernardino]]-[[Riverside, California|Riverside]], [[San Diego]], [[Denver]], [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]], and [[Seattle]] have over a million residents, while the three fastest growing metro areas were the [[Salt Lake City metropolitan area]], the [[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas metropolitan area]]; and the [[Portland metropolitan area]].<ref>{{cite book|first = Lawrence H.|last=Larsen |title = The Urban West at the End of the Frontier|date = 1978|isbn =  978-0700601684 |publisher = Univ Pr of Kansas}}</ref><ref>Earl Pomeroy, ''American Far West in the Twentieth Century'' (Yale University Press, 2008)</ref>

Since the mid-1970s, historians of the West have emphasized the [[World War II]] years as a major watershed, as a region experienced enormous social and economic change, and became the pacesetter for [[sociocultural evolution|societal evolution]]. The population soared, especially in metropolitan areas, as a result of massive expansion of the manufacture of airplanes, ships and munitions and of military and Naval training facilities. California upgraded universities to world-class status, intensified scientific research, and expanded infrastructure. After the war millions more migrated using the [[GI Bill]] to buy suburban homes, many of them recalling rewarding wartime experience in military training facilities. The region had always been more democratic with greater [[racial equality|racial]] and [[gender equality]], and continued as a national pacesetter in modernization. New problems emerged, especially environmental issues where westerners took the lead in areas such as the allocation of scarce water resources as well as dealing with smog and air pollution. More recently historians have looked at nuances, pointing out that some of the trends began before 1941.<ref>Mark Brilliant, and David M. Kennedy, eds., ''World War II and the West It Wrought'' (Stanford University Press, 2020) pp 1–3, 179–180. [https://www.amazon.com/World-War-II-West-Wrought/dp/1503611574/ excerpt].</ref>

[[Los Angeles]] has the largest [[Mexican Americans|Mexican]] population outside of [[Mexico]], while [[San Francisco]] has the largest [[Chinese Americans|Chinese]] community in [[North America]] and also has a large [[LGBT]] community, and [[Oakland, California]] has a large percentage of residents being [[African Americans|African-American]], as well as [[Long Beach, California]] which also has a significant black community. The state of [[Utah]] has a [[Mormons|Mormon]] majority (estimated at 62.4% in 2004),<ref>{{cite news | url= http://www.sltrib.com/ci_2886596 | title=Mormon Portion of Utah Population Steadily Shrinking | author=Canham, Matt | agency=The Salt Lake Tribune| date=July 24, 2005 | access-date=February 23, 2012}}</ref> while some cities like [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]]; [[Billings, Montana]]; [[Spokane, Washington]]; and [[Tucson, Arizona]] are located near [[Indian reservation]]s. In remote areas there are settlements of [[Alaskan Natives]] and [[Native Hawaiians]].

==Culture==
[[File:Newspaperrock.jpg|thumb|[[Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument]], [[Utah]], contains petroglyphs left by the first inhabitants of the American Southwest.]]
[[Image:BuildingAdventureGalley.jpg|thumb|The [[American pioneer|pioneers]] were among the earliest European Americans to settle in the western frontier.]]

Historically, the traditional culture of the Western United States has been defined by the [[Western lifestyle|cowboys]], [[American pioneer|pioneers]], and [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] who first inhabited the [[American frontier|Wild West]].<ref name="turner">{{cite book|author=Turner, Frederick Jackson|title=The Frontier in American History |chapter = The Significance of the Frontier in American History|year=1920|chapter-url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22994/22994-h/22994-h.htm}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=Dary, David|year=1989|title=Cowboy Culture: A Saga of Five Centuries|edition=second|location=Lawrence, Kansas|publisher=University Press of Kansas|page=xi|isbn=978-0-7006-0390-9}}</ref> The sparse geography of the western deserts ([[Mojave Desert]], [[Great Basin Desert]]) and isolated small [[town]]s, combined with the broad freeways ([[U.S. Route 66]]) and long railroads ([[First transcontinental railroad]]), have contributed to the popular image of the west as a desolate, open space full of unending roads.<ref name="Nugent1992"/>

Facing both the Pacific Ocean and the [[Mexico|Mexican]] border, the West has been shaped by a variety of ethnic groups. [[Hawaii]] is the only state in the union in which [[Asian Americans]] outnumber [[White Americans|white American]] residents. People from many countries in Asia settled in [[California]] and other coastal states in several waves of immigration since the 19th century, contributing to the [[Gold rush]], the building of the transcontinental railroad, agriculture, and more recently, high technology.

The border states—[[California]], [[Arizona]], [[New Mexico]], and [[Texas]]—and other southwestern states such as [[Colorado]], [[Utah]], and [[Nevada]] all have large [[Hispanic]] populations, and the many [[Spanish language|Spanish]] place names attest to their history as former Spanish and Mexican territories. [[Mexican Americans|Mexican-Americans]] have also had a growing population in Northwestern states of [[Oregon]] and [[Washington (state)|Washington]], as well as the southern states of [[Texas]] and [[Oklahoma]].
[[File:Hollywood-Sign.jpg|thumb|The [[Hollywood sign]] in the [[Hollywood Hills]] has come to represent the [[American film industry]].]]

In the [[West Coast of the United States|Pacific States]], the wide areas filled with small towns, farms, and forests are supplemented by a few big port cities which have evolved into world centers for the media and technology industries. Now the second largest city in the nation, [[Los Angeles]] is best known as the home of the [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] [[film]] industry; the area around [[Los Angeles]] also was a major center for the [[aerospace]] industry by [[World War II]], though Boeing, located in [[Washington (state)|Washington state]] would lead the aerospace industry. Fueled by the growth of [[Los Angeles]], as well as the [[San Francisco Bay area]], including [[Silicon Valley]], the center of America's high tech industry, [[California]] has become the most populous of all the 50 states. [[Oregon]] and [[Washington (state)|Washington]] have also seen rapid growth with the rise of [[Boeing]] and [[Microsoft]] along with agriculture and resource based industries.

[[Alaska]]—the northernmost state in the Union—is a vast land of few people, many of them native, and of great stretches of wilderness, protected in [[national park]]s and [[wildlife refuge]]s. Hawaii's location makes it a major gateway between the United States and Asia, as well as a center for tourism.

The [[Mountain States]] subregion includes [[Arizona]], [[Colorado]], [[Idaho]], [[Montana]], [[Nevada]], [[New Mexico]], [[Utah]], and [[Wyoming]]. The mountain states have relatively low population densities, and developed as ranching and mining areas that only recently became urbanized. Most of them have highly individualistic cultures, and have worked to balance the interests of urban development, recreation, and the environment.

Culturally distinctive points of the mountain states include the large [[Mormons|Mormon]] population in the [[Mormon Corridor]], including southeastern [[Idaho]], [[Utah]], Northern [[Arizona]], and [[Nevada]]; the extravagant [[casino]] resort towns of [[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas]] and [[Reno, Nevada|Reno]], [[Nevada]]; and the numerous [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]] tribal reservations.

===Sports===
Professional sports leagues such as the [[National Football League]] (NFL), [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB), [[National Basketball Association]] (NBA), [[Women's National Basketball Association]] (WNBA), [[National Hockey League]] (NHL), [[Major League Soccer]] (MLS), and [[National Women's Soccer League]] (NWSL), have team franchises in following cities/metropolitan areas of the region:

* [[Denver]]: [[Colorado Avalanche|Avalanche]] (NHL), [[Denver Broncos|Broncos]] (NFL), [[Denver Nuggets|Nuggets]] (NBA), [[Colorado Rapids|Rapids]] (MLS), [[Colorado Rockies|Rockies]] (MLB)
* [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]] metropolitan area: [[Arizona Cardinals|Cardinals]] (NFL), [[Arizona Diamondbacks|Diamondbacks]] (MLB), [[Phoenix Mercury|Mercury]] (WNBA), [[Phoenix Suns|Suns]] (NBA)
* [[Las Vegas]]: [[Las Vegas Aces|Aces]] (WNBA), [[Vegas Golden Knights|Golden Knights]] (NHL), [[Las Vegas Raiders|Raiders]] (NFL)
* [[Los Angeles]] metropolitan area: [[Angel City FC|Angel City]] (NWSL), [[Los Angeles Angels|Angels]] (MLB), [[Los Angeles Chargers|Chargers]] (NFL), [[Los Angeles Clippers|Clippers]] (NBA), [[Los Angeles Dodgers|Dodgers]] (MLB), [[Anaheim Ducks|Ducks]] (NHL) [[Los Angeles Football Club|Los Angeles FC]] or the Black and Gold Falcons (MLS), [[LA Galaxy|Galaxy]] (MLS), [[Los Angeles Kings|Kings]] (NHL), [[Los Angeles Lakers|Lakers]] (NBA), [[Los Angeles Rams|Rams]] (NFL), [[Los Angeles Sparks|Sparks]] (WNBA)
* [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]]: [[Portland Trail Blazers|Trail Blazers]] (NBA), [[Portland Thorns FC|Thorns]] (NWSL), [[Portland Timbers|Timbers]] (MLS) 
* [[Sacramento]]: [[Sacramento Kings|Kings]] (NBA)
* [[Salt Lake City]]:  [[Utah Jazz|Jazz]] (NBA), [[Utah Royals|Royals]] (NWSL), [[Real Salt Lake|Real]] (MLS), [[Utah Hockey Club|Utah HC]] (NHL)
* [[San Diego]]: [[San Diego Padres|Padres]] (MLB), [[San Diego Football Club|San Diego FC]] (MLS), [[San Diego Wave FC|Wave]] (NWSL)
* [[San Francisco Bay Area]]: [[San Francisco 49ers|49ers]] (NFL), [[Bay Football Club|Bay]] (NWSL), [[San Jose Earthquakes|Earthquakes]] (MLS), [[San Francisco Giants|Giants]] (MLB), [[San Jose Sharks|Sharks]] (NHL), [[Golden State Valkyries|Valkyries]] (WNBA), [[Golden State Warriors|Warriors]] (NBA)
* [[Seattle]]: [[Seattle Kraken|Kraken]] (NHL), [[Seattle Mariners|Mariners]] (MLB), [[Seattle Reign FC|Reign]] (NWSL), [[Seattle Seahawks|Seahawks]] (NFL), [[Seattle Sounders FC|Sounders]] (MLS), [[Seattle Storm|Storm]] (WNBA)
* [[West Sacramento, California|West Sacramento]]: [[Athletics (baseball)|Athletics]] (MLB) (the team will relocate to Las Vegas in 2027)

==Major metropolitan areas==

These are the largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) with a population above 500,000 in the 13 Western states. Population figures are as of April 1, 2020, as enumerated by the [[United States Census Bureau]]:<ref name=2020Census>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/CA|title=Census QuickFacts: 2020 Census|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]], Population Division|date=August 2021|access-date=April 12, 2022}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Rank<br />(West) !! Rank<br />(USA)<ref name=2020Census /> !! MSA !! Population !! State(s) !! class="unsortable" |&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<!--image-->
|-
| 1 || 2 ||align=left | [[Los Angeles]]-[[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]]-[[Anaheim, California|Anaheim]] [[Los Angeles metropolitan area|MSA]] || '''13,200,998''' || [[California]] || [[File:Los_Angeles,_Winter_2016.jpg|150px|Los Angeles skyline]]
|-
| 2 || 11 ||align=left | [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]]-[[Mesa, Arizona|Mesa]]-[[Chandler, Arizona|Chandler]] [[Phoenix metropolitan area|MSA]] || '''4,845,832''' || [[Arizona]] || [[File:Downtown Phoenix Aerial Looking Northeast.jpg|150px|Phoenix cityscape]]
|-
| 3 || 12 ||align=left | [[San Francisco]]-[[Oakland, California|Oakland]]-[[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]] [[San Francisco Bay Area|MSA]] || '''4,749,008''' || [[California]] || [[File:Lightmatter sanfrancisco.jpg|150px|San Francisco cityscape]]
|-
| 4 || 13 ||align=left | [[Riverside, California|Riverside]]-[[San Bernardino, California|San Bernardino]]-[[Ontario, California|Ontario]] [[Inland Empire|MSA]] || '''4,599,839''' || [[California]] || [[File:Downtown San Bernardino.jpg|150px|San Bernardino skyline]]
|-
| 5 || 15 ||align=left | [[Seattle]]-[[Tacoma, Washington|Tacoma]]-[[Bellevue, Washington|Bellevue]] [[Seattle metropolitan area|MSA]] || '''4,018,762''' || [[Washington (state)|Washington]] || [[File:Downtown Seattle skyline from W Kinnear Place, Aug 2022.jpg|150px|Seattle skyline]]
|-
| 6 || 17 ||align=left | [[San Diego]]-[[Chula Vista, California|Chula Vista]]-[[Carlsbad, California|Carlsbad]] [[San Diego metropolitan area|MSA]] || '''3,298,634''' || [[California]] || [[File:Sandiego 1 bg 071302.jpg|150px|Downtown San Diego]]
|-
| 7 || 19 ||align=left | [[Denver]]-[[Aurora, Colorado|Aurora]]-[[Lakewood, Colorado|Lakewood]] [[Denver metropolitan area|MSA]] || '''2,963,821''' || [[Colorado]] || [[File:DENM.JPG|150px|Downtown Denver]]
|-
| 8 || 25 ||align=left | [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]]-[[Vancouver, Washington|Vancouver]]-[[Hillsboro, Oregon|Hillsboro]] [[Portland metropolitan area|MSA]] || '''2,512,859''' || [[Oregon]]<br />[[Washington (state)|Washington]] || [[File:Portland panorama3.jpg|150px|Portland, Oregon, from the east]]
|-
| 9 || 26 ||align=left | [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]]-[[Roseville, California|Roseville]]-[[Folsom, California|Folsom]] [[Sacramento metropolitan area|MSA]] || '''2,397,382''' || [[California]] || [[File:Sacramento Riverfront.jpg|150px|The Sacramento Riverfront]]
|-
| 10 || 29 ||align=left | [[Las Vegas]]-[[Henderson, Nevada|Henderson]]-[[Paradise, Nevada|Paradise]] [[Las Vegas Valley|MSA]] || '''2,265,461''' || [[Nevada]] || [[File:The Strip from Eiffel Tower (9176999807).jpg|150px|The Las Vegas Strip]]
|-
| 11 || 35 ||align=left | [[San Jose, California|San Jose]]-[[Sunnyvale, California|Sunnyvale]]-[[Santa Clara, California|Santa Clara]] [[San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area|MSA]] || '''2,000,468''' || [[California]] || [[File:Downtown san jose south market st.jpg|150px|Downtown San Jose]]
|-
| 12 || 47 ||align=left | [[Salt Lake City]] [[Wasatch Front|MSA]] || '''1,257,936''' || [[Utah]] || [[File:Salt Lake City panorama.jpg|150px|Salt Lake City]]
|-
| 13 || 53 ||align=left | [[Tucson, Arizona|Tucson]] [[Pima County, Arizona|MSA]] || '''1,043,433''' || [[Arizona]] || [[File:CatalinasAndTusconAZ.JPG|150px|Tucson, Arizona]]
|-
| 14 || 54 ||align=left | [[Honolulu]] [[Honolulu County, Hawaii|MSA]] || '''1,016,508''' || [[Hawaii]] || [[File:Honolulu01.JPG|150px|Downtown Honolulu]]
|-
| 15 || 56 ||align=left | [[Fresno, California|Fresno]] [[Metropolitan Fresno|MSA]] || '''1,008,654''' || [[California]] || [[File:Downtownfresno.jpg|150px|Downtown Fresno]]
|-
| 16 || 61 ||align=left | [[Albuquerque, New Mexico|Albuquerque]] [[Albuquerque metropolitan area|MSA]] || '''916,528'''|| [[New Mexico]] || [[File:Downtown Albuquerque 2.jpg|150px|Downtown Albuquerque]]
|-
| 17 || 62 ||align=left | [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield]] [[Kern County, California|MSA]] || '''909,235''' || [[California]] || [[File:DowntownBakersfield.jpg|150px|Downtown Bakersfield]]
|-
| 18 || 70 ||align=left | [[Oxnard, California|Oxnard]]-[[Thousand Oaks, California|Thousand Oaks]]-[[Ventura, California|Ventura]] [[Ventura County, California|MSA]]
|| '''843,843''' || [[California]] || [[File:VenturaNW.jpg|150px|Aerial view of Ventura]]
|-
| 19 || 75 ||align=left | [[Stockton, California|Stockton]] [[San Joaquin County, California|MSA]] || '''779,233''' || [[California]] || [[File:UOP-burnstower.jpg|150px|The [[University of the Pacific (United States)|University of the Pacific]] in Stockton]]
|-
| 20 || 77 ||align=left | [[Boise, Idaho|Boise]] [[Boise metropolitan area|MSA]] || '''764,718''' || [[Idaho]] || [[File:Boise Idaho.jpg|100px|Idaho State Capitol building in Boise]]
|-
| 21 || 79 ||align=left | [[Colorado Springs, Colorado|Colorado Springs]] [[Colorado Springs metropolitan area|MSA]] || '''755,105''' || [[Colorado]] || [[File:CC COSPRINGS.jpg|150px|Downtown Colorado Springs]]
|-
| 22 || 86 ||align=left | [[Ogden, Utah|Ogden]]-[[Clearfield, Utah|Clearfield]] [[Ogden-Clearfield metropolitan area|MSA]] || '''694,863''' || [[Utah]] || [[File:Downtown ogden.jpg|150px|Downtown Ogden]]
|-
| 23 || 89 ||align=left | [[Provo, Utah|Provo]]-[[Orem, Utah|Orem]] [[Provo-Orem metropolitan area|MSA]] || '''671,185''' || [[Utah]] || [[File:Downtown_Provo.jpg|150px|Downtown Provo]]
|-
| 24 || 99 ||align=left | [[Spokane, Washington|Spokane]]-[[Spokane Valley, Washington|Spokane Valley]] [[Spokane metropolitan area|MSA]] || '''585,784''' || [[Washington (state)|Washington]] || [[File:SpokaneFromPalisades 20070614.jpg|150px|Downtown Spokane]]
|-
| 25 || 103 ||align=left | [[Modesto, California|Modesto]] [[Stanislaus County, California|MSA]] || '''552,878''' || [[California]] || [[File:Modesto Arch.JPG|150px|The Modesto Arch]]
|}

===Other population centers===
* The MSA of [[El Paso, Texas|El Paso]], although belonging to [[Texas]], considered part of the [[Southern United States]], it is sometimes also considered part of the Western United States. Its enumerated population in April 2020 was 868,859.<ref name=2020Census />
* The largest MSA in [[Alaska]] is [[Anchorage, Alaska|Anchorage]]; it has an enumerated population of 398,328, as of April 2020.<ref name=2020Census />
* In the outlying areas of the Western United States, the largest population centers are [[Tafuna]] in [[American Samoa]];<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.citypopulation.de/AmSamoa.html |work=Citypopulation.de |title=American Samoa |access-date=September 9, 2019 }}</ref> [[Dededo, Guam|Dededo]] in [[Guam]];<ref name="GU"/> and [[Saipan]] in the [[Northern Mariana Islands]].<ref name="MP"/>

==Politics==
[[File:Map of USA medicinal marijuana.svg|thumb|States where state-level laws allowed legalized medicinal marijuana [[Gonzales v. Raich|before 2005]]]]
{{Map of legality surrounding assisted suicide in the US|align=left|size=220px}}
[[File:Map of USA highlighting states with no income tax.svg|thumb|States that have no [[income tax]] at the [[State income tax|state level]]]]
{{Further|Coastal California#Politics|Left Coast}}

The region's distance from historical centers of power in the East, and the celebrated "[[frontier]] spirit" of its settlers offer two clichés for explaining the region's independent, heterogeneous politics.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}} Historically, the West was the first region to see widespread [[Women's suffrage in the United States|women's suffrage]], with women casting votes in [[Utah]] and [[Wyoming]] as early as 1870, five decades before the [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|19th Amendment]] was ratified by the nation. [[California]] birthed both the [[Right to property|property rights]] and [[conservation movement]]s, and spawned such phenomena as the [[California Proposition 13 (1978)|Taxpayer Revolt]] and the Berkeley [[Free Speech Movement]]. It has also produced three presidents: [[Herbert Hoover]], [[Richard Nixon]], and [[Ronald Reagan]].

The prevalence of [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] political attitudes is widespread. For example, the majority of Western states have legalized [[medicinal marijuana]] (all but [[Idaho]] and [[Wyoming]]) and some forms of gambling (except [[Utah]]); [[Colorado]], [[Oregon]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], and [[Montana]] have legalized [[Assisted suicide|physician-assisted suicide]]; most rural counties in [[Nevada]] allow licensed brothels, and voters in [[Alaska]], [[Colorado]], [[Nevada]], [[California]], [[Oregon]], and [[Washington (state)|Washington]] have legalized recreational use of marijuana.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Marijuana Legalization Passes in Oregon, Alaska, D.C.|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/11/05/marijuana_legalization_oregon_alaska_and_d_c_pass_ballot_measures.html|work =Slate|date=November 5, 2014 |first = Jonathan L.|last= Fischer }}</ref>

[[California]], [[Oregon]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], [[Nevada]], [[Colorado]], [[Hawaii]] and [[New Mexico]] lean toward the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. In recent times, as seen in the [[2020 United States presidential election]] and [[2022 Arizona gubernatorial election]], [[Arizona]] is also beginning to lean towards the Democratic Party as well. [[San Francisco]]'s two main political parties are the Green Party and the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. One of the longest-serving Democratic congressional leaders is from the region: former [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives]] [[Nancy Pelosi]] of [[California]].

[[Alaska]] and most [[Mountain states]] are more [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]], with [[Alaska]], [[Idaho]], [[Montana]], [[Utah]], and [[Wyoming]] being Republican strongholds. The state of [[Arizona]] has been won by the Republican presidential candidate in every election except three times since 1948, but in 2020 Arizona voted Democratic. Also, in 2018 and 2020, the GOP lost both U.S. Senate seats in Arizona to the Democrats. The states of [[Idaho]], [[Utah]], and [[Wyoming]] have been won by every Republican presidential nominee since 1964.

The state of [[Nevada]] is considered a political bellwether, having correctly voted for every president except twice (in 1976 and 2016) since 1912. [[New Mexico]] too is considered a bellwether, having voted for the popular vote winner in every presidential election since statehood, except in 1976 and 2024.

As the fastest-growing demographic group, after [[Asian people|Asians]], [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Latino]]s are hotly contested by both parties. Immigration is an important political issue for this group. Backlash against undocumented immigrants led to the passage of [[California Proposition 187]] in 1994, a ballot initiative which would have denied many public services to them. Association of this proposal with California Republicans, especially incumbent governor [[Pete Wilson]], drove many Hispanic voters to the Democrats.<ref>Stephen D. Cummings and Patrick B. Reddy, ''California after Arnold'' (2009) pp. 165–170</ref>

The following table shows the breakdown of party affiliation of governors, attorneys general, state legislative houses, and U.S. congressional delegation for the Western states, {{as of|2019|lc=y}}.

{|class="wikitable"
|- align=center
! State !! Governor !! Attorney General !! Upper House Majority !! Lower House Majority !! Senior U.S. Senator !! Junior U.S. Senator !! U.S. House Delegation 
|- align=center
! nowrap|[[Political party strength in Alaska|AK]]
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />13–7
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />23–16–1
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />1–0
|- align=center
! nowrap|[[Political party strength in Arizona|AZ]]
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic 
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />16–14
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />31–29
|{{Party shading/Independent}}|Independent 
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />6–3
|- align=center
! nowrap|[[Political party strength in California|CA]]
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />29–11
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />61–19
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />42–11
|- align=center
! nowrap|[[Political party strength in Colorado|CO]]
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />19–16
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />41–24
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />4–3
|- align=center
! nowrap|[[Political party strength in Hawaii|HI]]
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />24–1
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />46–5
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />2–0
|- align=center
! nowrap|[[Political party strength in Idaho|ID]]
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />28–7
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />56–14
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />2–0
|- align=center
! nowrap|[[Political party strength in Montana|MT]]
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />30–20
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />58–42
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican 
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />1–0
|- align=center
! nowrap|[[Political party strength in Nevada|NV]]
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />13–8
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />29–13
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />3–1
|- align=center
! nowrap|[[Political party strength in New Mexico|NM]]
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />26–16
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />46–24
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />2–1
|- align=center
! nowrap|[[Political party strength in Oregon|OR]]
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />19–11
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />38–22
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />4–1
|- align=center
! nowrap|[[Political party strength in Utah|UT]]
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />23–6
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />59–16
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />4–0
|- align=center
! nowrap|[[Political party strength in Washington (state)|WA]]
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />28–21
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />57–41
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />7–3
|- align=center
! nowrap|[[Political party strength in Wyoming|WY]]
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />28–2
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />51–7–2
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />1–0
|}

The following table shows the breakdown of party affiliation of governors, attorneys general, state legislative houses, and U.S. congressional delegation for the outlying areas of the Western United States, {{as of|2020|lc=y}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.americansamoa.gov |title=Home |website=Americansamoa.gov |access-date=June 30, 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://ballotpedia.org/Northern_Mariana_Islands_Commonwealth_Legislature |work=Ballotpedia.org |title=Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature |access-date=June 30, 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://guamlegislature.com/index/ |title=The 36th Guam Legislature |website=guamlegislature.com |access-date=June 30, 2020 |archive-date=June 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200619120735/http://guamlegislature.com/index/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

{|class="wikitable"
|- align=center
! Territory !! Governor !! Attorney General !! Upper House Majority !! Lower House Majority !! Senior U.S. Senator !! Junior U.S. Senator !! U.S. House Delegation 
|- align=center
! nowrap|[[Political party strength in American Samoa|AS]]
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
||{{refn|group=note|In 2020 [[Mitzie Jessop Taase]] was the acting attorney general of [[American Samoa]]. It is unclear which political party she belongs to.}}
|{{Party shading/Independent}}|Non-Partisan<br />18–0
|{{Party shading/Independent}}|Non-Partisan<br />21–0
|None|None
|None|None
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />1–0
|- align=center
! nowrap|[[Political party strength in Guam|GU]]
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Independent}}|Independent
|colspan="2"{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />10–5 (unicameral)
||None
||None
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic<br />1–0
|- align=center
! nowrap|[[Political party strength in the Northern Mariana Islands|MP]]
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican
|{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Democratic
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />6–0–3
|{{Party shading/Republican}}|Republican<br />13–0–7
||None
||None
|{{Party shading/Independent}}|Independent<br />1–0
|}

==Health==
The Western United States consistently ranks well in health measures. The rate of potentially preventable hospitalizations in the Western United States was consistently lower than other regions from 2005 to 2011.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Torio CM, Andrews RM | title =  Geographic Variation in Potentially Preventable Hospitalizations for Acute and Chronic Conditions, 2005–2011 | journal = HCUP Statistical Brief No. 178 | publisher = Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality | location = Rockville, MD | date = September 2014 | pmid = 25411684 | url = https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb178-Preventable-Hospitalizations-by-Region.jsp}}</ref> While the proportion of maternal or neonatal hospital stays was higher in the Western United States relative to other regions, the proportion of medical stays in hospitals was lower than in other regions in 2012.<ref>{{cite web | author = Wiess, AJ and Elixhauser A | title =  Overview of Hospital Utilization, 2012 | work = HCUP Statistical Brief No. 180 | publisher = Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality | location = Rockville, MD | date = October 2014 | url = https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb179-Emergency-Department-Trends.jsp}}</ref>

==See also==
{{portal|Environment|Geography|History|United States}}
{{colbegin|colwidth=30em}}
* [[List of online encyclopedias of U.S. states]]
* [[American frontier]]
* [[Autry Museum of the American West]]
* [[Environmental history of the United States]]
* [[High Country News]]
* [[History of the Jews in the American West]]
* [[History of the west coast of North America]]
* [[Intermountain West]]
* [[Professional sports in the Western United States]]
* [[Railroad land grants in the United States]]
* [[Sunset (magazine)|Sunset magazine]]
* [[Territories of the United States on stamps]]
* [[Western Canada]]
* [[West Coast of the United States]]
* [[Wildfires in the United States#Western U.S. wildfire trends|Western U.S. wildfire trends]]

{{colend}}
{{clear}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==Further reading==
{{Further|Bibliography of the American frontier|Western fiction|Western film}}
{{Multiple issues|section=yes|
{{Further reading cleanup |date=December 2023}}
{{Split section |Bibliography of the Western United States |discuss=Talk:Western United States#Split proposed |date=December 2023}}
}}

===Surveys ===
{{Refbegin}}
* Deutsch, Sarah. ''Making a Modern U.S. West: The Contested Terrain of a Region and Its Borders 1898–1940.'' Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2022. 
* Doig, Ivan. ''This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind.'' New York. 1978.
* Findlay, John M. ''The Mobilized American West, 1940–2000.''  Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2023. Comprehensive history [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=59564 online review of this book]
* Malone, Michael P., and Richard W. Etulain. ''The American West: A Twentieth-Century History.'' Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1989.
* Milner II, Clyde A; O'Connor, Carol A.; Sandweiss, Martha A. ''The Oxford History of the American West.'' Oxford University Press, 1994.
* Morgan, Neil Bowen.  ''Westward Tilt: The American West Today.''  New York: Random House, 1963. 
* Pomeroy, Earl. ''The American Far West in the Twentieth Century.'' New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009. {{ISBN|0300158521}}
* Schwantes, Carlos Arnaldo.  ''Going Places: Transportation Redefines the Twentieth-Century West.''  Bloomington:  Indiana University Press, 2003. 
* Stegner, Wallace. ''The Sound of Mountain Water:  The Changing American West.'' Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1969. 
* White, Richard. ''A New History of the American West:  'It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own.''' Norman:  University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.
* Whitehead, John. ''Completing the Union: Alaska, Hawai'i, and the Battle for Statehood.'' Albuquerque:  University of New Mexico Press, 2004
* Wiley, Peter, and Robert Gottlieb. ''Empires in the Sun: The Rise of the New American West.'' New York. 1982.
* {{cite book | last=Wrobel | first=David M. | title=America's West: A History, 1890–1950 |location=Cambridge, UK | publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2017 |series=Cambridge Essential Histories| isbn=978-0-521-19201-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UUUzDwAAQBAJ}}
{{Refend}}

===Economy ===
{{Refbegin}}
* Graham, Don.  ''Kings of Texas: The 150-Year Saga of an American Ranching Empire.''  Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2003.  

* Nash, Gerald D. ''A.P. Giannini and the Bank of America.'' Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992.
* Nash, Gerald D. ''The Federal Landscape: An Economic History of the Twentieth-Century West.'' Tucson: University of Arizona Press. 1999.
* O'Mara, Margaret.  ''The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America.'' New York: Penguin Press, 2019.

* Robbins, William G. ''Colony and Empire: The Capitalist Transformation of the American West.'' Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1994.
{{Refend}}

===Environment===
{{Refbegin}}
* Abbey, Edward. ''Desert Solitaire : A Season in the Wilderness.'' New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968.
* Castaneda, Christopher J., and Lee M. A. Simpson, eds. ''River City and Valley Life: An Environmental History of the Sacramento region.'' Pittsburgh, PA:  University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013. In California; [https://books.google.com/books?id=2A4gAgAAQBAJ&dq=River+City+and+Valley+Life:+An+Environmental+History+of+the+Sacramento+Region&pg=PP1 online]
* Cawley, R. McGreggor. ''Federal Land, Western Anger: The Sagebrush Rebellion and Environmental Politics.''  Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993. On conservatives.
* Cunfer, Geoff, and Bill Waiser, eds. ''Bison and People on the North American Great Plains: A Deep Environmental History.''  College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2016. [https://books.google.com/books?id=dRhDDQAAQBAJ&dq=Book+icon%09Bison+and+People+on+the+North+American+Great+Plains:+A+Deep+Environmental+History+&pg=PR5 online].
* Dant, Sara. ''Losing Eden: An Environmental History of the American West.'' Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2023. [https://books.google.com/books?id=0Rq8EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 online], also see [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=59664 online book review]
* DeBuys, William.  ''Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range.''  Albuquerque:  University of New Mexico Press, 1985.
* DeVoto, Bernard. "The West: A Plundered Province." ''Harper's Magazine'' 169 (1934): 355–364.
* Dobie, J. Frank. ''The Longhorns.'' Boston: Little, Brown, 1941.
* Dobie, J. Frank.  ''The Mustangs.'' Boston: Little, Brown, 1952.
* Dobie. J. Frank. ''The Voice of the Coyote.'' Boston: Little, Brown, 1949.
* Flores, Dan. ''The Natural West: Environmental History in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.''  Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003. [https://books.google.com/books?id=mVFzlcaFB4MC&dq=dan+flores+natural+west&pg=PP13 online].
* Fradkin, Philip. ''A River No More: The Colorado River and the West,'' 2nd ed. Berkeley:  University of California Press, 1996.
* Frehner, Brian, and Kathleen A. Brosnan, eds. ''The Greater Plains: Rethinking a Region's Environmental Histories.'' Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2021. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Rh4uEAAAQBAJ&dq=%09The+Greater+Plains:+Rethinking+a+Region%27s+Environmental+Histories&pg=PP1 online].
* Harvey, Mark W. T. "Echo Park, Glen Canyon, and the Postwar Wilderness Movement." ''Pacific Historical Review'' (1991): 43–67. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3640418 online] Colorado River region
* Hollon, W. Eugene. ''The Great American Desert, Then and Now.''  Lincoln:  University of Nebraska Press, 1975. 
* Huggard, Christopher, and Arthur R. Gómez. ''Forests under Fire: A Century of Ecosystem Mismanagement in the Southwest.''  Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2001.
* Hundley Jr., Norris. ''Water and the West: The Colorado River Compact and the Politics of Water in the American West.'' 2nd ed. University of California Press, 2009.
* Krutch, Joseph Wood. ''The Voice of the Desert: A Naturalist's Interpretation.'' New York:  William Sloane Associates, 1954.
* Lamm, Richard D., and Michael McCarthy. ''The Angry West: A Vulnerable Land and Its Future.'' Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1982.
* Logan, Michael F. ''Desert Cities: The Environmental History of Phoenix and Tucson.''  Pittsburgh, PA; University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006. 
* Needham, Andrew.  ''Power Lines: Phoenix and the Making of the Modern Southwest.''  Princeton, NJ:  University of Princeton Press, 2014.
* Pisani, Donald J. ''Water, Land, and Law in the West: The Limits of Public Policy, 1850-1920.'' Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1996.
* Pyne, Stephen J.  ''Fire:  A Brief History.''  Seattle:    University of Washington Press, 2001. 
* Pyne, Stephen J.  ''Fire on the Rim: A Firefighter's Season at the Grand Canyon.''  New York: Grove Press, 1989.
* Reisner, Marc. ''Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water.'' Penguin, 1993. Says the villain was the federal [[Bureau of Reclamation]] see [https://www.waterbucket.ca/aw/sites/wbcaw/documents/media/24.pdfsummary]{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}; also see [https://books.google.com/books?id=frvKDY0rpToC&dq=marc+reisner+cadillac&pg=PA1 online copy].
* Rowley, William D. ''Reclaiming the Arid West: The Career of Francis G. Newlands.''  Bloomington:  Indiana University Press, 1996.
* Rundell Jr., Walter.  ''Oil in West Texas and New Mexico:  A Pictorial History of the Permian Basin.''  College Station:  Texas A & M University Press, 1982.
* Stegner, Wallace. ''The American West As Living Space.'' Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1987.
* Sturgeon, Stephen Craig. ''The Politics of Western Water: The Congressional Career of Wayne Aspinall.'' Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 2002.
* Vogel, David. ''California Greenin': How the Golden State became an Environmental Leader'' Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2019).
* White, Richard.  ''The Organic Machine: The Remaking of the Columbia River.''  New York:  Hill and Wang, 1995.
* Wild, Peter. ''Pioneer Conservationists of Western America'' (1979) [https://archive.org/details/pioneerconservat0000wild online]
* Worster, Donald. ''Under Western Skies: Nature and History in the American West'' Oxford University Press, 1992. [https://books.google.com/books?id=5GedEMPctHIC&dq=%22Under+western+skies%22&pg=PR11 online]
* Worster, Donald.  ''Dust Bowl:  The Southern Plains in the 1930s.''  New York:  Oxford University Press, 1979. 
* Worster, Donald. ''Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the American West.'' New York: Pantheon Books, 1987.
{{Refend}}

===Historiography===
{{Refbegin}}
* Billington, Ray Allen. ''America's Frontier Heritage.'' Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 1984.
* Etulain, Richard W., "Clio's Disciples on the Rio Grande: Western History at the University of New Mexico", ''New Mexico Historical Review'' 87 (Summer 2012): 277–298.
* Etulain, Richard W. ''Telling Western Stories: From Buffalo Bill to Larry McMurtry.''  Albuquerque:  University of New Mexico Press, 1999.
* Etulain, Richard W. ''The American West and Its Interpreters.''  Albuquerque:  University of New Mexico Press, 2023.
* Etulain, Richard W. ''Writing Western History: Essays On Major Western Historians'' Reno, NV: University of Nevada Press, 2002.
* Faragher, John Mack, ed. ''Rereading Frederick Jackson Turner: The Significance of the Frontier in American History and Other Essays.'' New York: Holt, 1994. 
* Frantz, Joe B. ''Aspects of the American West: Three Essays.'' College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1976.
* Gressley, Gene.  "Whither Western American History? Speculations on a Direction," ''Pacific Historical Review'' 53, no. 4 (1984): 483–501.
* Malone, Michael P. "Beyond the Last Frontier: Toward a New Approach to Western American History." ''The Western Historical Quarterly'' 20, no. 4 (1989): 409–27.
* Malone, Michael P., ed. ''Historians and the American West.'' Lincoln:  University of Nebraska Press, 1983.
* Nash, Gerald D.  ''Creating the West: Historical Interpretations, 1890–1990.''  Albuquerque:  University of New Mexico Press, 1991.
* Nash, Gerald D., and Richard W. Etulain. ''The Twentieth-Century West:  Historical Interpretations.'' Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1989.
* Norris Jr., Hundley, and John A. Schutz, ed. ''The American West: Frontier and Region--Interpretations by John Walton Caughey.'' Los Angeles, CA: Ward Ritchie Press, 1969.
* Pomeroy, Earl. "Toward a Reorientation of Western History: Continuity and Environment." ''The Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' 41, no. 4 (1955): 579–600. 
* Prince, Gregory A.  ''Leonard Arrington and the Writing of Mormon History.''  Salt Lake City:  University of Utah Press, 2016.
* Rensink, Brenden W., ed. ''The North American West in the Twenty-First Century.'' Lincoln:  University of Nebraska Press, 2022.
* Ridge, Martin. "The Life of an Idea: The Significance of Frederick Jackson Turner’s Frontier Thesis." ''Montana: The Magazine of Western History'' 41, no. 1 (1991): 2–13. 
* Sonnichsen, C. L. ''The Ambidextrous Historian: Historical Writers and Writing in the American West.'' Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1981.
* Stegner, Wallace and Richard W. Etulain. ''Stegner: Conversations on History and Literature.'' Salt Lake City:  University of Utah Press, 1983. 
{{Refend}}

===Labor===
{{Refbegin}}
* Andrews, Thomas G. ''Killing for Coal:  America’s Deadliest Labor War.''  Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008.
* Brykit, James W. ''Forging the Copper Collar: Arizona's Labor-Management War of 1901-1921.''  Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 1982.
* Lukas, J. Anthony. ''Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America.'' New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997.
* Schwantes, Carlos Arnaldo. ''Radical Heritage: Labor, Socialism, and Reform in Washington and British Columbia, 1885-1917.''  Seattle:  University of Washington Press, 1979.
{{Refend}}

===Military history===
{{Refbegin}}
* Amundson, Michael A. ''Yellowcake Towns : Uranium Mining Communities in the American West.'' Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2002.
* Bolton, Roger E. ''Defense Purchases and Regional Growth.'' Washington, D.C. 1966.
* Brilliant, Mark and David M. Kennedy, eds. ''World War II and the West It Wrought.''  Redwood City, CA:  Stanford University Press. 2020. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/1503611574/ excerpt]
* Clayton, James L. "Impact of the Cold War on the Economies of California and Utah." ''Pacific Historical Review,'' 36 (1967): 449–473. 
* Fernlund, Kevin J., ed. ''The Cold War American West, 1945–1989.'' Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998.
* Findlay, John M. and Hevley, Bruce W. ''Atomic Frontier Days : Hanford and the American West.'' Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest in Association with Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011.
* Heefner, Gretchen. ''The Missile Next Door: The Minuteman in the American Heartland.'' Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012.
* Hevly, Bruce W. and John M. Findlay, ed. ''The Atomic West.'' Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998.
* Hull, McAllister, with Amy Bianco. ''Rider of the Pale Horse: A Memoir of Los Alamos and Beyond.'' Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005. 
* Hunner, Jon. ''J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Cold War, and the Atomic West.'' Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009.
* Larson, T.A. ''Wyoming's War Years, 1941–1945.'' Laramie:  University of Wyoming, 1954.
* Lotchin, Roger. ''Japanese American Relocation in World War II: A Reconsideration.'' Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
* Lotchin, Roger W. "The Metropolitan-Military Complex in Comparative Perspective: San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego, 1919–1941." ''Journal of the West,'' 20 (July 1979): 19–30.
* Martini, Edwin A. ''Proving Grounds: Militarized Landscapes, Weapons Testing, and the Environmental Impact of U.S. Bases.'' Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2015.
* Nash, Gerald D. ''The American West Transformed: The Impact of the Second World War.'' Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985.
* Nash, Gerald D. ''World War II and the West: Reshaping the Economy.'' Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 1990.
* Rosier, Paul C. "'They Are Ancestral Homelands': Race, Place, and Politics in Cold War Native America, 1945-1961." ''The Journal of American History'' 92, no. 4 (2006): 1300–26.
* Szasz, Ferenc Morton. ''The Day the Sun Rose Twice: The Story of the Trinity Site Nuclear Explosion, July 16, 1945.'' Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984.
{{Refend}}

===Mythic West===
{{Refbegin}}
* Athearn, Robert G.''The Mythic West in Twentieth-Century America.''  Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1986.
* Etulain, Richard W. ''Re-Imagining the Modern American West: A Century of Fiction, History, and Art.'' Tucson: University of Arizona Press. 1996.
* Gibson, Arrell M. ''The Santa Fe and Taos Colonies: Age of the Muses, 1900–1942.''  Norman: University of New Mexico Press, 1988.
* Lehan, Richard. ''Quest West: American Intellectual and Cultural Transformations.'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2014.
* Savage Jr., William W. ''The Cowboy Hero: His Image in American History and Culture.''  Norman:  University of Oklahoma Press, 1979.
{{Refend}}

===Native Americans===
{{Refbegin}}
* Brown, Dee.  ''Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West.''  New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970.
* Debo, Angie. ''And Still the Waters Run: The Betrayal of the Five Civilized Tribes.''  Princeton, NJ:  University of Princeton Press, 1968.
* Deloria Jr. Vine, and Clifford M. Lytle.  ''American Indians, American Justice.''  Austin:  University of Texas Press, 1983.
* Fixico, Donald L. ''Termination and Relocation: Federal Indian Policy, 1945–1960.''  Albuquerque:  University of New Mexico Press, 1986.
* Iverson, Peter. ''When Indians Became Cowboys: Native Peoples and Cattle Ranching in the American West.'' Norman:  University of Oklahoma Press, 1994. 
* Parman, Donald Lee.  ''Indians and the American West in the Twentieth Century.''  Bloomington:  Indiana University Press, 1994.
{{Refend}}

===Politics===
{{Refbegin}}
* Danbom, David B. ''Bridging the Distance: Common Issues of the Rural West.'' Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2015.
* {{cite book | last=Everett | first= Derek R. | title=Creating the American West: Boundaries and Borderlands | location=Norman | publisher=University of Oklahoma Press | year=2014 | isbn=978-0-8061-4614-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8WmAwAAQBAJ}} 
* Fernlund, Kevin J. ''Lyndon B. Johnson and Modern America.'' Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009.
* Iverson, Peter.  ''Barry Goldwater: Native Arizonan.'' Norman:  University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.
* Lowitt, Richard. ''The New Deal and the West.'' Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984 [https://archive.org/details/newdealwest0000lowi/page/n7/mode/2up online]
* Rothman, Hal K. ''LBJ's Texas White House: 'Our Heart's Home.''' College Station:  Texas A&M University Press, 2001.
* Smith, Thomas G.  ''Stewart L. Udall: Steward of the Land.''  Albuquerque:  University of New Mexico Press, 2017.
* Stratton, David H. ''Tempest Over Teapot Dome: The Story of Albert B. Fall.'' Norman:  University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.
* Young, Nancy Beck.  ''Two Suns of the Southwest:  Lyndon Johnson, Barry Goldwater, and the 1964 Battle between Liberalism and Conservatism.''  Lawrence:  University Press of Kansas, 2019. 
{{Refend}}

===References===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book | last1=Beck | first1=Warren A. | last2=Haase | first2=Ynez D. | title=Historical Atlas of the American West | location=Norman | publisher=University of Oklahoma Press | year=1989 | isbn=978-0-8061-2456-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8F1eGSL6_lwC}}
* Lamar, Howard. ''The New Encyclopedia of the American West.'' New Haven, CT:  Yale University Press, 1998.
* Newark, Peter. ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Old West.''  Reprint, New York:  Gallery Books, 1985. 
* {{cite book | last1=Phillips | first1=Charles | last2=Axelrod | first2=Alan | title=Encyclopedia of the American West | publisher=Simon & Schuster/Macmillan | issue=v. 2 | year=1996 | isbn=978-0-02-897497-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4MNXAAAAYAAJ}}
* Witschi, Nicolas S., ed. ''A Companion to the Literature and Culture of the American West.'' Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011.
{{Refend}}

===Religion===
{{Refbegin}}
* Avella, Steven M.  "Catholicism in the Twentieth-Century American West:  The Next Frontier."  ''The Catholic Historical Review'' 97, no. 2 (2011): 219–49.
* Stegner, Wallace. ''Mormon Country.''  New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1942.  
{{Refend}}

===Tourism===
{{Refbegin}}
* Barber, Alicia.  ''Reno’s Big Gamble: Image and Reputation in the Biggest Little City.''  Lawrence:  University Press of Kansas.  2008. 
* Cottam, Erica.  ''Hubbell Trading Post: Trade, Tourism, and the Navajo Southwest.'' Norman:  University of Oklahoma Press, 2015.
* McCormack, Kara L. ''Imagining Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die.'' Lawrence, University Press of Kansas, 2016.
* Pomeroy, Earl. ''In Search of the Golden West: The Tourist in Western America.'' New York: Knopf, 1957.
* Rothman, Hal K. ''Devil's Bargains: Tourism and the Twentieth-Century American West.'' Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1998.
* Rugh, Susan Sessions. "Branding Utah: Industrial Tourism in the Postwar American West." ''Western Historical Quarterly'' 37, no. 4 (2006): 445–472.
* Stratton, David H. ''Tucumcari Tonite!: A Story of Railroads, Route 66, and the Waning of a Western Town.''  Albuquerque:  University of New Mexico Press, 2022.
* Wrobel, David.  ''Promised Lands: Promotion, Memory, and the Creation of the American West.''  Lawrence:  University Press of Kansas, 2002.
{{Refend}}

===Urban West===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book | last=Abbott | first=Carl | title=How Cities Won the West: Four Centuries of Urban Change in Western North America | location=Albuquerque | publisher=University of New Mexico Press | year=2008 | isbn=978-0-8263-3312-4}} 
* Cline, Platt.  ''Mountain Town: Flagstaff's First Century.''  Flagstaff, AZ:  Northland Publishing, 1994.
* Davis, Mike. ''City of Quartz: Excavating the Future of Los Angeles.''  New York: Verso, 1990.
* Findlay, John M.  ''Magic Lands: Western Cityscapes and American Culture After 1940.''  Berkeley:  University of California Press, 1992.
* Gómez, Arthur R. ''Quest for the Golden Circle: The Four Corners and the Metropolitan West, 1945-1970.''  Albuquerque:  University of New Mexico, 1994. 
* Leonard, Stephen J., and Thomas J. Noel.  ''Denver: Mining Camp to Metropolis.''  Boulder:  University Press of Colorado, 1990. 
* Luckingham, Bradford. ''The Urban Southwest: A Profile History of Albuquerque, El Paso, Phoenix, and Tucson.'' El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1982.
* Nash, Gerald D. ''The American West in the Twentieth Century – A Short History of an Urban Oasis.'' Hoboken, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1973.
* Rothman, Hal. ''Neon Metropolis:  How Las Vegas Started the Twenty-First Century.''  Oxfordshire, UK: Routledge, 2003.
* Sonnichsen, C.L. ''Tucson: The Life and Times of an American City.''  Norman:  University of Oklahoma Press, 1982.
* Stratten, David H., ed. ''Spokane and the Inland Empire:  An Interior Pacific Northwest Anthology.'' Rev. ed.  Pullman:  Washington State University Press, 2007.
* Wilson, Chris.  ''The Myth of Santa Fe: Creating a Modern Regional Tradition.''  Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1997.
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|auto=yes}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000815063013/http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/codhtml/hawphome.html History of the American West] Photo collection at ''Library of Congress''
* [https://www.archives.gov/research_room/research_topics/american_west/american_west.html Photographs of the American West: 1861–1912] ''US National Archives & Records Administration''
* [http://www.theautry.org/ Institute for the Study of the American West]
* [http://centerwest.org/  Center of the American West]
* [http://www.vlib.us/americanwest/ History: American West], Vlib.us
* [https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/resources/23780 Collection: "Manifest Destiny and the American West"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240515195732/https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/resources/23780 |date=May 15, 2024 }} from the [[University of Michigan Museum of Art]]

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