Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
name	Wyoming
fullname	State of Wyoming
flag	Flag of Wyoming.svg
flaglink	Flag
seal	Seal of Wyoming.svg
seallink	Seal
map	Map of USA WY.svg
nickname	Equality State (official);Cowboy State; Big Wyoming
motto	Equal Rights
former	Wyoming Territory
capital	Cheyenne
largestmetro	Cheyenne Metro Area
officiallang	English
demonym	Wyomingite
largestcity	capital
governor	Matt Mead (R)
lieutenant governor	Max Maxfield (R)
lieutenant governor alt	Secretary of State
legislature	Wyoming Legislature
upperhouse	Senate
lowerhouse	House of Representatives
senators	Mike Enzi (R) John Barrasso (R)
representative	Cynthia Lummis (R)
postalabbreviation	WY
arearank	10th
totalarea	253,348
totalareaus	97,814
landareaus	97,101
landarea	251,498
waterareaus	714
waterarea	1,851
pcwater	0.7
poprank	50th
2000pop	(2010)563,626
densityrank	49th
2000densityus	5.4
2000density	2.08
admittanceorder	44th
admittancedate	July 10, 1890
timezone	Mountain: UTC-7/-6
latitude	41°N to 45°N
longitude	104°3'W to 111°3'W
widthus	280
width	450
lengthus	360
length	581
highestpoint	Gannett Peak
highestelevus	13,809
highestelev	4,210
meanelevus	6,700
meanelev	2,044
lowestpoint	Belle Fourche River
lowestelevus	3,099
lowestelev	945
isocode	US-WY
website	wyoming.gov }}

Wyoming is a state in the Mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High Plains. Wyoming is the least populous U.S. state, with a U.S. Census population of 563,626 in 2010. This is a 14.1% increase since 2000. It is the tenth largest U.S. state by area. Cheyenne is the capital and the most populous city of Wyoming with a population of nearly 60,000 people within its city proper.

Geography and climate

Location and size

As specified in the designating legislation for the Territory of Wyoming, Wyoming's borders are lines of latitude, 41°N and 45°N, and longitude, 104°3'W and 111°3'W (27° W and 34° W of the Washington Meridian), making the shape of the state a latitude-longitude quadrangle. Wyoming is one of only three states (along with Colorado and Utah) to have borders along only straight latitudinal and longitudinal lines, rather than being defined by natural landmarks. Due to surveying inaccuracies during the 19th century, Wyoming's legal border deviates from the true latitude and longitude lines by up to half of a mile (.8 km) in some spots, especially in the mountainous region along the 45th parallel. Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. It is the tenth largest state in the United States in total area, containing and is made up of 23 counties. From the north border to the south border it is ; and from the east to the west border is at its south end and at the north end.

Mountain ranges

The Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming. The state is a great plateau broken by many mountain ranges. Surface elevations range from the summit of Gannett Peak in the Wind River Mountain Range, at , to the Belle Fourche River valley in the state’s northeast corner, at . In the northwest are the Absaroka, Owl Creek, Gros Ventre, Wind River and the Teton ranges. In the north central are the Big Horn Mountains; in the northeast, the Black Hills; and in the southern region the Laramie, Snowy and Sierra Madre ranges.

The Snowy Range in the south central part of the state is an extension of the Colorado Rockies in both geology and appearance. The Wind River Range in the west central part of the state is remote and includes more than 40 mountain peaks in excess of tall in addition to Gannett Peak, the highest peak in the state. The Big Horn Mountains in the north central portion are somewhat isolated from the bulk of the Rocky Mountains.

The Teton Range in the northwest extends for , part of which is included in Grand Teton National Park. The park includes the Grand Teton, the second highest peak in Wyoming.

The Continental Divide spans north-south across the central portion of the state. Rivers east of the divide drain into the Missouri River Basin and eventually the Gulf of Mexico. They are the North Platte, Wind, Big Horn and the Yellowstone rivers. The Snake River in northwest Wyoming eventually drains into the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean, as does the Green River through the Colorado River Basin.

The continental divide forks in the south central part of the state in an area known as the Great Divide Basin where the waters that flow or precipitate into this area remain there and cannot flow to any ocean. Instead, because of the overall aridity of Wyoming, water in the Great Divide Basin simply sinks into the soil or evaporates.

Several rivers begin or flow through the state, including the Yellowstone River, Bighorn River, Green River, and the Snake River.

Public lands

More than 48% of the land in Wyoming is owned by the U.S. Government, leading Wyoming to rank sixth in the U.S. in total acres and fifth in percentage of a state's land owned by the Federal government. This amounts to about owned and managed by the U.S. Government. The state government owns an additional 6% of all Wyoming lands, or another .

The vast majority of this government land is managed by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service in numerous National Forests, a National Grassland, and a number of vast swaths of public land, in addition to the F.E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne.

In addition, Wyoming contains areas that are under the management of the National Park Service and other agencies. They include:

Parks

Yellowstone National Park

Grand Teton National Park

Recreation areas

Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area (Forest Service-Ashley National Forest)

National monuments

Devils Tower National Monument

Fossil Butte National Monument

National historic trails and sites

California National Historic Trail

Independence Rock (Wyoming)

Fort Laramie National Historic Site

Medicine Wheel National Historic Site

Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail

National Register of Historic Places listings in Wyoming

Oregon National Historic Trail

Pony Express National Historic Trail

National parkways

John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway between Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park

Wildlife refuges and hatcheries

Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge

National Elk Refuge

Jackson National Fish Hatchery

Saratoga National Fish Hatchery

Climate

Wyoming's climate is generally semi-arid and continental (Köppen climate classification ''''BSk''''), and is drier and windier in comparison to most of the United States with greater temperature extremes. Much of this is due to the topography of the state. Summers in Wyoming are warm with July high temperatures averaging between and in most of the state. With increasing elevation, however, this average drops rapidly with locations above averaging around . Summer nights throughout the state are characterized by a rapid cooldown with even the hottest locations averaging in the range at night. In most of the state, most of the precipitation tends to fall in the late spring and early summer. Winters are cold, but are variable with periods of sometimes extreme cold interspersed between generally mild periods, with Chinook winds providing unusually warm temperatures in some locations. Wyoming is a dry state with much of the land receiving less than of rainfall per year. Precipitation depends on elevation with lower areas in the Big Horn Basin averaging (making the area nearly a true desert). The lower areas in the North and on the eastern plains typically average around , making the climate there semi-arid. Some mountain areas do receive a good amount of precipitation, or more, much of it as snow, sometimes or more annually. The states highest recorded temperature is at Basin on July 12, 1900 and the lowest recorded temperature is at Riverside on February 9, 1933.

The climate of any area in Wyoming is largely determined by its latitude, altitude and local topography. When put together, these factors have a lot to do with airflow patterns, temperature variations, precipitation and humidity brought in by the weather systems that migrate eastward. In winter, Wyoming is often beneath the jet stream, or north of it, which accounts for its frequent strong winds, blasts of Arctic air and precipitation, all the necessary ingredients for great snow conditions at Wyoming's northwestern ski areas. In summer, the jet stream retreats northward to Canada, leaving the state's weather mild and pleasant at a time when the majority of Wyoming's visitors choose to arrive. Jackson, located at above sea level and surrounded by mountains, can expect a high temperature in July of . The average is more likely to be . The closest National Weather Station (in Riverton on the other side of the Wind River Mountains at ) reports slightly warmer July weather.

The number of thunderstorm days vary across the state with the southeastern plains of the state having the most days of thunderstorm activity. Thunderstorm activity in the state is highest during the late spring and early summer. The southeastern corner of the state is the most vulnerable part of the state to tornado activity. Moving away from that point and westwards, the incidence of tornadoes drops dramatically with the west part of the state showing little vulnerability. Tornadoes, where they occur, tend to be small and brief, unlike some of those that occur a little further east.

Casper climate: Average maximum and minimum temperatures, and average rainfall.

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Jackson climate: Average maximum and minimum temperatures, and average rainfall.

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History

Several American Indian groups originally inhabited the region now known as Wyoming. The Crow, Arapaho, Lakota, and Shoshone were but a few of the original inhabitants encountered when white explorers first entered the region. What is now southwestern Wyoming became nominally a part of the Spanish, and later Mexican, territory of Alta California, until it was ceded to the United States in 1848 at the end of the Mexican-American War. Although French trappers may have ventured into the northern sections of the state in the late 18th century, John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, first described the region in 1807. At the time, his reports of the Yellowstone area were considered to be fictional. Robert Stuart and a party of five men returning from Astoria discovered South Pass in 1812. The Oregon Trail later followed that route. In 1850, Jim Bridger located what is now known as Bridger Pass, which the Union Pacific Railroad used in 1868—as did Interstate 80, 90 years later. Bridger also explored Yellowstone and filed reports on the region that, like those of Colter, were largely regarded as tall tales at the time.

The region may have acquired the name ''Wyoming'' as early as 1865, when Representative J. M. Ashley of Ohio introduced a bill to Congress to provide a "temporary government for the territory of Wyoming". The name Wyoming derives from the Munsee name ''xwé:wamənk'', meaning "at the big river flat", but also named after the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, made famous by the 1809 poem ''Gertrude of Wyoming'' by Thomas Campbell.

After the Union Pacific Railroad had reached the town of Cheyenne in 1867, the region's population began to grow steadily, and the federal government established the Wyoming Territory on July 25, 1868. Unlike Colorado to the south, Wyoming enjoyed no significant discovery of such celebrated minerals as gold and silver—nor Colorado's consequent boom in population—although South Pass City experienced a short-lived boom after the Carissa Mine began producing gold in 1867. Moreover, some areas, such as between the Sierra Madre Mountains and the Snowy Range near Grand Encampment, produced copper.

Once government sponsored expeditions to the Yellowstone country were undertaken, the previous reports by men like Colter and Bridger were found to be true. This led to the creation of Yellowstone National Park, which became the world's first national park in 1872. Nearly all of Yellowstone National Park lies within the far northwestern borders of Wyoming.

On December 10, 1869, territorial Gov. John Allen Campbell signed a suffrage act into law, which extended the right to vote to women. And in addition to being the first U.S. state to grant suffrage to women, Wyoming was also the home of other firsts for U.S. women in politics. For the first time, women served on a jury in Wyoming (Laramie in 1870). Wyoming had the first female court bailiff (Mary Atkinson, Laramie, in 1870) and the first female justice of the peace in the country (Esther Hobart Morris, South Pass City, in 1870). Wyoming became the first state in the Union to elect a female governor, Nellie Tayloe Ross, who was elected in 1924 and took office in January 1925. Because of rights given to women, Wyoming earned the nickname of "The Equality State".

Wyoming's constitution included women's suffrage and a pioneering article on water rights. The United States admitted Wyoming into the Union as the 44th state on July 10, 1890.

Wyoming was the location of the Johnson County War of 1892, on which the controversial 1980 film ''Heaven's Gate'' was based, which erupted between competing groups of cattle ranchers. The passage of the federal Homestead Act led to an influx of small ranchers. A range war broke out when either or both of the groups chose violent conflict over commercial competition in the use of the public land.

''See: List of counties in Wyoming''

Demographics

Population

The center of population of Wyoming is located in Natrona County.

As of 2005, Wyoming had an estimated population of 509,293, which was an increase of 3,407, or 0.7%, from the prior year and an increase of 15,512, or 3.1%, since the 2000 census. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 12,165 people (that is 33,704 births minus 21,539 deaths) and an increase from net migration of 4,035 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 2,264 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 1,771 people. In 2004, the foreign-born population was 11,000 (2.2%). In 2005, total births in Wyoming numbered 7,231 (Birth Rate of 14.04). Sparsely populated, Wyoming is the least populous (total number of people) state of the United States, and has the second lowest population density, behind Alaska. It is the only state with a lower population than the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.. The largest ancestry groups in Wyoming are: German (26.0%), English (16.0%), Irish (13.3%), American (6.5%), Norwegian (4.3%), and Swedish (3.5%).

Religion

The religious affiliations of the people of Wyoming are shown in the table below:

Christian – 79%

*Protestant – 53%

**Lutheran – 8%

**Baptist – 8%

**Methodist – 6%

**Presbyterian – 4%

**Episcopal – 4%

**Other Protestant or general Protestant – 21%

*Catholic – 16%

*LDS (Mormon) – 11%*

Other Religions – 1%

Non-Religious – 18%

The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the Catholic Church with 80,421; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recorded 47,129; and the Wyoming Southern Baptist Convention counted 17,101.

Economy

According to the 2005 U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis report, Wyoming’s gross state product was $27.4 billion.

As of January 2010, the state's unemployment rate is 7.6%. Components of Wyoming's economy differ significantly from those of other states.

The mineral extraction industry and travel and tourism sector are the main drivers behind Wyoming’s economy. The Federal government owns about 50% of its landmass, while 6% is controlled by the state. Total taxable values of mining production in Wyoming for 2001 was over $6.7 billion. The tourism industry accounts for over $2 billion in revenue for the state.

In 2002, more than six million people visited Wyoming’s national parks and monuments. The key tourist attractions in Wyoming include Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Devils Tower National Monument, Independence Rock (Wyoming) and Fossil Butte National Monument. Each year Yellowstone National Park, the world's first national park, receives three million visitors.

Historically, agriculture has been an important component of Wyoming’s economy. Its overall importance to the performance of Wyoming’s economy has waned. However, agriculture is still an essential part of Wyoming’s culture and lifestyle. The main agricultural commodities produced in Wyoming include livestock (beef), hay, sugar beets, grain (wheat and barley), and wool. More than 91% of land in Wyoming is classified as rural.

Mineral production

Wyoming’s mineral commodities include coal, natural gas, coalbed methane, crude oil, uranium, and trona. Coal: Wyoming produced 395.5 million short tons (358.8 million metric tons) of coal in 2004. The state is the number one producer of coal in the U.S. Wyoming possesses a reserve of 68.7 billion tons (62.3 billion metric tons) of coal. Major coal areas include the Powder River Basin and the Green River Basin Natural gas: Wyoming produced 2,254 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in 2007. The state ranked 2nd nationwide for natural gas production in 2007. The major markets for natural gas include industrial, commercial, and domestic heating.

Coal Bed Methane (CBM): The boom for CBM began in the mid-1990s. CBM is characterized as methane gas that is extracted from Wyoming’s coal bed seams. It is another means of natural gas production. There has been substantial CBM production in the Powder River Basin. In 2002, the CBM production yield was 327.5 billion cubic feet (9.3 km³).

Crude oil: Wyoming produced of crude oil in 2007. The state ranked 5th nationwide in oil production in 2007. Petroleum is most often used as a motor fuel, but it is also utilized in the manufacture of plastics, paints, and synthetic rubber. Trona: Wyoming possesses the largest known reserve of trona in the world Trona is used for manufacturing glass, paper, soaps, baking soda, water softeners, and pharmaceuticals. In 2008 Wyoming produced 46 million short tons (41.7 million metric tons) of trona, 25% of the world's production. Diamonds: The Kelsey Lake Diamond Mine, located in Colorado less than from the Wyoming border, produced gem quality diamonds for several years. The Wyoming craton, which hosts the kimberlite volcanic pipes that were mined, underlies most of Wyoming.

Uranium: Although uranium mining in Wyoming is much less active than it was in previous decades, recent increases in the price of uranium have generated new interest in uranium prospecting and mining.

Taxes

Unlike most other states, Wyoming does not levy an individual or corporate income tax. In addition, Wyoming does not assess any tax on retirement income earned and received from another state. Wyoming has a state sales tax of 4%. Counties have the option of collecting an additional 1% tax for general revenue and a 1% tax for specific purposes, if approved by voters. Food for human consumption is not subject to sales tax. There also is a county lodging tax that varies from 2% to 5%. The state collects a use tax of 5% on items purchased elsewhere and brought into Wyoming. All property tax is based on the assessed value of the property and Wyoming's Department of Revenue's Ad Valorem Tax Division supports, trains, and guides local government agencies in the uniform assessment, valuation and taxation of locally assessed property. "Assessed value" means taxable value; "taxable value" means a percent of the fair market value of property in a particular class. Statutes limit property tax increases. For county revenue, the property tax rate cannot exceed 12 mills (or 1.2%) of assessed value. For cities and towns, the rate is limited to 8 mills (0.8%). With very few exceptions, state law limits the property tax rate for all governmental purposes.

Personal property held for personal use is tax-exempt. Inventory if held for resale, pollution control equipment, cash, accounts receivable, stocks and bonds are also exempt. Other exemptions include property used for religious, educational, charitable, fraternal, benevolent and government purposes and improvements for handicapped access. Minerals are exempt from property tax but companies must pay a gross products tax and a severance tax when produced. Underground mining equipment is tax exempt.

Wyoming does not collect inheritance taxes. Because of the phase-out of the federal estate tax credit, Wyoming's estate tax is not imposed on estates of persons who died in 2005. There is limited estate tax related to federal estate tax collection.

In 2008, the Tax Foundation ranked Wyoming as having the single most "business friendly" tax climate of all 50 states. Wyoming state and local governments in fiscal year 2007 collected $2.242 billion in taxes, levies, and royalties from the oil and gas industry. The state's mineral industry, including oil, gas, trona, and coal provided $1.3 billion in property taxes from 2006 mineral production.

Transportation

The largest airport in Wyoming is Jackson Hole Airport, with over 500 employees. Three interstate highways and thirteen U.S. highways pass through Wyoming. In addition, the state is served by the Wyoming state highway system.

Interstate 25 enters the state south of Cheyenne and runs north, intersecting Interstate 80 in Cheyenne. It passes through Casper and ends at Interstate 90 near Buffalo. Interstate 80 crosses the Utah border west of Evanston and runs east through the southern half of the state, passing through Cheyenne before entering Nebraska near Pine Bluffs. Interstate 90 comes into Wyoming near Parkman and cuts through the northern part of the state. It serves Gillette and enters South Dakota east of Sundance.

The U.S. highways that pass through the state are U.S. Highways 14, 16, 18, 20, 26, 30, 85, 87, 89, 189, 191, 212, and 287.

''See also: List of Wyoming railroads, List of airports in Wyoming, State highways in Wyoming.

Wyoming is one of only two States (the other being South Dakota) in the 48 contiguous states not serviced by Amtrak.

Wind River Indian Reservation

The Wind River Indian Reservation is shared by the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes of Native Americans in the central western portion of the state near Lander. The reservation is home to 2,500 Eastern Shoshone and 5,000 Northern Arapaho.

Chief Washakie established the reservation in 1868 as the result of negotiations with the federal government in the Fort Bridger Treaty. However, the Northern Arapaho were forced onto the Shoshone reservation in 1876 by the federal government after the government failed to provide a promised separate reservation.

Today the Wind River Indian Reservation is jointly owned, with each tribe having a 50% interest in the land, water, and other natural resources. The reservation is a sovereign, self-governed land with two independent governing bodies: the Eastern Shoshone Tribal Government and the Northern Arapaho Tribal Government. The Eastern Shoshone Business Council meets jointly with the Northern Arapaho Business Council as the Joint Business Council to decide matters that affect both tribes. Six elected council members from each tribe serve on the joint council.

State law and government

Wyoming's Constitution established three branches of government: the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

The Wyoming state legislature comprises a House of Representatives with 60 members and a Senate with 30 members.

The executive branch is headed by the governor and includes a secretary of state, auditor, treasurer and superintendent of public instruction. Wyoming does not have a lieutenant governor. Instead the secretary of state stands first in the line of succession.

Wyoming's sparse population warrants it only a single at-large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, and hence only three votes in the Electoral College. Its low population renders Wyoming voters effectively more powerful in presidential elections than those in more populous states. For example, while Montana had a 2000 census population of 902,195 to Wyoming's 493,782, they both have the same number of electoral votes.

Wyoming is an alcoholic beverage control state.

Judicial system

Wyoming's highest court is the Supreme Court of Wyoming, with five justices presiding over appeals from the state's lower courts. Wyoming is unusual in that it does not have an intermediate appellate court, like most states. This is largely attributable to the state's size and correspondingly lower caseload. Appeals from the state district courts go directly to the Wyoming Supreme Court. Wyoming also has state circuit courts (formerly county courts), of limited jurisdiction, which handle certain types of cases, such as civil claims with lower dollar amounts, misdemeanor criminal offenses, and felony arraignments. Circuit court judges also commonly hear small claims cases as well. All state court judges in Wyoming are nominated by the Judicial Nominating Commission and appointed by the Governor. They are then subject to a retention vote by the electorate.

Politics

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Wyoming's political history defies easy classification. The state was the first to grant women the right to vote and to elect a woman governor. While the state elected notable Democrats to federal office in the 60's and 70's, politics have become decidedly more conservative since the 1980s as the Republican party came to dominate the state's congressional delegation. Today, Wyoming is represented in Washington by its two Senators, Mike Enzi and John Barrasso, and its one member of the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis. All three are Republicans. The state has not voted for a Democrat for president since 1964, one of only five times since statehood. At present, there are only two relatively reliably Democratic counties: affluent Teton and college county Albany. In the 2004 presidential election, George W. Bush won his second-largest victory, with 69% of the vote. Former Vice President Dick Cheney is a Wyoming resident and represented the state in Congress from 1979 to 1989.

Republicans are no less dominant at the state level. They have held a majority in the state senate continuously since 1936 and in the state house since 1964. However, Democrats have held the governorship for all but eight years since 1975. Uniquely, Wyoming elected Democrat Nellie Tayloe Ross as the first woman in U.S. history to serve as state governor. She served from 1925 to 1927 after winning a special election after her husband, governor at the time, unexpectedly died.

Counties

The State of Wyoming has 23 counties.

Wyoming Counties Ranked By 2009 Population
! Rank	! County	! Population	! Rank	! County	! Population

In 2005, 52.4% of Wyoming residents lived in one of the five most populous Wyoming counties.

Wyoming license plates contain a number on the left that indicates the county where the vehicle is registered. The county license plate numbers are as follows:

! Number onLicense Plate	! County	! Number onLicense Plate	! County	! Number onLicense Plate	! County
	Natrona		Big Horn		Campbell
	Laramie		Fremont		Crook
	Sheridan		Park		Uinta
	Sweetwater		Lincoln		Washakie
	Albany		Converse		Weston
	Carbon		Niobrara		Teton
	Goshen		Hot Springs		Sublette
	Platte		Johnson

Cities and towns

The State of Wyoming has 98 incorporated municipalities.

{| class=wikitable |+ The 20 Most Populous Wyoming Cities and Towns |- ! Rank ! City ! County ! Population |- | align=center | 1 | City of Cheyenne | Laramie County | align=right | 59,466 |- | align=center | 2 | City of Casper | Natrona County | align=right | 55,316 |- | align=center | 3 | City of Laramie | Albany County | align=right | 30,816 |- | align=center | 4 | City of Gillette | Campbell County | align=right | 29,087 |- | align=center | 5 | City of Rock Springs | Sweetwater County | align=right | 20,905 |- | align=center | 6 | City of Sheridan | Sheridan County | align=right | 17,461 |- | align=center | 7 | City of Green River | Sweetwater County | align=right | 12,149 |- | align=center | 8 | City of Evanston | Uinta County | align=right | 11,781 |- | align=center | 9 | City of Riverton | Fremont County | align=right | 10,032 |- | align=center | 10 | Town of Jackson | Teton County | align=right | 9,806 |- | align=center | 11 | City of Cody | Park County | align=right | 9,309 |- | align=center | 12 | City of Rawlins | Carbon County | align=right | 8,740 |- | align=center | 13 | City of Lander | Fremont County | align=right | 7,264 |- | align=center | 14 | City of Douglas | Converse County | align=right | 5,971 |- | align=center | 15 | City of Powell | Park County | align=right | 5,524 |- | align=center | 16 | City of Torrington | Goshen County | align=right | 5,514 |- | align=center | 17 | City of Worland | Washakie County | align=right | 4,958 |- | align=center | 18 | City of Buffalo | Johnson County | align=right | 4,832 |- | align=center | 19 | Town of Newcastle | Weston County | align=right | 3,390 |- | align=center | 20 | Town of Wheatland | Platte County | align=right | 3,298 |}

In 2005, 50.6% of Wyomingites lived in one of the 13 most populous Wyoming municipalities.

Metropolitan areas

The United States Census Bureau has defined two Metropolitan Statistical Areas and seven Micropolitan Statistical Areas for the State of Wyoming.

{| class=wikitable |+ U.S. Census Bureau Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas of Wyoming |- ! Census Area ! County ! Population |- | Cheyenne, WY, Metropolitan Statistical Area | Laramie County, Wyoming | align=right | 91,738 |- | Casper, WY, Metropolitan Statistical Area | Natrona County, Wyoming | align=right | 75,450 |- | Gillette, WY, Micropolitan Statistical Area | Campbell County, Wyoming | align=right | 46,133 |- | Rock Springs, WY, Micropolitan Statistical Area | Sweetwater County, Wyoming | align=right | 43,806 |- | Riverton, WY, Micropolitan Statistical Area | Fremont County, Wyoming | align=right | 40,123 |- | Laramie, WY, Micropolitan Statistical Area | Albany County, Wyoming | align=right | 36,299 |- | rowspan=3 | Jackson, WY-ID, Micropolitan Statistical Area | Teton County, Wyoming | align=right | 21,294 |- | Teton County, Idaho | align=right | 8,833 |- | align=right| ''Total'' | align=right | 30,127 |- | Sheridan, WY, Micropolitan Statistical Area | Sheridan County, Wyoming | align=right | 29,116 |- | Evanston, WY, Micropolitan Statistical Area | Uinta County, Wyoming | align=right | 21,118 |}

In 2008, 30.4% of Wyomingites lived in either of the Metropolitan Statistical Areas, and 73% lived in either a Metropolitan Statistical Area or a Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Education

Public education is directed by the state superintendent of public instruction, an elected state official. Educational policies are set by the State Board of Education, a nine-member board appointed by the governor. The constitution prohibits the state from establishing curriculum and text book selections; these are the prerogatives of local school boards. The Wyoming School for the Deaf was the only in-state school dedicated to supporting deaf students in Wyoming, but it closed in summer of 2000.

Higher education

Wyoming has one public four-year institution, the University of Wyoming in Laramie. In addition, there are seven two-year community colleges spread through the state.

Before the passing of a new law in 2006, Wyoming had hosted unaccredited institutions, many of them suspected diploma mills. The 2006 law is forcing unaccredited institutions to make one of three choices: move out of Wyoming, close down, or apply for accreditation. The Oregon State Office of Degree Authorization predicts that in a few years the problem of diploma mills in Wyoming might be resolved.

Sports

Casper Ghosts, minor league baseball

Wyoming Cavalry, American Indoor Football Association

University of Wyoming, football, basketball, swimming, diving, soccer, golf, wrestling, tennis, volleyball, track and field

Miscellaneous information

USS ''Wyoming'' was named in honor of this state.

Wyoming was chosen as the official state for the Free State Wyoming project; a splinter of the Free State Project. The purpose of the project is to relocate Libertarians to a single state, making it possible to live a "free life".

In 2008, The first American State Litter Scorecard rated Wyoming a nationally "Best" state for statewide litter/debris eradication from public properties/spaces.

Rooster Teeth's web series Red Vs Blue created a freelancer character bearing the state name.

State symbols

State bird: Western Meadowlark (''Sturnella neglecta'')

State coin: Sacagawea dollar

State dinosaur: Triceratops

State emblem: Bucking Horse and Rider

State fish: Cutthroat Trout (''Oncorhynchus clarki'')

State flag: Flag of the State of Wyoming

State flower: Wyoming Indian paintbrush (''Castilleja linariifolia'')

State fossil: Knightia

State gemstone: Wyoming nephrite jade

State grass: Western Wheatgrass (''Pascopyrum smithii'')

State mammal: American Bison (''Bison bison'')

State motto: ''Equal Rights''

State nicknames: Equality State; Cowboy State; Big Wonderful Wyoming

State reptile: Horned lizard (''Phrynosoma douglassi brevirostre'')

State seal: Great Seal of the State of Wyoming

State soil: Forkwood (unofficial)

State song: ''Wyoming (song)'' by Charles E. Winter & George E. Knapp

State sport: Rodeo

State tree: Plains Cottonwood (''Populus sargentii'')

Notable Wyomingites

John Perry Barlow

John Barrasso

Eli Bebout

Charles Belden

Tom Bell

James Bridger

Cale Case

Dick Cheney

Lynne Cheney

William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody

Barbara Cubin

Lance Deal

Mike Enzi

Matthew Fox

Dave Freudenthal

John Frullo

Rulon Gardner

Jim Geringer

Curt Gowdy

Clifford Hansen

William Henry Harrison

Stanley K. Hathaway

Harold Hellbaum

Edgar Herschler

Tom Horn

Ray Hunkins

Craig Johnson

Ralph S. Johnson

Richard R. "Dick" Jones

Mike Leach

Chris LeDoux

Cynthia Lummis

Randall Luthi

Nate Marquardt

Max Maxfield

Leonard McEwan

Gale W. McGee

Ron Micheli

Esther Hobart Morris

Warren A. Morton

John C. Ostlund

Gordon L. Park

Bryan Pedersen

Jackson Pollock

Annie Proulx

Charles E. Richardson

Nellie Tayloe Ross

William B. Ross

George R. Salisbury, Jr.

Robert Schliske

Joseph Selby

Bryan Sharratt

Matthew Shepard

Larry D. Shippy

Alan K. Simpson

Colin M. Simpson

Milward Simpson

Mike Sullivan

Craig Thomas

Richard V. Thomas

Elton Trowbridge

Thomas E. Trowbridge

Malcolm Wallop

Tom Walsh

Alvin Wiederspahn

Larry Wilcox

See also

List of National Register of Historic Places in Wyoming

List of people from Wyoming

Rocky Mountains

U.S. state

Yellowstone National Park

References

External links

State of Wyoming government official website

Official Wyoming State Travel Website - Forever West

Category:States and territories established in 1890 Category:States of the United States

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Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
name	Bob Schieffer
birthname	Bob Lloyd Schieffer
birth date	February 25, 1937
birth place	Austin, Texas, USA
education	Texas Christian University
occupation	Journalist, Anchor
title	Chief Washington Correspondent; Anchor, "Face the Nation"
spouse	Patricia Penrose Schieffer
relatives	Tom Schieffer
credits	''Face the Nation'' Moderator (1991–present) CBS Evening News 2005-2006
url	http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/11/20/ftn/bios/main530179.shtml CBS News Bio }}

Bob Lloyd Schieffer (; born February 25, 1937) is an American television journalist who has been with CBS News since 1969, serving 23 years as anchor on the Saturday edition of ''CBS Evening News'' from 1973 to 1996; chief Washington correspondent since 1982, moderator of the Sunday public affairs show ''Face the Nation'' since 1991, and, between March 2005 and August 31, 2006, interim weekday anchor of the ''CBS Evening News''.

Schieffer is one of the few journalists to have covered all four of the major Washington national assignments: the White House, the Pentagon, United States Department of State, and United States Congress. His career with CBS has almost exclusively dealt with national politics.

Schieffer is a survivor of grade III bladder cancer; he was diagnosed in 2003 and is currently cancer-free.

On October 13, 2004, he was the moderator of the third presidential debate between President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry in Tempe, Arizona. On October 15, 2008, Schieffer moderated the third presidential debate between Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain.

Youth

Bob Lloyd Schieffer was born on February 25, 1937 in Austin, Texas and grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. He is an alumnus of North Side High School, and Texas Christian University (TCU), where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. The journalism school at TCU was later named after him. After graduating from TCU, he served in the U.S. Air Force as a captain and information officer. He was honorably discharged and joined the ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' as a reporter, with one of his key assignments a trip to Vietnam to profile soldiers from the Fort Worth area. At the ''Star Telegram'' he received his first major journalistic recognition on November 22, 1963. Shortly after President Kennedy was shot in Dallas, while in the ''Star-Telegram'' office, he received a telephone call from a woman in search of a ride to Dallas. The woman was Marguerite Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald's mother, whom he accompanied to the Dallas police station. He then spent the next several hours there pretending to be a detective, enabling him to have access to an office with a phone. In the company of Oswald's mother Marguerite and his wife, Marina, he was able to use the phone to call in dispatches from other ''Star-Telegram'' reporters in the building. This enabled the ''Star Telegram'' to create four "Extra" editions on the day of the assassination. Schieffer later joined WBAP-TV in Fort Worth before taking a job with CBS in 1969.

Broadcasting career

Schieffer was anchor of the Sunday evening news broadcast from 1973 to 1997 and of the Saturday evening news broadcast from 1977 until 1996. Between 1970 and 1974, he was assigned to the Pentagon, from 1974 to 1979 he was CBS's White House correspondent, and in 1982 he became Chief Washington Correspondent in addition to his anchor duties.

In the wake of Dan Rather's controversial retirement, he was named interim anchor for the weekday ''CBS Evening News''. He assumed that job on March 10, 2005, the day following Rather's last broadcast. Under Schieffer, the ''CBS Evening News'' gained about 200,000 viewers, to average 7.7 million viewers, reversing some of the decline in ratings that occurred during Rather's tenure; while "NBC Nightly News" was down by 700,000 viewers, and ABC's ''World News Tonight'' lost 900,000. Some of this was attributed to the Schieffer family's closeness with President George W. Bush; Bush had previously refused to grant an interview to Rather. Schieffer closed the gap with ABC's ''World News Tonight'' when co-anchor Bob Woodruff was injured in late January 2006. He made his last ''CBS Evening News'' broadcast on August 31, 2006, and was replaced in the anchor chair by Katie Couric. On Couric's second broadcast, he returned to provide segments for the evening news as Chief Washington Correspondent.

Awards

Schieffer has won six Emmy Awards, two Sigma Delta Chi Awards, was named Broadcaster of the Year in 2002 by the National Press Foundation, and was named to the Broadcasting/Cable Hall of Fame.

Books

Schieffer has written three books about his career in journalism: ''Face the Nation: My Favorite Stories from the First 50 Years of the Award-Winning News Broadcast'', ''This Just In: What I Couldn't Tell You on TV'', and ''Bob Schieffer's America''. He was a regular guest on the Don Imus morning radio show, until it was taken off the air.

Other interests

Since leaving the anchor desk at CBS Evening News in 2006, Schieffer has entertained his longstanding interest in songwriting by collaborating with musicians in New York and Washington, D.C. His latest efforts have resulted in four songs with the Washington area band Honky Tonk Confidential, all of which appear on their CD, ''Road Kill Stew and Other News (with Special Guest Bob Schieffer)''. Schieffer sings "TV Anchorman" and wrote the lyrics for the others.

Family

Schieffer is the older brother of Tom Schieffer, a friend and former business partner of President George W. Bush, who was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Australia 2001-2005 by President Bush and also served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan from April 2005 through January 2009. On March 2, 2009 Tom Schieffer announced he was forming an exploratory committee that will allow him to seek the Democratic nomination for Governor of Texas.

Schieffer is married to the former Patricia Penrose and has two daughters.

Current status

In his most recent memoir, ''This Just In'', Schieffer credits the fact he had been a beat reporter at CBS for his longevity at the network. He also noted a rare off-camera appearance in the Sunday comics. After fellow CBS newscaster and Texan Dan Rather was switched from the White House beat to hosting the documentary show ''CBS Reports'' in 1974, the ''Doonesbury'' comic strip featured a joking fantasy scene in which Schieffer, his successor, haltingly comments on the transition: "It was the affiliates they just couldn't take him. I mean let's face it, Dan wasn't exactly MR. TACT!. I dunno.... Maybe it's just as well in the long run, I mean, you know? Anyway, this is Robert Schieffer at the White House...." (Schieffer notes that "The strip was right on except for one thing. My real name is Bob, not Robert").

Career timeline

1972–1974: CBS Sunday Night News anchor

1973–1996: 60 Minutes contributor

1973–2005: CBS Evening News anchor (Summer and weekend editions) 1982–March 9, 2005: CBS News Chief Washington correspondent May 1991–present: Face the Nation moderator March 10, 2005–August 31, 2006: CBS Evening News anchor

References

External links

Bob Schieffer School of Journalism Texas Christian University

Bob Schieffer And Bladder Cancer: A Survivor's Story RevolutionHealth.com, July 15, 2008

InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse: Bob Schieffer (TV Interview) Google Videos

Stephen Colbert Interview Comedy Central, March 6, 2006

Biography - Bob Schieffer CBS News

Bob Schieffer Notable Names Database

''Booknotes'' interview with Schieffer and Gary Paul Gates ''The Acting President'', August 13, 1989

Category:1937 births Category:American broadcast news analysts Category:American television news anchors Category:American television reporters and correspondents Category:Cancer survivors Category:Fort Worth Star-Telegram people Category:Living people Category:People from Austin, Texas Category:People from Fort Worth, Texas Category:Texas Christian University alumni Category:United States Air Force officers Category:War correspondents

de:Bob Schieffer id:Bob Schieffer ja:ボブ・シーファー