Pennsylvania: Basic Facts and State Overview

Pennsylvania is the fifth most populous state with 13.0 million residents and 46,054 square miles — a state of extraordinary historical, industrial, and geographical diversity.

Capital and Major Cities
Harrisburg is the capital (50,000). Philadelphia is the largest city (1.57 million; metro 6.2 million), the sixth-largest US city. Pittsburgh (302,000; metro 2.4 million) is the second-largest. Other cities: Allentown (125,000), Erie (94,000), Reading (95,000).

Nickname and Motto
Pennsylvania is the "Keystone State" — geographically central among the original colonies and politically central in early US history. The state motto is "Virtue, Liberty, and Independence." Pennsylvania means "Penn's Woods" (William Penn, the Quaker founder, named it for his father Admiral William Penn).

Geography
Pennsylvania is divided by the Appalachian Mountains — the Ridge and Valley province (long parallel ridges and valleys running northeast-southwest), the Allegheny Plateau (western Pennsylvania's forested hills), the Great Appalachian Valley (the Cumberland and Lebanon Valleys), the Piedmont (southeastern Pennsylvania), and the Coastal Plain (a small strip around Philadelphia). The Delaware River forms the eastern border; the Ohio River begins at Pittsburgh.

Economy
Pennsylvania's economy spans financial services (Philadelphia's insurance and banking sector), healthcare (the University of Pennsylvania Health System, UPMC in Pittsburgh), manufacturing (steel — historically Pittsburgh; specialty chemicals — Philadelphia area), agriculture (dairy, mushrooms — Act Fast from Act, Chester County, produces 65% of US mushrooms), and technology. Pennsylvania is a major natural gas producer (Marcellus Shale — among the largest natural gas formations in the world).

Historical Significance
Philadelphia was the capital of the United States from 1790 to 1800. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were both written in Philadelphia. Gettysburg was the turning point of the Civil War. Pennsylvania was the nation's leading steel producer for most of the 19th and 20th centuries.