Wyoming's climate is semi-arid in some parts and continental in others, making it drier and windier overall than other states, with greater temperature extremes.

[13] The Transcontinental Railroad supplanted the wagon trails in 1867 with a route through southern Wyoming,[14] bringing new settlers and the establishment of founding towns, including the state capital of Cheyenne.

Wyoming's economy is largely based on tourism and the extraction of minerals such as coal, natural gas, oil, and trona.

He was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which was guided by French Canadian Toussaint Charbonneau and his young Shoshone wife, Sacagawea.

[23] Bridger also explored Yellowstone, and filed reports on the region that, like Colter's, were largely regarded at the time as tall tales.

The lower areas in the North and on the eastern plains typically average around 10–12 inches (250–300 mm), making the climate there semi-arid.

Moving away from that point and westwards, the incidence of tornadoes drops dramatically with the west part of the state showing little vulnerability.

Due to surveying inaccuracies during the 19th century, Wyoming's legal border deviates from the true latitude and longitude lines by up to one-half mile (0.80 km) in some spots, especially in the mountainous region along the 45th parallel.

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.

[38] Regions of the state classified as basins contain everything from large geologic formations to sand dunes and vast unpopulated spaces.

[54][failed verification] In 2018, The top countries of origin for Wyoming's immigrants were Mexico, China, Germany, England and Canada.

[69] In 2020, the Public Religion Research Institute determined that about 55% of Wyoming's adult population was Christian, primarily evangelical and mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Mormon.

Non-denominational Protestants had an adherence rate of 40.58 per 1,000 people; these trends reflected the separate 2014 Pew study's varying attendance at religious services.

The main agricultural commodities Wyoming produces include livestock (beef), hay, sugar beets, grain (wheat and barley), and wool.

[79] Tyler Lindholm, a former state legislator, claimed that 500 member-owned limited liability companies built on blockchain had been established and that 17,000 businesses with "crypto" in their name were registered by 2023.

[80][81][82] Wyoming's mineral commodities include coal, natural gas, coalbed methane, crude oil, uranium, and trona.

Wyoming possesses the world's largest known reserve of trona,[91] a mineral used in manufacturing glass, paper, soaps, baking soda, water softeners, and pharmaceuticals.

Inventory 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.

[98] Wyoming state and local governments in fiscal year 2007 collected $2.242 billion in taxes, levies, and royalties from the oil and gas industry.

Interstate 80 crosses the Utah border west of Evanston and runs east through the southern third of the state, passing through Cheyenne before entering Nebraska near Pine Bluffs.

[106][107][108] The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes share the Wind River Indian Reservation in central western Wyoming, near Lander.

[111] 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 Oregon State Office of Degree Authorization predicted in 2007 that in a few years the problem of diploma mills in Wyoming might be resolved.

The executive branch is headed by the governor and includes a secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, and superintendent of public instruction.

[125] On December 10, 1869, John Allen Campbell, the first Governor of the Wyoming Territory, approved the first law in United States history explicitly granting women the right to vote.

Teton, which is composed of affluent resort communities, is reliably Democratic, except in Republican landslides like the 2022 gubernatorial election; Albany, which contains the college town of Laramie, is more competitive.

She served from 1925 to 1927, winning a special election after her husband, William Bradford Ross, unexpectedly died a little more than a year into his term.

However, the Wyoming Cowboys and Cowgirls—particularly the football and basketball teams—are quite popular; their stadiums in Laramie are about 7,200 feet (2,200 m) above sea level, the highest in NCAA Division I.

The Wyoming High School Activities Association also sponsors twelve sports and there are three junior ice hockey teams, all of which are members of the NA3HL.