Western Pennsylvania

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Western Pennsylvania
Clockwise from top left: Pittsburgh, Erie, Altoona, and Johnstown
Indigenous American villages were located throughout Western Pennsylvania. Kittanning still uses its Indigenous name, while the town of Sawcunk lies on the site of present-day Rochester, Pennsylvania.
Coordinates: 41°03′N 79°03′W / 41.05°N 79.05°W / 41.05; -79.05
Country	United States
Commonwealth	Pennsylvania
Largest city	Pittsburgh
Other cities	List In Region: Altoona Bradford DuBois Erie Franklin Butler Connellsville Washington Uniontown New Castle Johnstown Oil City Sharon
Area
• Total	20,363 sq mi (52,740 km2)
• Land	19,412 sq mi (50,280 km2)
• Water	951 sq mi (2,460 km2)  4.67%
Population  (2020 Census)
• Total	3,753,944
• Density	193.38/sq mi (74.66/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (ET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)

Western Pennsylvania is a region in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania encompassing the western third of the state. Pittsburgh is the region's principal city, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic and cultural center. Erie, Altoona, and Johnstown are its other metropolitan centers. As of the 2010 census, Western Pennsylvania's total population is nearly 4 million.^[1]

Although the Commonwealth does not designate Western Pennsylvania as an official region, since colonial times it has retained a distinct identity not only because of its geographical distance from Philadelphia, the beginning of Pennsylvania settlement, but especially because of its topographical separation from the east by virtue of the Appalachian Mountains, which characterize much of the western region. The strong cultural identity of Western Pennsylvania is reinforced by the state supreme court holding sessions in Pittsburgh, in addition to Harrisburg and Philadelphia.