Nearly all Indian inhabitants had left the state before the arrival of European settlers. In the 2000 census, about 3,606 Indians were counted.
The 57,232 blacks in the state in 2000 constituted about 3.2% of the population. The majority lived in industrial centers and coal-mining areas. Only 19,390 West Virginians, or 1.1% of the population, were foreign born in 2000. In 2000, there were 12,279 Hispanics and Latinos, representing 0.7% of the total population. In the same year, there were 9,434 persons of Asian origin. Persons reporting at least one specific ancestry group in 2000 included 176,297 English, 253,388 Germans, 198,473 Irish, and 37,837 Dutch.