THE MARION COUNTY LAND BRIEF
Land in the
Monongahela Transition Zone setting.
Marion County has 308.8 square miles of land in West Virginia. 4 mapped landscape regions meet across Marion County: Monongahela Transition Zone, Permian Hills, Uplands and Valleys of Mixed Land Use, among others.
Rounded wooded hills and intervening valleys form an unglaciated plateau landscape. Valley floors contain much of the region's open land, contrasting with its more forested slopes.
Regional context: Western Allegheny Plateau ↗ · Regional mapping across the county footprint
Where the landscape changes
Marion County intersects 4 mapped regional units. The largest mapped shares are:
- Monongahela Transition Zone49.5%
- Permian Hills40.2%
- Uplands and Valleys of Mixed Land Use9.9%
- Forested Hills and Mountains0.3%
Central Appalachians in Marion County
A rugged, deeply cut plateau of sandstone, shale and related rocks supports extensive forest. High hills and low mountains distinguish this Appalachian landscape from smoother neighboring regions.
Read the regional source ↗Finding your parcel within Marion County
The atlas lists 15 cities, towns, townships, and Census communities associated with Marion County, including Fairmont, Pleasant Valley, Mannington. The list includes overlapping geography types and does not divide the county into exclusive service areas.
Marion County by land and water
The Census records 2.73 square miles of water within Marion County, or 0.9% of its total area. That share is close to Marion County’s 0.9%. This is geographic context; waterfront status and usable land must be checked at the parcel.
For scale, Marion County has 744.1 times the land area of nearby Farmington town (0.42 square miles). These areas describe boundaries, not comparable property prices.
The Census boundary meets Harrison County, Monongalia County, Taylor County, Wetzel County within West Virginia. A tract near one of these lines should be matched to the county identifier on its own records.

