Qualla Boundary, NC Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
5,470 ft 1,665 m4,480 ft 1,365 m3,980 ft 1,215 m2,990 ft 910 m2,000 ft 610 m1,500 ft 460 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
How to use this mapviews, tools and data
- Elevation
- Ground colored by height from green (lowest) to white (highest), with contour lines every 40–500 ft (USGS data).
- Satellite
- A 2016 satellite photo at 33 ft (10 m) detail; contours off.
- 3D
- Tilt and turn the terrain; hills are raised 1.5×, or set ×1 for true height.
- Click or tap anywhere
- The exact elevation of that spot in ft and m.
- Measure
- Pick two points for the climb, descent and grade along a straight line.
- Area
- Fades everything outside the official reservation boundary (US Census).
Elevation Data
Qualla Boundary averages about 2,870 ft (875 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 1,500 ft on the southwest side to 5,470 ft on Bunches Bald.
Average elevation
2,870 ft 875 m
all land inside the reservation
Highest
5,470 ft 1,665 m
on Bunches Bald
Lowest
1,500 ft 460 m
on the southwest side
Qualla Boundary spans about 3,970 ft of height, so no single spot tells the whole story. The ruler shows where most of its land lies, and where the other numbers you'll see come from.
| Figure | Elevation |
|---|---|
| Average of all land | 2,870 ft875 m |
| Highest point Inside the reservation, on Bunches Bald (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height) | 5,470 ft1,665 m |
| Lowest point Inside the reservation, on the southwest side | 1,500 ft460 m |
Elevation profile, west to east
11 mi west to east through Cherokee.
Topographic Map
- Location
- Reservation, with off-reservation trust land in North Carolina, United States (U.S. Census Bureau)
- Population
- 9,241 2020 Census
- Land area
- 82.8 sq mi
- Density
- 112 per sq mi
- Time zone
- Eastern UTC−5 / −4
- Landform region
- Blue Ridge
- Drains to
- Gulf of America
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WebP, 1200 × 900. Free to use: credit “ElevationOf.com” with a link to this page.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS
Nearby Places
Nearest tribal lands nearest, by average
- Qualla Boundary2,870 ft
- Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee SDTSA, GA1,440 ft
- Cherokee Tribe of Northeast Alabama SDTSA, AL980 ft
- United Cherokee Ani-Yun-Wiya Nation SDTSA, AL730 ft
- Catawba Reservation, SC530 ft
- Beaver Creek SDTSA, SC290 ft
Rankings by average elevation
- Tribal lands in North Carolinahighest of 8
- Tribal lands in the United States121st highest of 704
Peaks and hills highest inside
- Bunches Bald5,470 ft
- Soco Bald5,460 ft
- Barnett Knob4,666 ft
- Mount Noble4,050 ft
- Fox Knob, Swain County3,810 ft
The one town in the reservation
- Cherokee2,470 ft
How we measure
- Average: every USGS 3DEP bare-earth cell of land inside the Census reservation boundary (TIGER/Line AIANNH, Jan 1 2026), weighted equally, on a 1 arc-second (≈100 ft, 30 m) grid. Land means the boundary minus Census area water.
- Highest and lowest: the highest land cell; it is a named summit, so its height is the peak method: the 3DEP top on a ~7 ft (2 m) window, or the NGS published height when a survey mark sits within 160 ft (50 m) of it. Lowest: the lowest land cell; coastal ground within 3 ft (1 m) of named tidal water counts as sea level.
- Name: the Census Bureau's legal or statistical area name, as published; the nation's own name may differ.
- Population: 2020 Census residents of the blocks inside the boundary.
- Nearby Places: nearest tribal lands and rankings use each one's average elevation, on its own grid, the same figure its page shows. Peaks and hills: the highest summits inside the reservation with at least 980 ft (300 m) of prominence, then the highest federal (GNIS) summits inside it when there are fewer than 5; each is the 3DEP top on a ~7 ft (2 m) window, or the NGS published height when a usable survey mark sits within 160 ft (50 m) of it (shown as published).
- Towns: each town's typical elevation (population-weighted median of its own 2020 blocks at 1 arc-second); a town is listed when any of its 2020 residents live in the reservation.
- Rounding: computed heights are rounded to 10 ft (5 m), or to 1 ft (1 m) under 100 ft; 3DEP is good to about a meter, not a foot. Published figures (NGS survey heights) are shown as their publisher gives them.
- Datum: North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88). NGS plans to replace NAVD 88 with a new datum (NAPGD2022); heights will then shift slightly.
- Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS, Watershed Boundary Dataset and physiographic provinces; U.S. Census Bureau (TIGER boundaries and water, 2020 blocks); NOAA NGS survey heights; BTS time zones. All public domain.