Birmingham, AL Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Birmingham, Alabama, shaded from 250 ft on the west side to 1,240 ft on the northeast side
Elevation
1,240 ft 380 m1,000 ft 305 m870 ft 265 m620 ft 190 m380 ft 115 m250 ft 80 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
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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.
City area
Fades everything outside the official city limits (US Census).

Elevation Data

Birmingham sits at about 650 ft (200 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
650 ft 200 m
most residents: 550–810 ft
Lowest
250 ft 80 m
on the west side
Highest
1,240 ft 380 m
on the northeast side
Average
650 ft 200 m
all land inside city limits

Birmingham spans about 990 ft of height, so no single spot tells the whole story. The ruler shows where its people live, and where the other numbers you'll see come from.

FigureElevation
Typical
Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower
650 ft200 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the northeast side
1,240 ft380 m
Lowest point
Inside city limits, on the west side
250 ft80 m
Town center
USGS map point for Birmingham
610 ft185 m
Airport (BHM)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways
650 ft198 m
Average of all land650 ft200 m

Elevation profile, west to east

25 mi west to east through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Birmingham, Alabama, shaded from 250 ft on the west side to 1,240 ft on the northeast side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 100 ft (30 m).
Location
City in Jefferson and Shelby counties, Alabama, United States
Population
196,357 2024 est.
Land area
146.9 sq mi + 2.5 sq mi water
Density
1,336 per sq mi
Coordinates
33.5207° N, 86.8025° W
Time zone
Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform region
Valley and Ridge
Drains to
Valley Creek → Black Warrior River → Tombigbee River → Mobile River → Gulf of America
Airport
Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International (BHM) 650 ft
ZIP codes 35
35 ZIP codes35005 35022 35061 35068 35094 35118 35130 35173 35203 35204 35205 35206 35207 35208 35209 35210 35211 35212 35213 35214 35215 35217 35218 35221 35222 35223 35224 35228 35233 35234 35235 35242 35243 35249 35254
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS, FAA

Nearby Places

Nearby towns by typical elevation

  1. Irondale820 ft
  2. Mountain Brook750 ft
  3. Homewood710 ft
  4. Vestavia Hills660 ft
  5. Birmingham650 ft
  6. Forestdale630 ft
  7. Tarrant610 ft
  8. Fairfield590 ft
  9. Fultondale590 ft
  10. McDonald Chapel590 ft
  11. Midfield540 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Cheaha Mountain2,413 ft
  • Dugger Mountain2,130 ft
  • Morton Hill2,070 ft
  • Lassiter Mountain740 ft
  • Irish Hill650 ft
How we measure
  • Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the city limits, at its USGS 3DEP height, weighted by the people who live there. Half of residents live higher, half lower.
  • Lowest, highest, average: USGS 3DEP bare-earth heights on a 1 arc-second (≈100 ft, 30 m) grid, land only, inside the Census city limits (TIGER, Jan 1 2026).
  • Pits: the lowest point is the lowest ground outside closed hollows (quarry floors, mine pits, terrain-model artifacts): any hollow under 0.4 sq mi (1 km²), and any hollow under 2 sq mi (5 km²) whose floor is more than 100 ft (30 m) below its rim; and outside patches below sea level of under 0.4 sq mi (1 km²). The single lowest 3DEP cell, 190 ft at 33.5210° N, 86.8649° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted.
  • Nearby Places: nearby towns and rankings use each town's typical elevation, so every town is compared like for like. Rankings count every city, town, township and census-designated place, including places inside a town. Peaks and hills: the nearest summits with at least 980 ft (300 m) of prominence within 62 mi (100 km), then federal (GNIS) summits within 16 mi (25 km) 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).
  • 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 (FAA airport elevation, 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 (boundaries, 2020 blocks, 2024 population estimates, Gazetteer areas, ZIP code areas); FAA airport data; BTS time zones; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.