Gadsden, AL Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Gadsden, Alabama, shaded from 510 ft on the south side to 1,130 ft on the north side
Elevation
1,130 ft 345 m970 ft 295 m900 ft 275 m740 ft 225 m580 ft 180 m510 ft 155 m
Contours every 200 ft, bold every 1,000 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

Gadsden sits at about 560 ft (170 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
560 ft 170 m
most residents: 530–760 ft
Lowest
510 ft 155 m
on the south side
Highest
1,130 ft 345 m
on the north side
Average
610 ft 185 m
all land inside city limits

Gadsden spans about 620 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
560 ft170 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the north side
1,130 ft345 m
Lowest point
Inside city limits, on the south side
510 ft155 m
Town center
USGS map point for Gadsden
550 ft170 m
Airport (GAD)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways
569 ft173 m
Average of all land610 ft185 m

Elevation profile, south to north

6.5 mi south to north through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Gadsden, Alabama, shaded from 510 ft on the south side to 1,130 ft on the north side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 40 ft (12 m).
Location
City in Etowah County, Alabama, United States
Population
33,086 2024 est.
Land area
37.5 sq mi + 1.2 sq mi water
Density
882 per sq mi
Coordinates
34.0143° N, 86.0066° W
Time zone
Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform region
Valley and Ridge
Drains to
Coosa River → Alabama River → Mobile River → Gulf of America
Airport
Northeast Alabama Regional (GAD) 569 ft
ZIP codes 5
35901 35903 35904 35906 35954
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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, FAA

Nearby Places

Nearby towns by typical elevation

  1. Lookout Mountain800 ft
  2. Ivalee700 ft
  3. Ridgeville680 ft
  4. Reece City630 ft
  5. Hokes Bluff580 ft
  6. Southside560 ft
  7. Attalla560 ft
  8. Tidmore Bend560 ft
  9. Gadsden560 ft
  10. Glencoe560 ft
  11. Rainbow City550 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Cheaha Mountain2,413 ft
  • Dugger Mountain2,130 ft
  • Morton Hill2,070 ft
  • Hensley Mountain1,090 ft
  • Ewing Hill860 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).
  • 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.