Shelby County, AL Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Shelby County, Alabama, shaded from 240 ft on the west side to 1,573 ft on Signal Mountain
Elevation
1,570 ft 480 m1,240 ft 380 m1,070 ft 325 m740 ft 225 m410 ft 125 m240 ft 75 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.
County area
Fades everything outside the official county boundary (US Census).

Elevation Data

Shelby County averages about 560 ft (170 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 240 ft on the west side to 1,573 ft on Signal Mountain.

Average elevation
560 ft 170 m
all land inside the county
Highest
1,573 ft 479 m
on Signal Mountain
Lowest
240 ft 75 m
on the west side

Shelby County spans about 1,330 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.

FigureElevation
Average of all land560 ft170 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on Signal Mountain (NGS survey height)
1,573 ft479 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the west side
240 ft75 m

Elevation profile, west to east

34 mi west to east through Alabaster.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Shelby County, Alabama, shaded from 240 ft on the west side to 1,573 ft on Signal Mountain
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 100 ft (30 m).
Location
County in Alabama, United States
Population
235,969 2024 est.
Land area
785.5 sq mi + 24.0 sq mi water
Density
300 per sq mi
Time zone
Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform regions
Valley and Ridge 84%, Piedmont 16%
Drains to
Gulf of America
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

  1. St. Clair County690 ft
  2. Coosa County640 ft
  3. Talladega County620 ft
  4. Jefferson County580 ft
  5. Shelby County560 ft
  6. Chilton County530 ft
  7. Bibb County410 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Signal Mountain1,573 ft
  • Sand Mountain, Shelby County1,530 ft
  • Double Oak Mountain1,500 ft
  • Baker Point1,300 ft
  • Higdon Point1,240 ft
All 28 towns in Shelby County by typical elevation
  1. Shoal Creek840 ft
  2. Highland Lakes840 ft
  3. Eagle Point770 ft
  4. Dunnavant720 ft
  5. Pea Ridge700 ft
  6. Leeds partly670 ft
  7. Vestavia Hills partly660 ft
  8. Birmingham partly650 ft
  9. Hoover partly610 ft
  10. Meadowbrook590 ft
  11. Brook Highland580 ft
  12. Columbiana570 ft
  13. Chelsea560 ft
  14. Calera560 ft
  15. Indian Springs Village550 ft
  16. Vandiver550 ft
  17. Sterrett540 ft
  18. Alabaster530 ft
  19. Pelham520 ft
  20. Westover500 ft
  21. Shelby490 ft
  22. Brantleyville490 ft
  23. Helena480 ft
  24. Vincent470 ft
  25. Montevallo460 ft
  26. Harpersville460 ft
  27. Wilsonville430 ft
  28. Wilton430 ft
How we measure
  • Average: every USGS 3DEP bare-earth cell of land inside the Census county boundary (TIGER/Line, 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.
  • 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, 150 ft at 33.2207° N, 86.8187° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted.
  • Nearby Places: neighboring counties 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 county 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 county.
  • 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, 2024 population estimates, county adjacency); NOAA NGS survey heights; BTS time zones. All public domain.