Kentucky Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Kentucky, shaded from 270 ft on the west side to 4,139 ft on Black Mountain
Elevation
4,140 ft 1,260 m3,170 ft 965 m2,690 ft 820 m1,720 ft 525 m750 ft 230 m270 ft 80 m
Zoom in for contour lines
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.
State area
Fades everything outside the official state boundary (US Census).

Elevation Data

Kentucky averages about 830 ft (255 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 270 ft on the west side to 4,139 ft on Black Mountain.

Average elevation
830 ft 255 m
all land in Kentucky
Highest
4,139 ft 1,262 m
on Black Mountain
Lowest
270 ft 80 m
on the west side

Kentucky spans about 3,870 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 land830 ft255 m
Highest point
In Kentucky, on Black Mountain (NGS survey height)
4,139 ft1,262 m
Lowest point
In Kentucky, on the west side
270 ft80 m

Elevation profile, west to east

203 mi west to east through Louisville/Jefferson County metro government.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Kentucky, shaded from 270 ft on the west side to 4,139 ft on Black Mountain
State boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 500 ft (152 m).
Location
State in the East South Central division of the South region, United States
Population
4,588,372 2024 est.
Land area
39,485.8 sq mi + 920.1 sq mi water
Density
116 per sq mi
Counties
119
Time zones
Eastern UTC−5 / −4, Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform regions
Interior Low Plateaus 65%, Appalachian Plateaus 29%
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

Neighboring states sharing a border, by average

  1. West Virginia1,680 ft
  2. Virginia1,020 ft
  3. Tennessee950 ft
  4. Ohio930 ft
  5. Missouri850 ft
  6. Kentucky830 ft
  7. Indiana740 ft
  8. Illinois630 ft

Rankings by average elevation

  • States in the United States33rd highest of 52

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Black Mountain4,139 ft
  • Potato Hill, Harlan County3,690 ft
  • White Rocks3,380 ft
  • Brush Mountain, Bell County3,360 ft
  • Kitts Knob3,350 ft
All 119 counties by average elevation
  1. Harlan County2,140 ft
  2. Letcher County1,740 ft
  3. Bell County1,690 ft
  4. Leslie County1,480 ft
  5. Knott County1,360 ft
  6. Perry County1,320 ft
  7. Pike County1,320 ft
  8. Knox County1,260 ft
  9. Jackson County1,220 ft
  10. Whitley County1,210 ft
  11. Clay County1,200 ft
  12. McCreary County1,190 ft
  13. Rockcastle County1,160 ft
  14. Laurel County1,160 ft
  15. Magoffin County1,090 ft
  16. Wayne County1,080 ft
  17. Breathitt County1,070 ft
  18. Wolfe County1,070 ft
  19. Menifee County1,070 ft
  20. Lincoln County1,070 ft
  21. Floyd County1,060 ft
  22. Owsley County1,050 ft
  23. Casey County1,020 ft
  24. Pulaski County1,020 ft
  25. Rowan County1,000 ft
  26. Clinton County1,000 ft
  27. Morgan County990 ft
  28. Martin County970 ft
  29. Boyle County970 ft
  30. Lee County960 ft
  31. Garrard County930 ft
  32. Montgomery County930 ft
  33. Elliott County930 ft
  34. Russell County930 ft
  35. Powell County920 ft
  36. Estill County910 ft
  37. Clark County900 ft
  38. Johnson County900 ft
  39. Madison County900 ft
  40. Jessamine County900 ft
  41. Lewis County890 ft
  42. Bourbon County890 ft
  43. Scott County880 ft
  44. Carter County870 ft
  45. Fleming County860 ft
  46. Adair County860 ft
  47. Bath County860 ft
  48. Taylor County860 ft
  49. Nicholas County850 ft
  50. Metcalfe County850 ft
  51. Mercer County840 ft
  52. Mason County840 ft
  53. Monroe County840 ft
  54. Woodford County830 ft
  55. Lawrence County830 ft
  56. Grant County820 ft
  57. Harrison County810 ft
  58. Bracken County800 ft
  59. Marion County790 ft
  60. Shelby County790 ft
  61. Robertson County790 ft
  62. Henry County780 ft
  63. Larue County780 ft
  64. Owen County780 ft
  65. Kenton County780 ft
  66. Anderson County780 ft
  67. Cumberland County770 ft
  68. Washington County770 ft
  69. Greenup County770 ft
  70. Boone County760 ft
  71. Trimble County760 ft
  72. Boyd County740 ft
  73. Franklin County740 ft
  74. Pendleton County740 ft
  75. Barren County740 ft
  76. Oldham County720 ft
  77. Hardin County720 ft
  78. Green County720 ft
  79. Hart County710 ft
  80. Allen County710 ft
  81. Campbell County700 ft
  82. Gallatin County680 ft
  83. Simpson County670 ft
  84. Carroll County670 ft
  85. Spencer County660 ft
  86. Meade County650 ft
  87. Nelson County650 ft
  88. Grayson County640 ft
  89. Edmonson County640 ft
  90. Breckinridge County630 ft
  91. Todd County620 ft
  92. Logan County600 ft
  93. Bullitt County580 ft
  94. Warren County570 ft
  95. Jefferson County570 ft
  96. Christian County570 ft
  97. Butler County510 ft
  98. Hancock County500 ft
  99. Calloway County500 ft
  100. Caldwell County500 ft
  101. Trigg County500 ft
  102. Ohio County480 ft
  103. Crittenden County480 ft
  104. Muhlenberg County480 ft
  105. Graves County470 ft
  106. Lyon County460 ft
  107. Hopkins County440 ft
  108. Livingston County430 ft
  109. Webster County430 ft
  110. Daviess County420 ft
  111. Marshall County420 ft
  112. McLean County410 ft
  113. Henderson County400 ft
  114. Union County400 ft
  115. Carlisle County390 ft
  116. McCracken County380 ft
  117. Ballard County380 ft
  118. Hickman County370 ft
  119. Fulton County340 ft
How we measure
  • Average: every USGS 3DEP bare-earth cell of land inside the Census state boundary (TIGER/Line, Jan 1 2026), weighted equally, on a 6 arc-second (≈610 ft, 185 m) grid, coarsened from 1 arc-second so the whole area fits one run. Land means the boundary minus Census area water (on this grid, water areas of at least half a cell).
  • Highest and lowest: the highest land cell, re-read at 1 arc-second around the 25 highest grid cells; 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, re-read at 1 arc-second around the 25 lowest grid cells; coastal ground within 3 ft (1 m) of named tidal water counts as sea level.
  • Nearby Places: neighboring states 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 state 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).
  • Counties: each one's average on its own grid (1 arc-second, coarser for the largest), the same figure its own page shows.
  • 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.