Essex, MD Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Essex, Maryland, shaded from sea level level on the Back River to 110 ft on the northeast side
Elevation
110 ft 30 m79 ft 24 m66 ft 20 m40 ft 12 m13 ft 4 m0 ft 0 m
Contours every 100 ft, bold every 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.
Area
Fades everything outside the official CDP boundary (US Census).

Elevation Data

Essex sits at about 22 ft (7 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
22 ft 7 m
most residents: 10–48 ft
Lowest
0 ft 0 m
at sea level on the Back River
Highest
110 ft 30 m
on the northeast side
Average
25 ft 8 m
all land inside the CDP boundary

Essex spans about 110 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
22 ft7 m
Highest point
Inside the CDP boundary, on the northeast side
110 ft30 m
Lowest point
Where the land meets the Back River
0 ft0 m
Town center
USGS map point for Essex
40 ft12 m
Airport (BWI)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 13 mi southwest of the CDP boundary
143 ft44 m
Average of all land25 ft8 m

Elevation profile, south to north

2.3 mi south to north through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Essex, Maryland, shaded from sea level level on the Back River to 110 ft on the northeast side
CDP boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 10 ft (3 m).
Location
Unincorporated community (census-designated place) in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States
Population
40,505 2020 Census
Land area
9.3 sq mi + 2.8 sq mi water
Density
4,374 per sq mi
Coordinates
39.3093° N, 76.4750° W
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform region
Coastal Plain
Drains to
Atlantic Ocean
Airport
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall (BWI) 143 ft
ZIP codes 1
21221
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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. Parkville360 ft
  2. Carney340 ft
  3. Overlea180 ft
  4. White Marsh150 ft
  5. Rossville110 ft
  6. Rosedale100 ft
  7. Middle River49 ft
  8. Dundalk24 ft
  9. Essex22 ft
  10. Bowleys Quarters13 ft
  11. Edgemere12 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Quirauk Mountain2,140 ft
  • Lawyers Hill270 ft
  • Eagle Hill160 ft
  • Federal Hill, Baltimore city82 ft
How we measure
  • Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the CDP boundary, 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 CDP boundary (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, −1 ft at 39.3038° N, 76.4535° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted; this coastal land's lowest point is sea level on the coast.
  • 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.
  • Essex is an unincorporated community; figures cover the census-designated place, a statistical area.
  • Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS, Watershed Boundary Dataset and physiographic provinces; U.S. Census Bureau (boundaries, 2020 blocks, Gazetteer areas, ZIP code areas); FAA airport data; BTS time zones; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.