Beech Mountain, NC Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
5,510 ft 1,680 m4,900 ft 1,495 m4,600 ft 1,405 m4,000 ft 1,220 m3,400 ft 1,035 m3,100 ft 945 m
Contours every 100 ft, bold every 500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
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.
- Town area
- Fades everything outside the official town limits (US Census).
Elevation Data
Beech Mountain sits at about 4,480 ft (1,365 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.
Typical elevation
4,480 ft 1,365 m
most residents: 3,930–4,870 ft
Lowest
3,100 ft 945 m
on the northwest side
Highest
5,506 ft 1,678 m
on Beech Mountain
Average
4,200 ft 1,280 m
all land inside town limits
Beech Mountain spans about 2,410 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.
| Figure | Elevation |
|---|---|
| Typical Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower | 4,480 ft1,365 m |
| Highest point Inside town limits, on Beech Mountain | 5,506 ft1,678 m |
| Lowest point Inside town limits, on the northwest side | 3,100 ft945 m |
| Town center USGS map point for Beech Mountain | 4,240 ft1,295 m |
| Average of all land | 4,200 ft1,280 m |
Elevation profile, south to north
2.4 mi south to north through the town center.
Altitude Effects
What 4,480 ft means day to day, worked out from the typical elevation.
Water boils at
203.7 °F95.4 °C
vs 212 °F at sea level; USDA: food takes longer to cook.
Air pressure
85% of sea level
25.4 inHg (86.0 kPa): each breath holds 15% less air.
Oxygen equivalent
17.8% at sea level
Air is still 21% oxygen, just thinner. Normal at the coast: 20.9%.
Sunburn
+9% more UV
EPA: UV rises about 2% for every 1,000 ft.
Topographic Map
- Location
- Town in Watauga and Avery counties, North Carolina, United States
- Population
- 658 2024 est.
- Land area
- 6.5 sq mi
- Density
- 102 per sq mi
- Coordinates
- 36.2110° N, 81.8890° W
- Time zone
- Eastern UTC−5 / −4
- Landform region
- Blue Ridge
- Drains to
- Holston River → Tennessee River → Ohio River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
- ZIP codes 1
- 28604
⤓ Download this map
WebP, 1200 × 900. Free to use: credit “ElevationOf.com” with a link to this page.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS
Nearby Places
Nearby towns by typical elevation
- Sugar Mountain4,490 ft
- Beech Mountain4,480 ft
- Grandfather Village3,970 ft
- Seven Devils3,960 ft
- Banner Elk3,730 ft
- Linville3,690 ft
- Newland3,620 ft
- Foscoe3,260 ft
- Elk Park3,250 ft
- Valle Crucis3,140 ft
- Cove Creek2,900 ft
Rankings by typical elevation
- Towns in North Carolina2nd highest of 782
- Towns in Watauga Countyhighest of 7
Peaks and hills nearest, by height
- Cloudland Mountain6,210 ft
- Calloway Peak5,930 ft
- Elk Knob5,550 ft
- Beech Mountain5,506 ft
- The Bald4,650 ft
How we measure
- Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the town 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 town 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).
- Altitude effects: standard-atmosphere formulas applied to the typical elevation; UV from EPA's rule of thumb (about 2% per 1,000 ft).
- 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); BTS time zones; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.