Blowing Rock, NC Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
3,920 ft 1,195 m3,660 ft 1,115 m3,530 ft 1,075 m3,260 ft 995 m3,000 ft 915 m2,860 ft 875 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
Blowing Rock sits at about 3,630 ft (1,105 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.
Typical elevation
3,630 ft 1,105 m
most residents: 3,510–3,720 ft
Lowest
2,860 ft 875 m
on the south side
Highest
3,920 ft 1,195 m
on the southeast side
Average
3,590 ft 1,095 m
all land inside town limits
Blowing Rock spans about 1,060 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 | 3,630 ft1,105 m |
| Highest point Inside town limits, on the southeast side | 3,920 ft1,195 m |
| Lowest point Inside town limits, on the south side | 2,860 ft875 m |
| Town center USGS map point for Blowing Rock | 3,570 ft1,090 m |
| Average of all land | 3,590 ft1,095 m |
| Nearest peak Calloway Peak, 6.8 mi west of the town limits | 5,930 ft1,805 m |
Elevation profile, south to north
1.6 mi south to north through the town center.
Altitude Effects
What 3,630 ft means day to day, worked out from the typical elevation.
Water boils at
205.3 °F96.3 °C
vs 212 °F at sea level; USDA: food takes longer to cook.
Air pressure
88% of sea level
26.2 inHg (88.7 kPa): each breath holds 12% less air.
Oxygen equivalent
18.3% at sea level
Air is still 21% oxygen, just thinner. Normal at the coast: 20.9%.
Sunburn
+7% more UV
EPA: UV rises about 2% for every 1,000 ft.
Topographic Map
- Location
- Town in Watauga and Caldwell counties, North Carolina, United States
- Population
- 1,336 2024 est.
- Land area
- 3.2 sq mi
- Density
- 411 per sq mi
- Coordinates
- 36.1351° N, 81.6776° W
- Time zone
- Eastern UTC−5 / −4
- Landform region
- Blue Ridge
- Drains to
- South Fork New River → New River → Kanawha River → Ohio River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
- ZIP codes 1
- 28605
⤓ 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
- Blowing Rock3,630 ft
- Foscoe3,260 ft
- Boone3,250 ft
- Valle Crucis3,140 ft
- Cove Creek2,900 ft
Rankings by typical elevation
- Towns in North Carolina9th highest of 782
- Towns in Watauga County3rd highest of 7
Peaks and hills nearest, by height
- Calloway Peak5,930 ft
- Elk Knob5,550 ft
- Beech Mountain5,506 ft
- Bluff Mountain5,080 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.