Buncombe County, NC Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Buncombe County, North Carolina, shaded from 1,320 ft on the east side to 6,370 ft on the northeast side
Elevation
6,370 ft 1,940 m5,110 ft 1,555 m4,480 ft 1,365 m3,210 ft 980 m1,950 ft 595 m1,320 ft 405 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

Buncombe County averages about 2,690 ft (820 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 1,320 ft on the east side to 6,370 ft on the northeast side.

Average elevation
2,690 ft 820 m
all land inside the county
Highest
6,370 ft 1,940 m
on the northeast side
Lowest
1,320 ft 405 m
on the east side

Buncombe County spans about 5,050 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 land2,690 ft820 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the northeast side
6,370 ft1,940 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the east side
1,320 ft405 m

Elevation profile, west to east

29 mi west to east through Asheville.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Buncombe County, North Carolina, shaded from 1,320 ft on the east side to 6,370 ft on the northeast side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 500 ft (152 m).
Location
County in North Carolina, United States
Population
279,210 2024 est.
Land area
656.5 sq mi + 3.4 sq mi water
Density
425 per sq mi
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform region
Blue Ridge
Drains to
Gulf of America 92%
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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 counties sharing a border, by average

  1. Haywood County3,590 ft
  2. Yancey County3,350 ft
  3. Buncombe County2,690 ft
  4. Madison County2,680 ft
  5. Henderson County2,430 ft
  6. McDowell County1,860 ft
  7. Rutherford County1,120 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Craggy Dome6,050 ft
  • Bullhead Mountain, Buncombe County5,910 ft
  • Mount Pisgah5,700 ft
  • Little Pisgah Mountain4,410 ft
  • Flat Top4,370 ft
All 14 towns in Buncombe County by typical elevation
  1. Montreat2,740 ft
  2. Black Mountain2,410 ft
  3. Fairview, Buncombe County2,370 ft
  4. Barnardsville2,360 ft
  5. Royal Pines2,340 ft
  6. Swannanoa2,300 ft
  7. Avery Creek2,230 ft
  8. Biltmore Forest2,200 ft
  9. Bent Creek2,190 ft
  10. Mills River partly2,190 ft
  11. Weaverville2,160 ft
  12. Asheville2,160 ft
  13. Woodfin2,140 ft
  14. Emma2,130 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. Lowest: the lowest land cell; coastal ground within 3 ft (1 m) of named tidal water counts as sea level.
  • 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.