Burke County, NC Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
4,290 ft 1,305 m3,440 ft 1,050 m3,020 ft 920 m2,180 ft 665 m1,330 ft 405 m910 ft 275 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 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.
- County area
- Fades everything outside the official county boundary (US Census).
Elevation Data
Burke County averages about 1,490 ft (455 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 910 ft on the east side to 4,287 ft on Long Arm Mountain.
Average elevation
1,490 ft 455 m
all land inside the county
Highest
4,287 ft 1,307 m
on Long Arm Mountain
Lowest
910 ft 275 m
on the east side
Burke County spans about 3,380 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.
| Figure | Elevation |
|---|---|
| Average of all land | 1,490 ft455 m |
| Highest point Inside the county, on Long Arm Mountain (NGS survey height) | 4,287 ft1,307 m |
| Lowest point Inside the county, on the east side | 910 ft275 m |
Elevation profile, south to north
20 mi south to north through Morganton.
Topographic Map
- Location
- County in North Carolina, United States
- Population
- 88,545 2024 est.
- Land area
- 506.3 sq mi + 8.0 sq mi water
- Density
- 175 per sq mi
- Time zone
- Eastern UTC−5 / −4
- Landform regions
- Piedmont 76%, Blue Ridge 24%
- Drains to
- Atlantic Ocean
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS
Nearby Places
Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average
- Avery County3,570 ft
- McDowell County1,860 ft
- Caldwell County1,510 ft
- Burke County1,490 ft
- Rutherford County1,120 ft
- Catawba County970 ft
- Cleveland County900 ft
- Lincoln County880 ft
Rankings by average elevation
- Counties in North Carolina21st highest of 100
- Counties in the United States864th highest of 3,151
Peaks and hills highest inside
- Long Arm Mountain4,287 ft
- Ball Ground Mountain4,240 ft
- Gingercake Mountain4,150 ft
- Dobson Knob3,705 ft
- Icy Knob2,980 ft
All 12 towns in Burke County by typical elevation
- Connelly Springs1,210 ft
- Drexel1,210 ft
- Valdese1,200 ft
- Rutherford College1,190 ft
- Glen Alpine1,180 ft
- Salem1,180 ft
- Icard1,150 ft
- Morganton1,140 ft
- Hildebran1,130 ft
- Long View partly1,110 ft
- Hickory partly1,090 ft
- Rhodhiss1,070 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; 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; 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.