Caldwell County, NC Elevation & Topographic Map

Elevation

5,930 ft 1,805 m4,680 ft 1,425 m4,050 ft 1,235 m2,800 ft 855 m1,560 ft 475 m930 ft 285 m

Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 ft

USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau

⤓ Download this map

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

Caldwell County averages about 1,510 ft (460 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 930 ft on the southeast side to 5,930 ft on Calloway Peak.

Average elevation

1,510 ft 460 m

all land inside the county

Highest

5,930 ft 1,805 m

on Calloway Peak

Lowest

930 ft 285 m

on the southeast side

Caldwell County spans about 5,000 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	1,510 ft460 m
Highest point Inside the county, on Calloway Peak (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height)	5,930 ft1,805 m
Lowest point Inside the county, on the southeast side	930 ft285 m

Elevation profile, south to north

23 mi south to north through Lenoir.

Topographic Map

Location: County in North Carolina, United States
Population: 80,739 2024 est.
Land area: 471.9 sq mi + 2.7 sq mi water
Density: 171 per sq mi
Time zone: Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform regions: Blue Ridge 51%, Piedmont 49%
Drains to: Atlantic Ocean

⤓ 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

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

Avery County3,570 ft
Watauga County3,320 ft
Caldwell County1,510 ft
Wilkes County1,490 ft
Burke County1,490 ft
Alexander County1,200 ft
Catawba County970 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Counties in North Carolina19th highest of 100
Counties in the United States842nd highest of 3,151

Peaks and hills highest inside

Blowing Rock3,770 ft
Chestnut Mountain, Caldwell County3,323 ft
Rocky Knob, Caldwell County3,278 ft
Stone Mountain, Caldwell County2,820 ft
Joe White Mountain2,820 ft

All 11 towns in Caldwell County by typical elevation

Blowing Rock partly3,630 ft
Cajah's Mountain1,290 ft
Cedar Rock1,230 ft
Hudson1,220 ft
Lenoir1,200 ft
Sawmills1,180 ft
Granite Falls1,140 ft
Gamewell1,120 ft
Hickory partly1,090 ft
Rhodhiss partly1,070 ft
Northlakes1,020 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.