Catawba County, NC Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
1,780 ft 545 m1,520 ft 465 m1,400 ft 425 m1,140 ft 345 m880 ft 270 m750 ft 230 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
Catawba County averages about 970 ft (295 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 750 ft on the east side to 1,780 ft on Baker Mountain.
Average elevation
970 ft 295 m
all land inside the county
Highest
1,780 ft 545 m
on Baker Mountain
Lowest
750 ft 230 m
on the east side
Catawba County spans about 1,030 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 | 970 ft295 m |
| Highest point Inside the county, on Baker Mountain (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height) | 1,780 ft545 m |
| Lowest point Inside the county, on the east side | 750 ft230 m |
Elevation profile, west to east
18 mi west to east through Hickory.
Topographic Map
- Location
- County in North Carolina, United States
- Population
- 167,054 2024 est.
- Land area
- 401.4 sq mi + 14.6 sq mi water
- Density
- 416 per sq mi
- Time zone
- Eastern UTC−5 / −4
- Landform region
- Piedmont
- 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
- Caldwell County1,510 ft
- Burke County1,490 ft
- Alexander County1,200 ft
- Catawba County970 ft
- Iredell County900 ft
- Lincoln County880 ft
Rankings by average elevation
- Counties in North Carolina27th highest of 100
- Counties in the United States1,465th highest of 3,151
Peaks and hills highest inside
- Baker Mountain1,780 ft
- Anderson Mountain, Catawba County1,540 ft
- Lynn Mountain1,390 ft
- Brendle Mountain1,330 ft
- Hog Hill1,290 ft
All 11 towns in Catawba County by typical elevation
- Long View1,110 ft
- Hickory1,090 ft
- St. Stephens1,070 ft
- Mountain View1,060 ft
- Conover990 ft
- Brookford960 ft
- Newton960 ft
- Claremont950 ft
- Maiden910 ft
- Catawba890 ft
- Lake Norman of Catawba810 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.
- Pits: the lowest point is the lowest ground outside closed hollows (quarry floors, mine pits, terrain-model artifacts): any hollow under 0.4 sq mi (1 km²), and any hollow under 2 sq mi (5 km²) whose floor is more than 100 ft (30 m) below its rim; and outside patches below sea level of under 0.4 sq mi (1 km²). The single lowest 3DEP cell, 700 ft at 35.7171° N, 81.3010° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted.
- 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.