Clay County, NC Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Clay County, North Carolina, shaded from 1,580 ft on the west side to 5,500 ft on Deadening Knob
Elevation
5,500 ft 1,675 m4,520 ft 1,375 m4,030 ft 1,230 m3,050 ft 930 m2,070 ft 630 m1,580 ft 480 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

Clay County averages about 2,730 ft (830 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 1,580 ft on the west side to 5,500 ft on Deadening Knob.

Average elevation
2,730 ft 830 m
all land inside the county
Highest
5,500 ft 1,676 m
on Deadening Knob
Lowest
1,580 ft 480 m
on the west side

Clay County spans about 3,920 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 land2,730 ft830 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on Deadening Knob (NGS survey height)
5,500 ft1,676 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the west side
1,580 ft480 m

Elevation profile, west to east

23 mi west to east through Hayesville.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Clay County, North Carolina, shaded from 1,580 ft on the west side to 5,500 ft on Deadening Knob
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 200 ft (61 m).
Location
County in North Carolina, United States
Population
12,042 2024 est.
Land area
215.0 sq mi + 5.8 sq mi water
Density
56 per sq mi
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform region
Blue Ridge
Drains to
Gulf of America 88%, Atlantic Ocean 13%
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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. Macon County3,100 ft
  2. Clay County2,730 ft
  3. Towns County, GA2,570 ft
  4. Union County, GA2,370 ft
  5. Rabun County, GA2,310 ft
  6. Cherokee County2,130 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Signal Bald5,270 ft
  • Potrock Bald5,210 ft
  • Big Scaly5,080 ft
  • Matlock Bald5,010 ft
  • Chunky Gal Mountain4,990 ft
The one town in Clay County
  1. Hayesville1,870 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.