Cleveland County, NC Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Cleveland County, North Carolina, shaded from 590 ft on the south side to 2,890 ft on Benn Knob
Elevation
2,890 ft 880 m2,310 ft 705 m2,030 ft 620 m1,450 ft 440 m870 ft 265 m590 ft 180 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

Cleveland County averages about 900 ft (275 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 590 ft on the south side to 2,890 ft on Benn Knob.

Average elevation
900 ft 275 m
all land inside the county
Highest
2,890 ft 880 m
on Benn Knob
Lowest
590 ft 180 m
on the south side

Cleveland County spans about 2,300 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 land900 ft275 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on Benn Knob (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height)
2,890 ft880 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the south side
590 ft180 m

Elevation profile, south to north

27 mi south to north through Shelby.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Cleveland County, North Carolina, shaded from 590 ft on the south side to 2,890 ft on Benn Knob
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 100 ft (30 m).
Location
County in North Carolina, United States
Population
102,194 2024 est.
Land area
464.3 sq mi + 3.9 sq mi water
Density
220 per sq mi
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform region
Piedmont
Drains to
Atlantic Ocean
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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. Burke County1,490 ft
  2. Rutherford County1,120 ft
  3. Cleveland County900 ft
  4. Lincoln County880 ft
  5. Gaston County770 ft
  6. Cherokee County, SC690 ft
  7. York County, SC620 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Printers Knob2,890 ft
  • Covington Mountain2,020 ft
  • Paine Mountain1,950 ft
  • Camp Knob1,870 ft
  • No Business Mountain1,800 ft
All 16 towns in Cleveland County by typical elevation
  1. Casar1,060 ft
  2. Polkville1,060 ft
  3. Belwood990 ft
  4. Fallston980 ft
  5. Kings Mountain930 ft
  6. Lattimore920 ft
  7. Kingstown910 ft
  8. Waco900 ft
  9. Mooresboro880 ft
  10. Lawndale880 ft
  11. Patterson Springs860 ft
  12. Grover850 ft
  13. Shelby840 ft
  14. Boiling Springs840 ft
  15. Light Oak810 ft
  16. Earl800 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, 580 ft at 35.1726° N, 81.5168° 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.