Columbus County, NC Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Columbus County, North Carolina, shaded from 1 ft on the east side to 140 ft on the northwest side
Elevation
140 ft 45 m110 ft 35 m89 ft 27 m54 ft 16 m19 ft 6 m1 ft 0 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

Columbus County averages about 68 ft (21 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 1 ft on the east side to 140 ft on the northwest side.

Average elevation
68 ft 21 m
all land inside the county
Highest
140 ft 45 m
on the northwest side
Lowest
1 ft 0 m
on the east side

Columbus County spans about 139 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 land68 ft21 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the northwest side
140 ft45 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the east side
1 ft0 m

Elevation profile, west to east

49 mi west to east through Whiteville.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Columbus County, North Carolina, shaded from 1 ft on the east side to 140 ft on the northwest side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 10 ft (3 m).
Location
County in North Carolina, United States
Population
50,054 2024 est.
Land area
938.1 sq mi + 16.9 sq mi water
Density
53 per sq mi
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform region
Coastal Plain
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

  1. Robeson County140 ft
  2. Bladen County83 ft
  3. Columbus County68 ft
  4. Horry County, SC47 ft
  5. Brunswick County39 ft
  6. Pender County35 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Lynn Hill119 ft
All 14 towns in Columbus County by typical elevation
  1. Chadbourn100 ft
  2. Tabor City100 ft
  3. Evergreen99 ft
  4. Cerro Gordo93 ft
  5. Brunswick92 ft
  6. Boardman85 ft
  7. Whiteville77 ft
  8. Fair Bluff67 ft
  9. Bolton61 ft
  10. Hallsboro57 ft
  11. Lake Waccamaw56 ft
  12. Sandyfield49 ft
  13. Riegelwood45 ft
  14. Delco45 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. 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.