Cullowhee, NC Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Cullowhee, North Carolina, shaded from 2,030 ft on the northwest side to 2,810 ft at the foot of the Cowee Mountains
Elevation
2,810 ft 855 m2,610 ft 795 m2,520 ft 765 m2,320 ft 705 m2,120 ft 650 m2,030 ft 620 m
Contours every 100 ft, bold every 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.
Area
Fades everything outside the official CDP boundary (US Census).

Elevation Data

Cullowhee sits at about 2,180 ft (665 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
2,180 ft 665 m
most residents: 2,110–2,460 ft
Lowest
2,030 ft 620 m
on the northwest side
Highest
2,810 ft 855 m
at the foot of the Cowee Mountains
Average
2,220 ft 675 m
all land inside the CDP boundary

Cullowhee spans about 780 ft of height, so no single spot tells the whole story. The ruler shows where its people live, and where the other numbers you'll see come from.

FigureElevation
Typical
Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower
2,180 ft665 m
Highest point
Inside the CDP boundary, at the foot of the Cowee Mountains
2,810 ft855 m
Lowest point
Inside the CDP boundary, on the northwest side
2,030 ft620 m
Town center
USGS map point for Cullowhee
2,120 ft645 m
Airport (24A)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 0.4 mi west of the CDP boundary
2,857 ft871 m
Average of all land2,220 ft675 m
Nearest peak
Cowee Bald, 7.3 mi west of the CDP boundary
4,960 ft1,510 m

Elevation profile, west to east

1.8 mi west to east through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Cullowhee, North Carolina, shaded from 2,030 ft on the northwest side to 2,810 ft at the foot of the Cowee Mountains
CDP boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 100 ft (30 m).
Location
Unincorporated community (census-designated place) in Jackson County, North Carolina, United States
Population
7,682 2020 Census
Land area
3.8 sq mi
Density
2,019 per sq mi
Coordinates
35.3137° N, 83.1765° W
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform region
Blue Ridge
Drains to
Tuckasegee River → Little Tennessee River → Tennessee River → Ohio River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
Airport
Jackson County (24A) 2,857 ft
ZIP codes 1
28723
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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, FAA

Nearby Places

Nearby towns by typical elevation

  1. Glenville3,660 ft
  2. Cashiers3,520 ft
  3. Maggie Valley2,980 ft
  4. Cherokee2,470 ft
  5. Forest Hills2,260 ft
  6. Webster2,220 ft
  7. Cullowhee2,180 ft
  8. Sylva2,140 ft
  9. Franklin2,110 ft
  10. Dillsboro2,050 ft
  11. Whittier1,950 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Richland Balsam6,400 ft
  • Mount Lyn Lowry6,220 ft
  • Cataloochee Balsam5,940 ft
  • Yellow Mountain5,137 ft
  • Cowee Bald4,960 ft
How we measure
  • Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the CDP boundary, at its USGS 3DEP height, weighted by the people who live there. Half of residents live higher, half lower.
  • Lowest, highest, average: USGS 3DEP bare-earth heights on a 1 arc-second (≈100 ft, 30 m) grid, land only, inside the Census CDP boundary (TIGER, Jan 1 2026).
  • Nearby Places: nearby towns and rankings use each town's typical elevation, so every town is compared like for like. Rankings count every city, town, township and census-designated place, including places inside a town. Peaks and hills: the nearest summits with at least 980 ft (300 m) of prominence within 62 mi (100 km), then federal (GNIS) summits within 16 mi (25 km) 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).
  • 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 (FAA airport elevation, 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.
  • Cullowhee is an unincorporated community; figures cover the census-designated place, a statistical area.
  • Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS, Watershed Boundary Dataset and physiographic provinces; U.S. Census Bureau (boundaries, 2020 blocks, Gazetteer areas, ZIP code areas); FAA airport data; BTS time zones; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.