Franklin, NC Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
2,420 ft 735 m2,310 ft 705 m2,260 ft 690 m2,160 ft 655 m2,050 ft 625 m2,000 ft 610 m
Contours every 100 ft, bold every 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.
- Town area
- Fades everything outside the official town limits (US Census).
Elevation Data
Franklin sits at about 2,110 ft (645 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.
Typical elevation
2,110 ft 645 m
most residents: 2,060–2,160 ft
Lowest
2,000 ft 610 m
on the north side
Highest
2,420 ft 735 m
at the foot of the Cowee Mountains
Average
2,110 ft 645 m
all land inside town limits
Franklin spans about 420 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.
| Figure | Elevation |
|---|---|
| Typical Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower | 2,110 ft645 m |
| Highest point Inside town limits, at the foot of the Cowee Mountains | 2,420 ft735 m |
| Lowest point Inside town limits, on the north side | 2,000 ft610 m |
| Town center USGS map point for Franklin | 2,120 ft645 m |
| Airport (1A5) FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 2.3 mi northwest of the town limits | 2,034 ft620 m |
| Average of all land | 2,110 ft645 m |
| Nearest peak Cowee Bald, 7.8 mi north of the town limits | 4,960 ft1,510 m |
Elevation profile, west to east
3.1 mi west to east through the town center.
Topographic Map
- Location
- Town in Macon County, North Carolina, United States
- Population
- 4,362 2024 est.
- Land area
- 5.0 sq mi + 0.1 sq mi water
- Density
- 876 per sq mi
- Coordinates
- 35.1823° N, 83.3815° W
- Time zone
- Eastern UTC−5 / −4
- Landform region
- Blue Ridge
- Drains to
- Little Tennessee River → Tennessee River → Ohio River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
- Airport
- Macon County (1A5) 2,034 ft
- ZIP codes 1
- 28734
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS, FAA
Nearby Places
Nearby towns by typical elevation
- Highlands3,830 ft
- Glenville3,660 ft
- Cashiers3,520 ft
- Sky Valley, GA3,220 ft
- Forest Hills2,260 ft
- Webster2,220 ft
- Cullowhee2,180 ft
- Dillard, GA2,160 ft
- Sylva2,140 ft
- Franklin2,110 ft
- Dillsboro2,050 ft
Rankings by typical elevation
- Towns in North Carolina69th highest of 782
- Towns in Macon Countylowest of 2
Peaks and hills nearest, by height
- Deadening Knob5,500 ft
- Wine Spring Bald5,460 ft
- Yellow Mountain5,137 ft
- Chunky Gal Mountain4,990 ft
- Cowee Bald4,960 ft
How we measure
- Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the town limits, 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 town limits (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.
- Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS, Watershed Boundary Dataset and physiographic provinces; U.S. Census Bureau (boundaries, 2020 blocks, 2024 population estimates, Gazetteer areas, ZIP code areas); FAA airport data; BTS time zones; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.