Highlands, NC Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
4,520 ft 1,380 m4,150 ft 1,265 m3,960 ft 1,210 m3,590 ft 1,095 m3,220 ft 980 m3,030 ft 925 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
Highlands sits at about 3,830 ft (1,170 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.
Typical elevation
3,830 ft 1,170 m
most residents: 3,720–4,050 ft
Lowest
3,030 ft 925 m
on the east side
Highest
4,520 ft 1,380 m
on the south side
Average
3,850 ft 1,175 m
all land inside town limits
Highlands spans about 1,490 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 | 3,830 ft1,170 m |
| Highest point Inside town limits, on the south side | 4,520 ft1,380 m |
| Lowest point Inside town limits, on the east side | 3,030 ft925 m |
| Town center USGS map point for Highlands | 3,830 ft1,165 m |
| Average of all land | 3,850 ft1,175 m |
Elevation profile, west to east
4.0 mi west to east through the town center.
Altitude Effects
What 3,830 ft means day to day, worked out from the typical elevation.
Water boils at
204.9 °F96.0 °C
vs 212 °F at sea level; USDA: food takes longer to cook.
Air pressure
87% of sea level
26.0 inHg (88.1 kPa): each breath holds 13% less air.
Oxygen equivalent
18.2% at sea level
Air is still 21% oxygen, just thinner. Normal at the coast: 20.9%.
Sunburn
+8% more UV
EPA: UV rises about 2% for every 1,000 ft.
Topographic Map
- Location
- Town in Macon and Jackson counties, North Carolina, United States
- Population
- 1,119 2024 est.
- Land area
- 6.3 sq mi + 0.1 sq mi water
- Density
- 179 per sq mi
- Coordinates
- 35.0526° N, 83.1968° 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
- ZIP codes 1
- 28741
⤓ 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
Nearby towns by typical elevation
- Highlands3,830 ft
- Glenville3,660 ft
- Cashiers3,520 ft
- Sky Valley, GA3,220 ft
- Forest Hills2,260 ft
- Mountain City, GA2,250 ft
- Dillard, GA2,160 ft
- Franklin2,110 ft
- Clayton, GA1,970 ft
- Tamassee, SC1,060 ft
- Salem, SC1,030 ft
Rankings by typical elevation
- Towns in North Carolina5th highest of 782
- Towns in Macon Countyhighest of 2
Peaks and hills nearest, by height
- Richland Balsam6,400 ft
- Deadening Knob5,500 ft
- Wine Spring Bald5,460 ft
- Yellow Mountain5,137 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).
- Altitude effects: standard-atmosphere formulas applied to the typical elevation; UV from EPA's rule of thumb (about 2% per 1,000 ft).
- 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); BTS time zones; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.