McDowell County, NC Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
5,650 ft 1,720 m4,480 ft 1,365 m3,890 ft 1,185 m2,720 ft 830 m1,550 ft 475 m970 ft 295 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 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.
- County area
- Fades everything outside the official county boundary (US Census).
Elevation Data
McDowell County averages about 1,860 ft (565 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 970 ft on the southeast side to 5,650 ft on Pinnacle.
Average elevation
1,860 ft 565 m
all land inside the county
Highest
5,650 ft 1,720 m
on Pinnacle
Lowest
970 ft 295 m
on the southeast side
McDowell County spans about 4,680 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.
| Figure | Elevation |
|---|---|
| Average of all land | 1,860 ft565 m |
| Highest point Inside the county, on Pinnacle (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height) | 5,650 ft1,720 m |
| Lowest point Inside the county, on the southeast side | 970 ft295 m |
Elevation profile, west to east
25 mi west to east through Marion.
Topographic Map
- Location
- County in North Carolina, United States
- Population
- 45,269 2024 est.
- Land area
- 440.0 sq mi + 5.4 sq mi water
- Density
- 103 per sq mi
- Time zone
- Eastern UTC−5 / −4
- Landform regions
- Blue Ridge 70%, Piedmont 30%
- 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
- Avery County3,570 ft
- Yancey County3,350 ft
- Mitchell County3,210 ft
- Buncombe County2,690 ft
- McDowell County1,860 ft
- Burke County1,490 ft
- Rutherford County1,120 ft
Rankings by average elevation
- Counties in North Carolina18th highest of 100
- Counties in the United States668th highest of 3,151
Peaks and hills highest inside
- Glass Rock Knob5,650 ft
- Laurel Knob, McDowell County4,300 ft
- Three Knobs, McDowell County4,080 ft
- Laurel Knob, McDowell County4,060 ft
- Hickorynut Mountain3,220 ft
All 5 towns in McDowell County by typical elevation
- Old Fort1,470 ft
- West Marion1,430 ft
- Marion1,410 ft
- Glenwood1,340 ft
- Nebo1,280 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.
- 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.