Mitchell County, NC Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
6,280 ft 1,915 m5,150 ft 1,570 m4,580 ft 1,395 m3,450 ft 1,050 m2,320 ft 710 m1,760 ft 535 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
Mitchell County averages about 3,210 ft (975 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 1,760 ft on the northwest side to 6,280 ft on Roan Mountain.
Average elevation
3,210 ft 975 m
all land inside the county
Highest
6,280 ft 1,915 m
on Roan Mountain
Lowest
1,760 ft 535 m
on the northwest side
Mitchell County spans about 4,520 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 | 3,210 ft975 m |
| Highest point Inside the county, on Roan Mountain (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height) | 6,280 ft1,915 m |
| Lowest point Inside the county, on the northwest side | 1,760 ft535 m |
Elevation profile, south to north
14 mi south to north through Spruce Pine.
Topographic Map
- Location
- County in North Carolina, United States
- Population
- 15,030 2024 est.
- Land area
- 221.3 sq mi + 0.6 sq mi water
- Density
- 68 per sq mi
- Time zone
- Eastern UTC−5 / −4
- Landform region
- Blue Ridge
- Drains to
- Gulf of America
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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
- Unicoi County, TN2,750 ft
- Carter County, TN2,670 ft
- McDowell County1,860 ft
Rankings by average elevation
- Counties in North Carolina7th highest of 100
- Counties in the United States347th highest of 3,151
Peaks and hills highest inside
- Roan Mountain6,280 ft
- Round Bald5,830 ft
- Hawk Mountain, Mitchell County5,440 ft
- Big Bald, Mitchell County5,290 ft
- Fork Mountain, Mitchell County5,120 ft
All 2 towns in Mitchell County by typical elevation
- Spruce Pine2,660 ft
- Bakersville2,550 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.