Shelby, NC Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Shelby, North Carolina, shaded from 640 ft on the southeast side to 970 ft on the northwest side
Elevation
970 ft 295 m890 ft 270 m840 ft 255 m760 ft 230 m680 ft 205 m640 ft 195 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.
City area
Fades everything outside the official city limits (US Census).

Elevation Data

Shelby sits at about 840 ft (255 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
840 ft 255 m
most residents: 770–890 ft
Lowest
640 ft 195 m
on the southeast side
Highest
970 ft 295 m
on the northwest side
Average
830 ft 255 m
all land inside city limits

Shelby spans about 330 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
840 ft255 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the northwest side
970 ft295 m
Lowest point
Inside city limits, on the southeast side
640 ft195 m
Town center
USGS map point for Shelby
860 ft260 m
Airport (EHO)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways
847 ft258 m
Average of all land830 ft255 m

Elevation profile, west to east

6.7 mi west to east through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Shelby, North Carolina, shaded from 640 ft on the southeast side to 970 ft on the northwest side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 20 ft (6 m).
Location
City in Cleveland County, North Carolina, United States
Population
22,778 2024 est.
Land area
22.9 sq mi
Density
996 per sq mi
Coordinates
35.2924° N, 81.5356° W
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform region
Piedmont
Drains to
Broad River → Santee River → Atlantic Ocean
Airport
Shelby-Cleveland County Regional (EHO) 847 ft
ZIP codes 2
28150 28152
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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. Lattimore920 ft
  2. Kingstown910 ft
  3. Waco900 ft
  4. Mooresboro880 ft
  5. Lawndale880 ft
  6. Patterson Springs860 ft
  7. Grover850 ft
  8. Shelby840 ft
  9. Boiling Springs840 ft
  10. Light Oak810 ft
  11. Earl800 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Sugarloaf Mountain3,962 ft
  • Hickorynut Mountain3,220 ft
  • White Oak Mountain3,080 ft
  • Icy Knob2,980 ft
  • Youngs Mountain2,712 ft
How we measure
  • Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the city 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 city 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.