Surf City, NC Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Surf City, North Carolina, shaded from −4 ft on the north side to 69 ft on the northwest side
Elevation
69 ft 21 m50 ft 15 m41 ft 13 m23 ft 7 m5 ft 2 m−4 ft −1 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.
Town area
Fades everything outside the official town limits (US Census).

Elevation Data

Surf City sits at about 10 ft (3 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
10 ft 3 m
most residents: −1–31 ft
Lowest
−4 ft −1 m
on the north side
Highest
69 ft 21 m
on the northwest side
Average
15 ft 5 m
all land inside town limits

Surf City spans about 73 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.

About 22% of residents live below sea level.

26% of Surf City's land lies below the average daily high tide (MHHW, NOAA), and 18% lies less than 3 ft above it. Check flood zones on FEMA's map

FigureElevation
Typical
Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower
10 ft3 m
Highest point
Inside town limits, on the northwest side
69 ft21 m
Lowest point
Inside town limits, on the north side
−4 ft−1 m
Town center
USGS map point for Surf City
5 ft1 m
Average of all land15 ft5 m

Elevation profile, south to north

2.2 mi south to north through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Surf City, North Carolina, shaded from −4 ft on the north side to 69 ft on the northwest side
Town limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 10 ft (3 m).
Location
Town in Pender and Onslow counties, North Carolina, United States
Population
4,961 2024 est.
Land area
7.7 sq mi + 2.3 sq mi water
Density
647 per sq mi
Coordinates
34.4271° N, 77.5461° W
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform region
Coastal Plain
Drains to
Atlantic Ocean
ZIP codes 2
28443 28445
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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

Nearby Places

Nearby towns by typical elevation

  1. Holly Ridge46 ft
  2. Dixon40 ft
  3. Verona36 ft
  4. Hampstead27 ft
  5. Folkstone26 ft
  6. Porters Neck24 ft
  7. Sneads Ferry19 ft
  8. Bayshore17 ft
  9. Surf City10 ft
  10. Topsail Beach7 ft
  11. North Topsail Beach0 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Pine Island34 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); BTS time zones; NOAA tidal surfaces (MHHW). All public domain.