Sylva, NC Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
2,930 ft 895 m2,700 ft 820 m2,580 ft 785 m2,340 ft 715 m2,110 ft 645 m1,990 ft 605 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
Sylva sits at about 2,140 ft (655 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.
Typical elevation
2,140 ft 655 m
most residents: 2,040–2,270 ft
Lowest
1,990 ft 605 m
on the west side
Highest
2,930 ft 895 m
at the foot of the Great Balsam Mountains
Average
2,190 ft 665 m
all land inside town limits
Sylva spans about 940 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 | 2,140 ft655 m |
| Highest point Inside town limits, at the foot of the Great Balsam Mountains | 2,930 ft895 m |
| Lowest point Inside town limits, on the west side | 1,990 ft605 m |
| Town center USGS map point for Sylva | 2,040 ft620 m |
| Airport (24A) FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 2.4 mi south of the town limits | 2,857 ft871 m |
| Average of all land | 2,190 ft665 m |
| Nearest peak Cowee Bald, 5.9 mi southwest of the town limits | 4,960 ft1,510 m |
Elevation profile, south to north
1.4 mi south to north through the town center.
Topographic Map
- Location
- Town in Jackson County, North Carolina, United States
- Population
- 2,694 2024 est.
- Land area
- 3.0 sq mi
- Density
- 893 per sq mi
- Coordinates
- 35.3737° N, 83.2260° W
- Time zone
- Eastern UTC−5 / −4
- Landform region
- Blue Ridge
- Drains to
- Tuckasegee River → Little Tennessee River → Tennessee River → Ohio River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
- Airport
- Jackson County (24A) 2,857 ft
- ZIP codes 1
- 28779
⤓ Download this map
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
- Glenville3,660 ft
- Maggie Valley2,980 ft
- Waynesville2,750 ft
- Cherokee2,470 ft
- Forest Hills2,260 ft
- Webster2,220 ft
- Cullowhee2,180 ft
- Sylva2,140 ft
- Dillsboro2,050 ft
- Whittier1,950 ft
- Bryson City1,870 ft
Rankings by typical elevation
- Towns in North Carolina63rd highest of 782
- Towns in Jackson County7th highest of 9
Peaks and hills nearest, by height
- Richland Balsam6,400 ft
- Mount Lyn Lowry6,220 ft
- Cataloochee Balsam5,940 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).
- 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.