Waynesville, NC Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Waynesville, North Carolina, shaded from 2,570 ft on the north side to 4,470 ft at the foot of the Great Balsam Mountains
Elevation
4,470 ft 1,360 m3,990 ft 1,215 m3,750 ft 1,145 m3,280 ft 1,000 m2,810 ft 855 m2,570 ft 785 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

Waynesville sits at about 2,750 ft (835 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
2,750 ft 835 m
most residents: 2,670–2,900 ft
Lowest
2,570 ft 785 m
on the north side
Highest
4,470 ft 1,360 m
at the foot of the Great Balsam Mountains
Average
2,910 ft 885 m
all land inside town limits

Waynesville spans about 1,900 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
2,750 ft835 m
Highest point
Inside town limits, at the foot of the Great Balsam Mountains
4,470 ft1,360 m
Lowest point
Inside town limits, on the north side
2,570 ft785 m
Town center
USGS map point for Waynesville
2,750 ft835 m
Average of all land2,910 ft885 m
Nearest peak
Mount Lyn Lowry, 4.3 mi west of the town limits
6,220 ft1,895 m

Elevation profile, west to east

3.1 mi west to east through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Waynesville, North Carolina, shaded from 2,570 ft on the north side to 4,470 ft at the foot of the Great Balsam Mountains
Town limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 200 ft (61 m).
Location
Town in Haywood County, North Carolina, United States
Population
10,709 2024 est.
Land area
9.0 sq mi
Density
1,189 per sq mi
Coordinates
35.4887° N, 82.9887° W
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform region
Blue Ridge
Drains to
Pigeon River → Tennessee River → Ohio River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
ZIP codes 1
28786
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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. Maggie Valley2,980 ft
  2. Waynesville2,750 ft
  3. West Canton2,710 ft
  4. Lake Junaluska2,690 ft
  5. Canton2,690 ft
  6. Clyde2,570 ft
  7. Forest Hills2,260 ft
  8. Webster2,220 ft
  9. Cullowhee2,180 ft
  10. Sylva2,140 ft
  11. Dillsboro2,050 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Richland Balsam6,400 ft
  • Mount Lyn Lowry6,220 ft
  • Cataloochee Balsam5,940 ft
  • Ratcliff Mountain4,360 ft
  • Utah Mountain4,210 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).
  • Pits: the lowest point is the lowest ground outside closed hollows (quarry floors, mine pits, terrain-model artifacts): any hollow under 0.4 sq mi (1 km²), and any hollow under 2 sq mi (5 km²) whose floor is more than 100 ft (30 m) below its rim; and outside patches below sea level of under 0.4 sq mi (1 km²). The single lowest 3DEP cell, 2,570 ft at 35.5246° N, 82.9854° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted.
  • 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. All public domain.