South Carolina Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of South Carolina, shaded from sea level on the Atlantic Ocean to 3,550 ft on Sassafras Mountain
Elevation
3,550 ft 1,080 m2,660 ft 810 m2,220 ft 675 m1,330 ft 405 m440 ft 135 m0 ft 0 m
Zoom in for contour lines
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.
State area
Fades everything outside the official state boundary (US Census).

Elevation Data

South Carolina averages about 330 ft (100 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from sea level on the Atlantic Ocean to 3,550 ft on Sassafras Mountain.

Average elevation
330 ft 100 m
all land in South Carolina
Highest
3,550 ft 1,082 m
on Sassafras Mountain
Lowest
0 ft 0 m
at sea level on the Atlantic Ocean

South Carolina spans about 3,550 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.

2% of South Carolina's land lies below the average daily high tide (MHHW, NOAA), and 1% lies less than 3 ft above it. Check flood zones on FEMA's map

FigureElevation
Average of all land330 ft100 m
Highest point
In South Carolina, on Sassafras Mountain (NGS survey height)
3,550 ft1,082 m
Lowest point
Where the land meets the Atlantic Ocean
0 ft0 m

Elevation profile, south to north

153 mi south to north through Charleston.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of South Carolina, shaded from sea level on the Atlantic Ocean to 3,550 ft on Sassafras Mountain
State boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 500 ft (152 m).
Location
State in the South Atlantic division of the South region, United States
Population
5,478,831 2024 est.
Land area
30,064.2 sq mi + 1,959.3 sq mi water
Density
182 per sq mi
Counties
46
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform regions
Coastal Plain 61%, Piedmont 36%
Drains to
Atlantic Ocean
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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

Neighboring states sharing a border, by average

  1. North Carolina770 ft
  2. Georgia510 ft
  3. South Carolina330 ft

Rankings by average elevation

  • States in the United States45th highest of 52

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Sassafras Mountain3,550 ft
  • Hickorynut Mountain3,480 ft
  • Pinnacle Mountain3,420 ft
  • Coldbranch Mountain3,350 ft
  • Slicking Mountain3,330 ft
All 46 counties by average elevation
  1. Oconee County1,130 ft
  2. Pickens County1,110 ft
  3. Greenville County1,080 ft
  4. Spartanburg County780 ft
  5. Anderson County760 ft
  6. Cherokee County690 ft
  7. York County620 ft
  8. Laurens County600 ft
  9. Abbeville County570 ft
  10. Greenwood County540 ft
  11. Lancaster County520 ft
  12. Chester County500 ft
  13. Union County500 ft
  14. Saluda County490 ft
  15. Newberry County450 ft
  16. Edgefield County440 ft
  17. McCormick County420 ft
  18. Fairfield County410 ft
  19. Lexington County400 ft
  20. Aiken County370 ft
  21. Chesterfield County320 ft
  22. Kershaw County300 ft
  23. Richland County260 ft
  24. Barnwell County240 ft
  25. Calhoun County230 ft
  26. Lee County210 ft
  27. Orangeburg County180 ft
  28. Darlington County170 ft
  29. Sumter County160 ft
  30. Bamberg County160 ft
  31. Marlboro County150 ft
  32. Allendale County150 ft
  33. Clarendon County110 ft
  34. Dillon County110 ft
  35. Florence County88 ft
  36. Hampton County83 ft
  37. Dorchester County60 ft
  38. Marion County54 ft
  39. Williamsburg County52 ft
  40. Colleton County49 ft
  41. Horry County47 ft
  42. Berkeley County43 ft
  43. Jasper County33 ft
  44. Georgetown County18 ft
  45. Charleston County13 ft
  46. Beaufort County9 ft
All 8 tribal lands by average elevation
  1. Catawba Reservation530 ft
  2. Beaver Creek SDTSA290 ft
  3. Pee Dee SDTSA220 ft
  4. Upper South Carolina Pee Dee SDTSA140 ft
  5. Santee SDTSA110 ft
  6. Wassamasaw SDTSA67 ft
  7. Waccamaw SDTSA51 ft
  8. Edisto Natchez Kusso SDTSA43 ft
How we measure
  • Average: every USGS 3DEP bare-earth cell of land inside the Census state boundary (TIGER/Line, Jan 1 2026), weighted equally, on a 6 arc-second (≈610 ft, 185 m) grid, coarsened from 1 arc-second so the whole area fits one run. Land means the boundary minus Census area water (on this grid, water areas of at least half a cell).
  • Highest and lowest: the highest land cell, re-read at 1 arc-second around the 25 highest grid cells; 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, re-read at 1 arc-second around the 25 lowest grid cells; coastal ground within 3 ft (1 m) of named tidal water counts as sea level.
  • 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, −460 ft at 33.9738° N, 81.0371° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted; this coastal land's lowest point is sea level on the coast.
  • Nearby Places: neighboring states 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 state 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).
  • Counties: each one's average on its own grid (1 arc-second, coarser for the largest), the same figure its own page shows.
  • 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; NOAA tidal surfaces (MHHW). All public domain.