Charleston, SC Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Charleston, South Carolina, shaded from −5 ft on the southeast side to 53 ft on the northeast side
Elevation
53 ft 16 m38 ft 12 m31 ft 10 m17 ft 5 m2 ft 1 m−5 ft −2 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 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

Charleston 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: 5–17 ft
Lowest
−5 ft −1 m
on the southeast side
Highest
53 ft 16 m
on the northeast side
Average
12 ft 4 m
all land inside city limits

Charleston spans about 58 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.

20% of Charleston's land lies below the average daily high tide (MHHW, NOAA), and 16% 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 city limits, on the northeast side
53 ft16 m
Lowest point
Inside city limits, on the southeast side
−5 ft−1 m
Town center
USGS map point for Charleston
11 ft3 m
Airport (CHS)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 2.4 mi northwest of the city limits
46 ft14 m
Average of all land12 ft4 m

Elevation profile, south to north

15 mi south to north through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Charleston, South Carolina, shaded from −5 ft on the southeast side to 53 ft on the northeast side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 10 ft (3 m).
Location
City in Charleston and Berkeley counties, South Carolina, United States
Population
157,665 2024 est.
Land area
115.5 sq mi + 20.2 sq mi water
Density
1,365 per sq mi
Coordinates
32.7766° N, 79.9309° W
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Drains to
Atlantic Ocean
Airport
Charleston Afb/International (CHS) 46 ft
ZIP codes 11
29401 29403 29405 29407 29409 29412 29414 29424 29425 29455 29492
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS, FAA

Nearby Places

Nearby towns by typical elevation

  1. Ladson40 ft
  2. Goose Creek32 ft
  3. North Charleston24 ft
  4. Hanahan22 ft
  5. James Island11 ft
  6. Charleston10 ft
  7. Mount Pleasant10 ft
  8. Isle of Palms7 ft
  9. Sullivan's Island7 ft
  10. Kiawah Island6 ft
  11. Folly Beach5 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Rosom Hill50 ft
  • Persimmon Hill44 ft
  • Windsor Hills30 ft
  • Raven Hill20 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).
  • 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, −5 ft at 32.7801° N, 79.9237° 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 and Watershed Boundary Dataset; U.S. Census Bureau (boundaries, 2020 blocks, 2024 population estimates, Gazetteer areas, ZIP code areas); FAA airport data; BTS time zones; NOAA tidal surfaces (MHHW). All public domain.