Carter County, TN Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Carter County, Tennessee, shaded from 1,400 ft on the northwest side to 6,280 ft on Roan Mountain
Elevation
6,280 ft 1,915 m5,060 ft 1,540 m4,450 ft 1,355 m3,230 ft 985 m2,010 ft 615 m1,400 ft 425 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.
County area
Fades everything outside the official county boundary (US Census).

Elevation Data

Carter County averages about 2,670 ft (815 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 1,400 ft on the northwest side to 6,280 ft on Roan Mountain.

Average elevation
2,670 ft 815 m
all land inside the county
Highest
6,280 ft 1,915 m
on Roan Mountain
Lowest
1,400 ft 425 m
on the northwest side

Carter County spans about 4,880 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.

FigureElevation
Average of all land2,670 ft815 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on Roan Mountain (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height)
6,280 ft1,915 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the northwest side
1,400 ft425 m

Elevation profile, south to north

17 mi south to north through Elizabethton.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Carter County, Tennessee, shaded from 1,400 ft on the northwest side to 6,280 ft on Roan Mountain
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 500 ft (152 m).
Location
County in Tennessee, United States
Population
57,434 2024 est.
Land area
341.3 sq mi + 6.4 sq mi water
Density
168 per sq mi
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform regions
Valley and Ridge 57%, Blue Ridge 43%
Drains to
Gulf of America
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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 counties sharing a border, by average

  1. Avery County, NC3,570 ft
  2. Mitchell County, NC3,210 ft
  3. Johnson County2,920 ft
  4. Unicoi County2,750 ft
  5. Carter County2,670 ft
  6. Washington County1,720 ft
  7. Sullivan County1,710 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Roan High Knob6,280 ft
  • Beartown Mountain5,480 ft
  • Little Rock Knob4,930 ft
  • Strawberry Mountain4,410 ft
  • Pond Mountain, Carter County4,320 ft
All 11 towns in Carter County by typical elevation
  1. Roan Mountain2,740 ft
  2. Butler partly2,090 ft
  3. Hampton1,850 ft
  4. Valley Forge1,700 ft
  5. Pine Crest1,680 ft
  6. Johnson City partly1,670 ft
  7. Biltmore1,660 ft
  8. Hunter1,630 ft
  9. Central1,630 ft
  10. Elizabethton1,590 ft
  11. Watauga1,520 ft
How we measure
  • Average: every USGS 3DEP bare-earth cell of land inside the Census county boundary (TIGER/Line, Jan 1 2026), weighted equally, on a 1 arc-second (≈100 ft, 30 m) grid. Land means the boundary minus Census area water.
  • Highest and lowest: the highest land cell; 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; 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, 1,290 ft at 36.3729° N, 82.2979° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted.
  • Nearby Places: neighboring counties 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 county 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).
  • Towns: each town's typical elevation (population-weighted median of its own 2020 blocks at 1 arc-second); a town is listed when any of its 2020 residents live in the county.
  • 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. All public domain.