Knoxville, TN Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Knoxville, Tennessee, shaded from 810 ft near the middle to 1,450 ft on the north side
Elevation
1,450 ft 445 m1,290 ft 395 m1,210 ft 370 m1,050 ft 320 m890 ft 270 m810 ft 245 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

Knoxville sits at about 990 ft (300 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
990 ft 300 m
most residents: 900–1,100 ft
Lowest
810 ft 245 m
near the middle
Highest
1,450 ft 445 m
on the north side
Average
980 ft 300 m
all land inside city limits

Knoxville spans about 640 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
990 ft300 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the north side
1,450 ft445 m
Lowest point
Inside city limits, near the middle
810 ft245 m
Town center
USGS map point for Knoxville
900 ft275 m
Airport (TYS)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 2.7 mi south of the city limits
986 ft301 m
Average of all land980 ft300 m

Elevation profile, south to north

9.6 mi south to north through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Knoxville, Tennessee, shaded from 810 ft near the middle to 1,450 ft on the north side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 100 ft (30 m).
Location
City in Knox County, Tennessee, United States
Population
198,722 2024 est.
Land area
98.8 sq mi + 5.5 sq mi water
Density
2,012 per sq mi
Coordinates
35.9606° N, 83.9207° W
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform region
Valley and Ridge
Drains to
Tennessee River → Ohio River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
Airport
Mc Ghee Tyson (TYS) 986 ft
ZIP codes 18
37871 37902 37909 37912 37914 37915 37916 37917 37918 37919 37920 37921 37922 37923 37924 37929 37932 37934
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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, FAA

Nearby Places

Nearby towns by typical elevation

  1. Powell1,090 ft
  2. Halls1,070 ft
  3. Seymour1,070 ft
  4. John Sevier1,010 ft
  5. Knoxville990 ft
  6. Karns990 ft
  7. Mascot970 ft
  8. Wildwood920 ft
  9. Louisville890 ft
  10. Eagleton Village890 ft
  11. Rockford870 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Rich Mountain3,701 ft
  • Cross Mountain3,535 ft
  • Buffalo Mountain3,380 ft
  • Bluff Mountain3,073 ft
  • Round Top3,070 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, 650 ft at 35.9663° N, 83.8840° 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); FAA airport data; BTS time zones; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.