McDowell, VA Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
2,450 ft 745 m2,350 ft 715 m2,300 ft 700 m2,200 ft 670 m2,100 ft 640 m2,050 ft 625 m
Contours every 100 ft, bold every 500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
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.
- Area
- Fades everything outside the official CDP boundary (US Census).
Elevation Data
McDowell sits at about 2,140 ft (650 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.
Typical elevation
2,140 ft 650 m
most residents: 2,070–2,340 ft
Lowest
2,050 ft 625 m
on the south side
Highest
2,450 ft 745 m
on the northwest edge, below higher ground just outside
Average
2,180 ft 665 m
all land inside the CDP boundary
McDowell spans about 400 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.
| Figure | Elevation |
|---|---|
| Typical Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower | 2,140 ft650 m |
| Highest point Inside the CDP boundary, on the northwest edge, below higher ground just outside | 2,450 ft745 m |
| Lowest point Inside the CDP boundary, on the south side | 2,050 ft625 m |
| Town center USGS map point for McDowell | 2,100 ft640 m |
| Average of all land | 2,180 ft665 m |
| Nearest peak Hardscrabble Knob, 9.3 mi east of the CDP boundary (NGS survey) | 4,281 ft1,305 m |
Elevation profile, west to east
1.2 mi west to east through the town center.
Topographic Map
- Location
- Unincorporated community (census-designated place) in Highland County, Virginia, United States
- Population
- 94 2020 Census
- Land area
- 1.0 sq mi
- Density
- 92 per sq mi
- Coordinates
- 38.3357° N, 79.4906° W
- Time zone
- Eastern UTC−5 / −4
- Landform region
- Valley and Ridge
- Drains to
- Cowpasture River → James River → Atlantic Ocean
- ZIP codes 1
- 24458
⤓ Download this map
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
- Monterey2,910 ft
- Bartow, WV2,770 ft
- Frank, WV2,740 ft
- Arbovale, WV2,730 ft
- Green Bank, WV2,670 ft
- McDowell2,140 ft
- Franklin, WV1,840 ft
- Deerfield1,720 ft
- Augusta Springs1,620 ft
- Craigsville1,560 ft
- Churchville1,430 ft
Rankings by typical elevation
- Towns in Virginia48th highest of 700
- Towns in Highland Countylowest of 2
Peaks and hills nearest, by height
- Paddy Knob4,476 ft
- Hogback4,450 ft
- Little Bald Knob4,350 ft
- Hardscrabble Knob4,281 ft
- Crawford Knob3,730 ft
How we measure
- Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the CDP boundary, 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 CDP boundary (TIGER, Jan 1 2026).
- 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.
- McDowell is an unincorporated community; figures cover the census-designated place, a statistical area.
- Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS, Watershed Boundary Dataset and physiographic provinces; U.S. Census Bureau (boundaries, 2020 blocks, Gazetteer areas, ZIP code areas); BTS time zones; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.